Temperature and Duration for Baking Sweet Potatoes I am currently reading in literature about vegetables and came across a section describing how to best prepare sweet potatoes:

  Most sweet potato varieties sweeten during cooking thanks to the action of an
  enzyme that attacks starch and breaks it down to maltose, a sugar made up of two
  glucose molecules that’s about a third as sweet as table sugar. Moist or “soggy”
  varieties convert as much as 75% of their starch to maltose, so they seem permeated
  with syrup! The enzyme starts to make maltose when the tightly packed starch granules
  absorb moisture and expand, beginning around 135ºF/57ºC, and it stops when the rising
  heat denatures it, at around 170ºF/75ºC. Slow baking therefore gives the enzyme a
  longer time to work than does rapid cooking in steam, boiling water, or a microwave,
  and produces a sweeter result. Freshly harvested “green” roots available in the autumn
  have less enzyme activity and so don’t become as sweet or moist. [On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen]

So it is clearly stated that sweet potatoes should be baken between roughly 60 to 70°C. Contrary to that I read in a lot of online recipes and cooking "how-to's" that they bake the sweet potatoes farely hot, starting at 320°F/160°C for at least 15 minutes.

I want to prepare a pasta, where sweet potatoes, cut into small cubes, shall be one of the main ingredients.

In light of the above stated facts, what temperature and duration can be suggested from your side for baking sweet potatoes?

Based on everything you provided in your question, the best thing to do is for you to do at least a series of timed trials and ideally timed trials at different temperatures. There is not enough to suggest a cooking time. As for temperature, you already have a range.

While I do not have an answer to your question on cooking time, this is what I would do next time I cook sweet potato for sweetness:

Cook a sweet potato at 160C in the oven as control
Sous vide 12 sweet potatoes at 57C
At 10 minute intervals, take out one potato, plunge it in ice water for 5 min and taste, compare its sweetness to the one cooked at 160C and also to an uncooked one. Repeat until all the potatoes are taken out and the last one would have been cooked for 2 hours.
You can repeat the entire trial at higher temperatures.

You can of course do this using an oven and over a range of temperature settings. I suggest starting from around 60C, and you need to take an additional measurement of the inside temperature of every potato you take out before putting it into ice water to quench.

If your objective is to maximise enzymatic sugar conversion, then using an oven is not going to give you much control. It is just too hard to calculate heat diffusion rates and determine when to take them out of a hot oven. The most reliable method would be sous vide, seal your sweet potatoes in a bag, and immerse the bag in a 57C to 75C water bath for quite a long time (please bear with the lack of quantitative time for a moment).

Many cooking science articles focus just on qualitative descriptions with the most useful quantitative parts missing. The piece you quoted is just like that, interesting read but with no practical value. Beta-amylase hydrolysis of starch to maltose is interesting and like most enzymes, beta-amylase works at a fairly typical temperature range, nothing especially helpful or fascinating here. The most useful bit is missing, it is all about reaction kinetics, the rate of reaction and which factors change the rate by how much, that is how much time will it take to cook the sweet potatoes at the stated temperature range. All the bits that would allow a someone to calculate cooking time. The absence of quantitative parts in too many cookery science writings (there are enough pleasant exceptions) is frustrating.

Amalyse hydrolysis of starch does not happen instantaneously and it is relatively slow compared with say baking soda reacting with creme of tartar. Not only is reaction rate affected by temperature and not linearly, concentration of starch affects it too (I am unsure if maltose concentration also plays a part) as does pH. Their effects on reaction rates are easy enough to measure and calculate that you can actually do that in your own kitchen. Ok, measuring maltose concentration is hard, but tasting for sweetness which is what is important after all is very easy. Besides, sensation of sweetness is also not linear to sugar concentration. The rest involves a clock, and a thermometer.


Converting fresh chilli pepper to ground? If I normally use a fresh chilli pepper but decide to use the ground version, how do I convert for measuring the amount of ground? For example, 1 fresh pepper = 1 heaped teaspoon ground pepper.

Fresh pepper/chili and ground pepper/chili are not particularly interchangeable.

For example: (sweet) paprika is essentially ground Bell pepper, but it is not a normal substitution to use replace Bell pepper with x teaspoons of paprika.

Additionally, peppers range in size substantially. A Thai Birdseye chili would only yield a fraction of a teaspoon when dried and ground. A bell pepper is probably more likely to yield a tablespoon or more, depending on the drying process.


Basic carrier sauce/syrup for different sweet flavors? I have an application where I would like to have a half dozen different flavors (all sweet) that are in the form of a sauce or slightly viscous liquid.

Rather then 6 recipes I am hoping to find a sauce base that I can flavor with different flavors.
i.e. Peppermint, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, dark chocolate, etc..

Mouth feel is important.

I was considering a stock syrup but am concerned that it might be to sweet or not have a good mouth feel and would like to thicken it somehow

Creme anglaise is probably ideal for this purpose in many desserts.  It is basically a very thin custard.

You can melt or infuse your flavor ingredients into the cream before using it to make the sauce.

Chocolate is a special case--you may want to use specific chocolate sauce recipe, as it will effect the texture of the sauce, and change its properties.  Still, chocolate creme anglaise is possible, as is a simple chocolate ganache.


Can over proofed dough be harmful to breathe in? I work night shift in a bakery and the people before me always leave unused dough in the mixer. Who knows for how many hours, but during that same day. It's a dough made from dry yeast. One night I went to scrape it out and got a strong spoiled yeasty smell that came from it, almost knocking me to the floor. The other bakers said it was fine and that the dough is still usable for baking bread, but I'm not sure. Is leaving dough in a mixer for hours a health hazard? Does the smell indicate a health hazard?

.... There's no way to know for sure (since we can't test it) but it was probably CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)... Yeast creates CO2  when it converts sugars... that's how you can bottle carbonate beers.

  The breaking down of sugars, or fermentation, produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as by-products. Fermentation turns fruit juices into wine and helps turn wort (diluted grain mash) into beer or whiskey. The carbon dioxide produced by fermentation makes the bubbles in beer and some kinds of wine, and causes bread to rise. As bread bakes, the alcohol produced by fermentation evaporates.

We brew beers and we've had our freezer, which we use for a fermentation fridge, fill with the gas when we're brewing and the fermenting overflows. When we have to get into the freezer to clean it out, we have to be really careful as the carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so it stays in the freezer for a while... the same thing would be true of your large, covered mixer bowls. It can make you light-headed because your brain is suffering from oxygen deficiency.

Here's the fact sheet on CO2 inhalation:

  Inhalation: Low concentrations are not harmful. Higher concentrations can affect respiratory function and cause excitation followed by depression of the central nervous system. A high concentration can displace oxygen in the air. If less oxygen is available to breathe, symptoms such as rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, clumsiness, emotional upsets and fatigue can result. As less oxygen becomes available, nausea and vomiting, collapse, convulsions, coma and death can occur. Symptoms occur more quickly with physical effort. Lack of oxygen can cause permanent damage to organs including the brain and heart.

And, because it's a byproduct of the yeast activation, it can smell really strongly of yeast, and have a really off smell, despite the gas itself being odorless.


Proper cow bones to prepare holodets Holodets blues

Holodets is a typical Eastern Europe recipe. It is is basically a meat aspic, the gelatin being obtained from long boiling the bones and melting the connective tissue-collagen.

I tried to do holodets using cow bones (no pig feet, that one is easier).

My problem is that I can't figure out from the recipes which bone is used. It's mentioned as "hoof", "knee", "leg bone", etc. But there is no photograph and bone names vary from place to place.

I prepared the dish but the collagen content of the bones I used was not enough, so I ended up adding agar-agar, which I know is not needed if the bones are "the correct ones".

Can anyone to help me to identify the bones? A photograph should be the optimal answer!

NB> Please feel free to correct my English

Not sure about Holodet. But a good source of making gelatin from meat is the knee bone with all the cartilage in it. I use it to make foot jelly (aka gala, galarita, ptcha). This is not the same as bones with marrow. AFAIK marrow is not a big source of cartilage. You do have to simmer at low heat for a long time to get the cartilage to dissolve. Don't try a rolling boil, it wont work.


What is the difference between a lemon pound cake, a lemon loaf, and a lemon bread? Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake (http://www.thesugarcoatedcottage.com/cream-cheese-lemon-blueberry-pound-)
Lemon-lavender greek yogurt pound cake (http://www.bakeyourday.net/lemon-lavender-greek-yogurt-pound-cake/)
Glazed Lemon Pound Cake Loaf (https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/glazed-lemon-pound-cake-loaf/)
Lemon Loaf Pound Cake Starbucks Copycat (https://www.melaniecooks.com/lemon-loaf-pound-cake/11235/)
Lemon Blueberry Bread (http://thelittlestfunk.blogspot.com/2017/06/rainy-day-baking-lemon-blueberry-bread.html; or with lemon glaze: https://www.recipesinstant.com/2019/02/lemon-blueberry-bread.html)

The difference is the person doing the naming. Seriously, you seem to be looking for clear cut categories where none exist.

If one of the same person calls three different things a "lemon bread", "lemon loaf" and "lemon cake", you can typically expect that the "bread" will be somewhat less sweeter, less aromatic and less fine than the "pound cake". This is probably connected to soda breads eaten in times of shortages (especially wars) which were then mixed with vegetables or fruit, but were not as fine as cakes. The "loaf" part may be more connected to the shape than to the batter type. But if two different people are doing the naming, all bets are off. So if you are looking for recipes, you should use all three search terms.

See also my recent answer explaining a bit more about naming.


What is the binding power of starches vs flour? I was surprised to read the answers to a recent question on thickening - two of the three, including the accepted answer, suggested using cornstarch instead of flour to save calories.

I have always assumed that flour and starch are so close in binding power per weight that there is no reason to change any proportions when substituting, and also that the starch source doesn't matter. OK, I know about amylose and amylopectin being present in different amounts in different plants, but my impression is that the same amount of both gives a different thickened texture, not different thickness.

Now the answers and comments there contradict my impression. So, I would like to know: how much is the difference in thickness? If we take some reference, for example

  5 g of cornstarch per 100 g water, mixed and then cooked until thickened

how much of some other starch (potato, arrowroot, whatever) and how much wheat flour (AP or 550) is needed to achieve the same thickness as the reference?

When it comes to food 'thickness' (viscosity) is frequently discussed in 'relative terms' but not 'measurable units'. As such I'm not sure your question can be answered in 'absolute' terms.

Turning to Ratio where it discuss "Stocks and Sauces"

A Roux is 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat and the 'thickening ratio' is 10 parts liquid to one part roux.
vs.
A Slurry 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water(by volume) and the 'thickening ratio' is 1 tablespoon slurry to 1 cup liquid.

Arrowroot and potato starch can be substituted, in equal volumes, to cornstarch but they have differing outcomes based on the application (stews vs pie filling) where the difference is more than just 'thickness' but the things like the dairy or acid content of the stuff to be thickened.

In the absence of an objective standard for 'what is thickness' I don't believe you can get a fully satisfactory answer to this question.


Bake meat then veg dish back to back? If I cook an individual stuffed pork then immediately after at same temp cook an asparagus casserole will this affect the casserole flavor?  Both items cook for approx 20/25 mins each.

If I'm understanding your question correctly (please let me know if I'm not), you want to know if the air inside the oven would carry flavor from one just removed dish to another since no time would pass for the aromas in the air to dissipate?

The answer to that question is usually no. One exception might be if the first dish created a lot of smoke in the oven.

As a matter of fact, you could bake a delicately flavored white cake on one shelf of the oven while cooking fish on another shelf, and the cake would not taste like fish. Assuming no chance of the fish in my example dripping, I would place the fish on the shelf above the cake, since aromas being carried by the hot air would travel up.

Perhaps someone else will come along to better explain the science here. I am only answering from experience, like cooking several Thanksgiving dishes at the same time. Which leads me to one more thing I would like to say. If you can fit the casserole and the pork in the oven the same time, you could cook them simultaneously.


Can you make tortillas/pitas on stainless steel? Most tortilla and pita bread recipes I see specifically call for cooking the dough in a cast iron skillet. At the moment, I only have stainless steel.

My only attempt at making pita bread in a stainless steel skillet failed miserably. For the first batch I used a thin layer of oil and the dough ended up 'fried' (very crispy and oily on the outside). Then I tried with very little oil and the dough stuck and burned.

Should I expect the same problems with making tortillas, and is there anything I can do differently?

Tweaking your technique, rather than pan choice, may help a bit - people often use whatever is to hand to make recipes, and what you have is what you have as far as pans go.  I've used the same techniques on a a cast iron thaava and stainless steel griddle, and it was workable on each of them, for what it's worth.

I usually don't find using a lot of oil helpful when heating tortillas or pitas.  The oily/fried crispy outside is a familiar thing, even with a cast iron pan - for some recipes made with tortillas it can be nice, but for making the tortillas themselves it's less useful.  Using very little oil, or even using none at all and dry-roasting on the pan, is a better tradeoff for me - though the possibility of sticking and burning is there, and needs some work to avoid.

The oil used should be very little (if it is being used), barely brushed onto the pan, or rubbed on and off with a paper towel (one dab on a towel will last a whole batch).  Sometimes, it might be easier to brush just a bit over the tortillas instead and leave the pan dry.  If your recipe has oil in it, or if you just don't want the added oil, you can also just dry-roast the tortillas (and probably pitas, but I have less experience with those) - I tend to do it this way the most, since the wrong amount of oil can even encourage sticking by making the pan tacky.

If I'm dry-roasting the tortillas, I find it really helps if the surface of the tortilla is quite dry - perhaps you could lightly dust it with a bit of flour if the dough is on the moister side (and I don't even mean damp, just slightly tacky might let it catch and stick more), you want it just slightly dusty on the surface.  When the pan is hot, I sort of sweep the pan with the tortilla for a few seconds at first - that is, lift the tortilla by one side and rest a half or so on the pan for a second, dragging it forward.  Then, move my grip to the other side of the tortilla, and repeat.

What exactly this five second dragging-about step does I'm not quite sure, it may dry the very surface just that little bit more, it may prevent sticking while the surface of the dough is warming, but when I do this, the tortilla tends to sit loosely on the surface of the pan, and I can skitter it around with my fingers while it warms up and starts roasting.  As long as I can keep it moving for those first seconds, it rarely sticks and never badly, it's always easy to pry up (or tug away from) any little areas that catch before they become problems.  Half the time I keep skittering it around with my fingertips as it cooks, it doesn't seem to cause a problem in its cooking and I'm right there with nothing else to do - but once the first few seconds of cooking have dried out the surface enough so it won't stick, you can just as easily leave it alone for the few minutes cooking takes.

It also is usually only the first one or two in a batch that can get tricky, and try sticking... usually once the batch gets going the later ones don't cause problems (though I'm not sure if that's because I've worked out the variables for this batch of dough, or if the pan gets seasoned or heated to the right amount as the cooking goes on).

(I'm not sure if it actually matters, but while I have worked with tortillas, I am actually a bit more familiar with chapati... so my techniques or perspectives may be colored by that background)


What would convert this chili recipe into a Russian chili? Not sure exactly how to ask this. I was looking for a Russian Chili Recipe, and being from Siberia myself I never really encountered it before. Therefore I took a traditional recipe and modified it a little to make it more like a Russian dish. Here is my recipe that I cooked for my company's chili cook-off. I want to hear some suggestions and opinions on this recipe.

My question is:

Has anyone ever heard of a Russian Chili Recipe, and if so could this recipe qualify as Russian?

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
½ pound of ground chicken
½ pound of ground pork
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups beef broth
½ cup of 2% milk
1 15 oz can red pinto beans (drain)
1 15 oz can black beans (drain)
3 fresh tomatoes (cut to small chunks)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 large onions, diced finely
1 large green bell pepper, diced finely
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons cumin, ground
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
4 Habanero peppers, seeded diced finely
4 chipotle peppers, seeded diced finely

Directions

In a large pot, heat the brown the ground beef, pork and chicken, making sure to continuously break up large pieces with a spoon or spatula. Once browned drain fat off of ground meat. Return the ground meat to the pot.
Add onions and green bell pepper to the ground meat and cook over medium heat with stirring until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add the garlic, cumin, sugar, thyme, cayenne powder, oregano, and black pepper. Heat over medium heat with stirring for 12 minutes.
Pour in the beef broth, milk. Add pinto beans, black beans, cream cheese, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, cider vinegar, chipotle, chili and habanero peppers. Stir to mix well.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 2 hours before serving or refrigerating.
Footnotes
Crack Pot Alternative: After step 4 you can pour chili in crock pot and cook it on medium for 6 hours.

Notes

It is best to have all ingredients ready to go before starting the process. Do not wait to dice onions or peppers. Get everything ready to go and then start the process. In addition, cutting chili peppers by hand can result in hands "catching on fire." It is best to use a grinder or something other than hands. If you do use your hands, please make sure to scrub your hands and wash with soap before you touch anything (like your mouth or your eyes). Even though this recipe calls for Chili and Habanero peppers in the end it becomes about medium spicy but with strong pepper flavor.

Please Note: Directions are taken from a traditional beef chili recipe and modified to accommodate custom ingredients.

I'm going to go ahead and phrase my comment in the form of an answer (just so there's something to accept or up/down moderate). My vote is for some form of beet. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea and think I'll try it myself when I get a chance. (I actually feel a little chagrin at claiming the idea since @SaUce mentioned borsch first. And who really owns an idea anyway. Well, except for Paul Allen and Nathan Myhrvold.)

Anywho, lots of chili recipes use a little chocolate or even coffee in small amounts to add an earthiness and complexity to chili. I think the beet could do the same. Personally, I wouldn't leave it in big chunks. If I was using fresh beets, I'd dice or even shred them possibly. Or, another alternative would be to use beet powder, which would contribute sweetness and some beet flavor while acting as a mild thickening agent at the same time.

This could even inspire a new Russo-Latin fusion cuisine movement.  Maybe I'll patent it after all. ;)


What is the purpose of creaming butter with sugar in cookie recipes? I got distracted while assembling the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe and added the sugars, which were supposed to be creamed with the butter first. Fortunately, the sugar was added last and I was able to salvage enough to cream it.

What does creaming the butter and sugar actually do? Had it been on the bottom of the bowl under the flour etc, could I have just beat everything together?

The recipe is simple and just calls for creaming and then adding egg, and after that, dry ingredients. It's nothing fancy.

Creaming puts the air bubbles into the mixture. The baking powder only helps enlarge the bubbles, not make them.  In cookies the creaming plays another essential role, which is to help dissolve the sugar.  To cream the butter keep it cool and do it for a few minutes (at 65°F, harder in the summer).

It has recently been discovered that cookie dough is different from cake batters. Sugar is part of the structure of the cookie and not just a sweetener, tenderizer, and browning agent.  It forms the base upon which the fats and the starch granules of the flour are embedded.  The sugar needs to dissolve for the matrix to form.

If you beat the whole thing, it will be harder to get bubbles in and you may end up overworking the dough.  The cookies will end up flat and tough.


I need a substitution for Parmesan cheese I am doing bread in a jar for a gift basket. It calls for Parmesan cheese(beer bread)  what can i use for replacement if i have no Parmesan cheese. Is it necessary to add this ingredient?

Any hard cheese will/should do.

Something like Pecorino Romano, Asiago or Manchego or dried Monterey Jack can be substituted quite easily.

Heck (heresy) Get some Kraft Parmesan (yes, the cheap stuff in a box).

Other cheeses like Cheddar will melt and change the property of the bread (IMO).


Nitrogen factor role in calorie calculation I'm wondering what's the relation between nitrogen factor, protein factor and energy from total protein. i.e

Feta Cheese
Nitrogen Factor: 6.38
Protein Factor: 4.27
Total Protein: 21.3 g

and I know that:

Calories From Protein: 21.3 * 4.27 = 90.95 kcal

But I don't know how nitrogen factor affects calculation and where. I googled it but I didn't find what I was looking for(maybe use of bad keywords), I appreciate recommendation of any articles for my further reading.

Nitrogen factor appears to be a method of estimating protein content in a specific foodstuff based on the amount of nitrogen (since proteins are nitrogen rich).  It is not exact, and there are different factors for different types of foods, to provide better estimates based on the ratios and types of proteins in those foods.

This 1931 USDA document gives an excellent background, even though it is somewhat of a bad scan, and challenging to read.

See also, for example, the FAO Conversion Table showing different factors for different foods.

As proteins are a calorific food, the nitrogen factor correlates with calories from protein because it helps you estimate the amount of protein in a food, and therefore the number of calories from protein based on the fact that protein has about 17 kJ or 4 kcal per gram.

Therefore, if you know you have g grams of a food, with a nitrogen factor of f, the estimated number of calories from protein c is:

  c = g * f * 4

I was unable to find a definitive clear meaning of the phrase "protein factor" as it is a common phrase in biochemistry, evidently.


baking time versus number of items in oven I doubled a recipe for apple cake, and filled two 13x9 pans. Into the 350F wall oven they went. Recipe estimates 50-60 minutes.

60 minutes later, probe comes out pretty damp, and cakes are more than a bit jiggly. Easy enough, bake a little longer.

What's going on here? Do two room temperature cakes depress the initial temperature for a lot longer than one?

p.s. Oven calibration recently checked, so it's not that.

I was baking these cakes one atop the other, with a few inches between, in an electric oven. I did not have convection turned on.

(1) Are you baking them upper/lower or side-by-side?,  (2) Is your oven's outside width 24" or 30"?,  & (3) Gas or electric?

My guess would be that either you have a 24" oven and you're baking upper/lower or you have a 30" oven and you're baking side-by-side.  Either way, I think the ultimate culprit is heat circulation - certainly you wouldn't be having this problem in a convection oven, right?

If you're baking them upper/lower in a small oven, I believe that heat absorption would probably create areas of lower temperature above both pans that wouldn't even out well without convection.  If you're baking side-by-side in a larger oven, I believe that the total area of your pans would create a heat block and a temperature differential between the top and bottom of your oven that would not dissipate well without convection.  And while I think the circulation problem would be less of a problem with gas, I'm pretty sure it's going to present a problem in either type of oven you use.

Being the owner of a 24" electric oven myself (so the interior of my oven is 18" x 18", not including the ribs that support the racks), I can't even bake two 9" circular cake layers at the same time (either diagonally or upper and lower) without grotesque deformations in the tops of my cakes. And two 9" round pans with a thin layer of cake batter are going to be less of a heat magnet and obstruction than a thick layer of apple cake batter in two 9" x 13" pans.

Ultimately I think the problem is not one of time but of maintaining temperatures above and below your pans - and adding time to the bake won't resolve the problems caused by such a differential.  Alas, I believe that your best option is to give each cake its own space and time in the oven.  Whether it's a heat conduction issue or a circulation issue or some combination of both, I think the variables involved are WAY too complicated to ever lead to a general baking time extension guideline when doubling-up a recipe.

Bake them separately - and, yes, I realize that's not a very satisfying recommendation.


How long can you store used cooking oil How long can you store used cooking oil then re-use it? I deep fried a turkey one year ago and have had it refrigerated since.

Does the oil smell anywhere near rancid ?  You sure you had it in the fridge, not the freezer ?

Pure fat in the fridge keep a long, long, time... but I suspect some turkey juice got into it... would be fat-coated and not exposed to oxidation though...


Can I use baking powder in place of baking soda for dipping pretzels? I made pretzel dough and its ready to be shaped.

Somehow I have no baking soda left. Can I use baking powder in place of baking soda? Or is there something else I can use for the dipping step?

What will happen if I just skip the dipping step?

No, you cannot use baking powder to dip pretzels. To get their characteristic color and crust, pretzels are traditionally boiled in lye. Another alkaline solution, i.e. those containing a base, can be used as well. Let's look at how baking soda and powder are used as leavers:

Baking soda is a base (namely sodium bicarbonate) that releases carbon dioxide gas when mixed with an acid. That's why, in a recipe like buttermilk pancakes, acidic buttermilk can mix with baking soda to produce bubbles of gas that leaven the pancake.
Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda with a dry acidic substance. When mixed with water, it makes carbon dioxide gas all by itself.

Baking powder mixed with water will not be alkaline, since it contains both an acid and a base. Thus it won't work for boiling pretzels. Unfortunately, there aren't very many bases in your kitchen cabinets. While it is easy to substitute acids, the only bases you are likely to bake with are lye and baking soda.

If you skip the dipping step entirely, you will get plain rolls instead of pretzels. Boiling in plain water, or water with honey or barley malt syrup, will give you a more bagel-like crust. But to get a true pretzel, you really must boil in an alkaline solution.


Does cumin contain curcumin? If not, where does the name come from? According to Wikipedia, curcumin was originally isolated from tumeric.  However, I haven't been able to find why it was  named curcumin or whether or not it cumin is currently known to contain it.

From the opening of the Wikipedia article on curcumin you presumably saw:

  Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical produced by some plants. It is the principal curcuminoid of turmeric (Curcuma longa), a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).

(emphasis mine)

As for the Curcuma genus:

  The name comes from the Sanskrit kuṅkuma, referring to turmeric.

So, nothing to do with cumin - just a bit of a coincidence from turning "curcuma" into "curcumin".


How to raise the setting and melting point of gelatin Is there anyway to raise the setting and melting point of gelatin so that it doesn't melt at room temperature. I've heard that adding pectin can raise the setting and melting point, but I'm no sure.
Thanks.

I have tried a variety of additives to gelatin in a range of blends and unfortunately, nothing seems to significantly increase the melting point. The additives I have tried include: agar, glycerin, corn starch, pectin, sugar, and corn syrup.


How is it that brioche rises so high? I just made this brioche and I'm very pleased with it.

I'm puzzled though. Where did all of this lift come from? The dough shaped in the pan for the final proof was tiny.

The recipe calls for a sponge made with 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 TBS sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 cup flour and 2 TBS of water. That can ferment for up to a day, but I only allowed a couple of hours. It was pretty unremarkable.

Then I sprinkled over the sponge just over 1 cup of flour, 2 TBS sugar, 1 1/4 tsp yeast and 1/2 tsp salt. That sat for an hour, then I kneaded it (for no longer than normal bread), adding 1/4 lb butter and 2 cold eggs. That rose until doubled, then I punched it down and left it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day I formed the loaf in a normal loaf pan.

This is where I got nervous.

I didn't think there was any way that this tiny mass of dough was even going to rise to the top of the pan. It looked like a Twinkie!

A 2 hour proof did see the dough rise just to the top of the pan. 35 minutes at 350F caused it to get just massive (relative to normal bread).

How? The eggs aren't whipped, it doesn't call for a tremendous amount of sugar and it takes just over 1/2 the amount of yeast that would be found in typical sandwich bread. How did such a tiny amount of dough turn into such a big loaf?

http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/bread-baking-tips-making-the-most-of-your-oven/
This post suggests to me that the dough was moister on the outside as it was baking, which probably allowed the bread to spring more than a regular bread dough.  I am guessing that this is a function of the eggs and butter that are in brioche dough.  In reading about butter in Ruhlman's Twenty, some of this may be the butter coating the flour, and preventing the stronger gluten strands that might have kept the spring from happening.


Pressure Cooker to Stovetop conversion? I want to make ramen, in particular, tonkatsu ramen. My cookbook is in Japanese and even though I'm reading everything else fine, a part of it is confusing me (but no worries, I'm not confused about the Japanese part).

I'm supposed to make the broth (I think the book is saying "stock" here, but I'm going with broth because the way it's written makes this a little unclear) at a "rapid boil," which I put in quotes because this cookbook follows this up with some ridiculous claims. I'm going to do it on my stovetop. The cookbook says to do rapid boil the broth on the stovetop for 90 hours. To put it frankly, that is ridiculous. A rapid boil for 90 hours is... well, I'm pretty sure ramen can be made in a day and I'm nearly 100% certain I shouldn't be rapid boiling broth (it should probably be simmered if it's stock). The book also says you can make the broth in a pressure cooker in an hour and a half. That's more reasonable, but I don't have a pressure cooker.

There are a couple mistakes in this book, whether because I'm not translating correctly or because there are actual mistakes I'm not sure-- rapid boil, for example, is used a lot in places where I know I shouldn't be doing that, which makes me think my translation is wrong-- but it absolutely, positively says 90 hours for stovetop.

I highly doubt that I need to make this ramen broth by boiling for a whole 90 hours on the stovetop. I'm certain it could be done in less time. Is there a conversion process between pressure cookers and stovetop? What I mean is, is there some way for me to determine how much time it would take to cook something on my stove top based on the directions I was given for the pressure cooker? Thus far I've only gotten "keep temperature on low and keep it at a slow boil," but I'm wondering if there's something more concrete than that.

There is no simple conversion, as you are looking for outcomes.

Typically what can be done in a pressure cooker for stock or braise type applications in 15-30 minutes might take 3 hours on stove top.  An hour and a half in a pressure cokoer might be analogous to a full day (call it eight to ten hours) of more traditional cooking.  Doing so in an oven (300 F, 180 C) is even better than a stove top, as there is less risk of scorching.

A good quality recipe will give you a test to know when an item is done.  For example, meat falling off the bones in a braise.  Stock is one of the few things where its hard to give a specific test, but you should at least have good flavor development, and thinner bones will become flexible.

90 hours is simply unreasonable for almost any type of cooking whatsoever.  Perhaps they meant 9 hours, which is in the ballpark.

I suggest finding a better source recipe; if this recipe is far off on cooking time, how many other problems does it have?


Is it possible to make pork belly very soft with a pressure cooker? I recently bought a pressure cooker and I have been learning about all sorts of different ways to make things that I normally would slow cook faster with the pressure cooker.

However, a lot of forums I have read mentioned that a pressure cooker can't really speed up the process for breaking down the fat in the pork belly. I think what was mentioned was the heat needs to be very low whereas the pressure cooker allows you to cook at a higher heat.

Is this accurate? Is there any way to cook pork belly or other types of meat to be very tender?

...a pressure cooker can't really speed up the process for breaking down the fat in the pork belly...

Nope - this isn't really true, nor is it a complete description of what's going on. Pork belly doesn't just contain a large amount of fat, it contains a large amount of connective tissue (which is why it's so tough when not properly slow-cooked). The goal with such cuts (ribs and pork shoulder are other good examples) is largely to break down tough, chewy collagen into gelatin, which provides a deliciously viscous texture. It's sometimes described as "mouth-coating", which sounds... less desirable than it is.

Both the process of melting fat and the process of converting collagen to gelatin are temperature-dependent and will speed up with increased temperature. This is the advantage that your pressure cooker provides. However, the latter process is a lot more complicated; it requires the presence of sufficient water, and it doesn't scale linearly (e.g. it won't get 10% faster by applying 10% more energy).

There seems to be an upper bound with how quickly you can get collagen to convert to gelatin, and with pork belly there's so much collagen that a typical cooking time might extend into 12+ hours. And that effort is necessary, unless you want a chewy pork belly after all that work. With a pressure cooker, you might be able to get the cooking time down to 9 or 10 hours, but the reduction won't be as drastic as with other foods.

Additionally, gelatin itself is temperature-sensitive, and pure gelatin will break down if boiled; what seems to happen is that the long, flexible strands that give gelatin its elasticity get "cut" at high enough temperatures, such as the higher temperatures in your pressure cooker, and it loses some of that lip-smacking goodness. I've observed this myself when making stock in a pressure cooker. It's faster and more convenient than letting a pot simmer on the stove all day (and the endless skimming, and topping off with water, etc.) but it never has quite the texture of a stock made the "proper" way. Don't get me wrong: it's still quite good, and pork belly has so much collagen that you might not notice a difference in the end, but there's an argument to be made for accepting the additional couple of hours for a traditional slow braise.

So, the TL;DR: a pressure cooker will indeed speed up the cooking of pork belly, but not as much as it speeds up other cooking.


Pasteurize egg yolks? I want to make a cake filling consisting of sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice so I thought of adding egg yolks to make it more dense, but the condensed milk and lemon juice doesn't need cooking then should I cook them over a double boiler? if so, up to what temperature? Or there is other way in my case?

I would look for a lemon custard recipe as that's pretty much what you want to do...


Substitutions for "European style" butter in croissants I've been trying to make croissants at home. Many recipes I've read specify "European style" butter, with a higher fat content. However, finding this kind of butter locally is very difficult. In the places I have found it, it's very expensive.

I've found that when using ordinary unsalted butter as sold in the US there seems to be no good temperature for laminating the dough. Cooled as recipes suggest, the butter is brittle and cracks. Allowed to warm slightly more, the butter is absorbed into the dough.

So I'm wondering, is there some substitute available (not for butter generally, but "European style" butter? If a higher fat content is what's needed, I wonder if some combination of clarified butter mixed with ordinary unsalted butter might work. Any suggestions?

A mix of clarified and ordinary unsalted butter works well.

I used clarified butter that was simmered for a long time to be sure the water was thoroughly removed, just to the point where it stops sputtering, and the solids in the bottom begin to brown.

If the unsalted butter has a fat content of 80% and clarified near 100%, then a 20% clarified to 80% unsalted ratio results in 84% fat.

I let the two warm to room temperature, then beat them thoroughly with an electric mixer to combine.

Immediately after beating I transferred the now very soft butter to parchment paper. Folding the paper over, I squished the butter into a nice slab for laminating, wrapped it tightly with the parchment, and put it in the fridge to chill until the dough is ready.

I'm still experimenting with the flavor of croissants made this way. Obviously this won't reproduce the complex flavors of a cultured butter.

However, the workability of this combination is great: no shattering even when chilled in the freezer, unlike 80% fat unsalted butter alone.


Uses for the Bulgarian/Balkan condiment "lutenitza" I saw a jar of this condiment called 'liutenzia' on sale at the supermarket here in Los Angeles. The ingredients say that it has tomato paste, pepper paste, carrot paste, and spices. It looks/sounds delicious but I'm not sure what I would do with it.

I've half a mind to try it, but how is it commonly used? What dishes or appetizers would go well with it? I thought fresh bread or pitas would be tasty dipped in it, like a sort of hummus, tapenade or caponata.

Where can I learn more about it? Any ideas, links (articles or books) about Bulgarian cuisine (in English), specifically liutenzia-related?

Jared, I hope you bought it. If made right, it is really really tasty. If not, I can tell you how it is made, but be warned, it costs lots of time (you cook it until most of the water has boiled away, while constantly stirring, as it is prone to get burned on the bottom). Most people spend half a day making a big portion on open fire (because nobody has a stovetop on which a pan that  wide fits) and then preserve it in jars. On the other hand, homemade tastes best, and then you can control the hotness (ljutenica can go from purely sweet to tabasco hot, depending on the type of peppers used) and the additions (pure liutenica is peppers and tomatoes only, but it also contains any veggies currently ripe in the garden which might spoil if not preserved quickly).

As for use, it is just a bread spread - or rather, it is the bread spread. A thick slice of semiwhite bread with with ljutenica is an iconic symbol of childhood for anybody who grew up between the 1950s and 1970s in Bulgaria, as that's what kids grabbed for a quick snack before running back outside to play. Traditionally, nobody includes it in any dishes. And nobody considers it a condiment. It is sometimes served as meze, which is a kind of appetizer eaten when drinking strong alcohol, in order not to get too drunk. I guess that whenever you serve antipasti, you could also offer a dish with liutenica, it can be scooped from there and eaten pure or with black olives and/or cubes of feta cheese. If you want to add spices to it, fresh parsley is the traditional one.

On the other hand, although Bulgarian cuisine is somewhat on the simple side, with lots of tradition and not much experimentation, there are no hard rules (in the sense of the Italian rules to never use certain sauces with certain shapes of pasta). So you can use it in any capacity you like. I sometimes use it (without cooking it to a proper thick consistency) as a pasta sauce (no matter what shape of pasta, but psst, don't tell the Italians). Once I pureed feta cheese in it and filled a quiche with the result, it got quite tasty.

Of course, if you happen to cook a Bulgarian style dish, you can use it as a condiment served on the side. Or use it anywhere you'd use ketchup. As many Bulgarian dishes include cooked or pureed tomatoes, you can also try using some liutenica as a substitute, either adding water if you want to keep a runny consistency, or take advantage of the fact that it is thick and make a dish thicker or cook it for less time.


Parmesan Crusted Steak - Replace olive oil with honey I've recently been making a parmesan crust for my steaks, the recipe I'm using calls for olive oil on the steak itself, before cooking. It works well for the crust, but its hard on the grill, cause the oil starts an oil fire, which chars the steak quicker than I'd like, giving us tougher meat.

I'm thinking of substituting the olive oil with honey, still allowing the parmesan crust to stick, and add a little flavor, but avoiding that oil-based flame from charring my steaks.

Any suggestions to any other ingredients, or cautions against using honey?

If you're trying to avoid char, then switching to honey or any sugar is probably in the wrong direction.  Sugar burns...quick.

I'd recommend three things overall specific to this crust:

Use less oil.  If your oil is dripping off in buckets and causing significant fires - you've got too much.  Just try a light brushing on the meat.
Use a different oil.  EVOO isn't recommended for grilling mostly because of it burning at lower temps.  It turns black, kinda nasty, and loses all its good flavor if it goes too long, too high.  You can try extra light olive oil or really just a more standard canola or peanut oil.
Use the lid on your grill.  A real fire in your grill consumes oxygen fast.  If you leave the lid off, it can burn for much longer.  With the lid on, fires are much much shorter.  I'm an avid fan of grilling with the lid on and I never knew why people complained of flair ups till I did something with the lid off, its a lot worse for flair ups.

A general steak tip, especially for something like this with a crust - make sure your steaks are at room temperature before they go on the grill.  If you're starting with a cold steak, you're going to have to grill it longer and there's a much greater risk to burn the crust.

Also, consider a quick sear on each side over direct heat till your crust gets the color you want, and then move it off to indirect heat to finish.


What is maggiorana and how can I use it Someone left me a jar of maggiorana and I have no clue what to do with it (other than pass it on to someone). Wikipedia says "marjoram is synonymous with oregano", but the stuff I have tastes and smells nothing like oregano. smells almost like tea and is almost tasteless.

What purpose does it serve and where can I use it?

Marjoram is botanically an oregano subspecies, but it does taste entirely different (a situation very common in herbs, think spearmint and peppermint). The description "smells almost like tea and is almost tasteless" indicates that you got mass-produced stuff where the good aromas have long left the dried plant matter. Fresh marjoram is a rather mild herb, but it still has a distinct aroma, and not a generally "grassy" one.

The aroma of majoran isn't very intrusive, so it can easily be combined with many flavors. It is very often used with potato dishes of any kind, but a big herb producer recommends it for practically everything:

  Potato soup and salad, potato dumplings and fried potatoes, meat and sausage salad, all salty cheese dishes, meat loaf, chicken fillings, and especially to homemade lard, duck and goose, rabbit and pork fat. Marjoram is good also for dark mushrooms, cucumbers, all bean dishes and feed legumes, stuffed tomatoes and tomato soup, carrots, peas, sour cream sauce, herb mayonnaise and herb cheese, all heart, liver, kidney, lung dishes, tripe, fish soups and fish stews, fish baked in fat, pie fillings, soups and wild game stew.

It would have been perfect if you had the fresh stuff, but even the dried herb is better than nothing. Just add it to some dish (you can use big amounts, because it is already weak) and decide if you like it.


Why does Béarnaise separate as opposed to crème brûlée or lemon curd? When making creme brulees in the oven, they are heated to something like 100° C, or over. When making bernaise, heating it like that is a sure way of making it separate.

As far as I've understood, it is the vinegar and the fat that separates, when the protein in the egg coagulates, and of course there is no vinegar in either creme brulee or lemon curd, but the protein still coagulates. Still, the result is silky smooth.

Why is this? All I have are guesses, and some small amount of culinary science to shed some light on this would be greatly appreciated.

I think that there are a few different concepts being conflated here - let's try to clear those up before getting to the heart of the matter.

First of all, acidity causes just about any dairy product to curdle. That is precisely how cheese is made. Acidity, salt, and heat are all catalysts in the curdling process. This does not, however, affect clarified butter, because curdling is a result of the milk proteins coagulating and binding to each other, and true clarified butter is just the butterfat - there is no milk protein left. Based on that, we can conclude that vinegar is definitely not the important factor, which is further evidenced by the fact that lemon curd will also have a fairly high acidity due to the citric acid in lemon juice.

Crème brûlée is also not heated to 100° C, or even close to it. Dairy products burn very quickly when they approach that temperature. Many recipes for crème brûlée or crème caramel - and IMO virtually all of the good ones - will have you use a bain-marie (water bath) for the express purpose of temperature control. Since egg yolks begin to coagulate at 63° C (145° F), a crème brûlée doesn't need to be heated much higher, although there are many recommendations for the optimal temperature that seem to average around 75° C (around 170° F). If you try boil a crème brûlée, it will almost certainly burn and quite possibly curdle too.

For this reason, I believe that at least part of the difference is simply in your perception of the heat. Ovens heat much more slowly than stoves. Béarnaise (or the very similar Hollandaise) doesn't get heated all the way to 75° C, but it does get heated up to around the 63° C coagulation temperature of egg yolks, which really isn't that far off. You might see the surface of your crème-whatevers sizzle a bit, but that doesn't mean the entire pastries are at the liquid's boiling point; if they were, they'd be ruined.

The rest of the difference is sort of what Bruce's explanation is saying, although I think he's got it backwards, and the reported Julia Child ratio is way off (it should be 2 egg yolks per 3-4 oz of butter, which is only 90-120 mL). The amount of egg yolk (which acts as an emulsifier) relative to fat or dairy is important, but in order for the answer to really make sense, it's also important to understand why.

Egg yolks and butter-fat compose an emulsion of proteins and fat. The fats don't do anything special in response to heat, but the proteins coagulate, and in the process they will try to bind to each other; given a generous enough amount of egg yolk emulsified with butter, if you (a) heat up the yolks past the coagulation temperature and (b) don't keep them extremely well-dispersed, you'll end up with buttery scrambled eggs.

When making crème brûlée - or any custard - you want full coagulation of the egg yolks, because the relatively small amount of protein-packed yolks (typically, anywhere from 10% to 20% of the heavy cream by weight, which is only 4-8% of the fat by weight) is easily dispersed, and the individual molecules can't get close enough to each other to coalesce; instead they form a semi-firm but sparse network around the fat, much like what a meringue does around air.

On the other hand, Béarnaise and Hollandaise are supposed to be sauces. You're trying to thicken but not coagulate the eggs - in other words, allow a very weak protein network to form. To make this partial coagulation have any noticeable effect on the sauce's consistency, you need (relatively speaking) substantially more protein - closer to 30% of the fat. This higher concentration of protein puts the protein molecules in much closer proximity; without constant dispersion (in the form of whisking) and low, slow heat, the proteins will quickly start to coagulate and coalesce, because there's nothing stopping the attraction. This causes flocculation or even outright coalescence of the emulsion, which is the point at which you get that nasty scrambled-egg consistency.

It's got nothing to do with fat:water and everything to do with protein:fat. Fat helps prevent the coagulation of proteins; this principle is applied everywhere including baking, where oil or butter is used to slow down gluten development from flour (not eggs) and keep baked goods from becoming tough and rubbery. The ingredients and cooking method are different in a custard, but the principle is the same.

Protein is the main character in egg-based sauces and in scrambled eggs; the main difference between the two (with custards being somewhere in between) is how much protein, how well dispersed it is, and how much it is allowed to coagulate. Sauces have more protein, less coagulation; custards have less protein with full coagulation.

The difference is not huge, but it's enough to tip the scales if you're not careful.


Pork loin vs pork roast? I've seen both boneless pork sirloin chops and pork sirloin roasts in the grocery store, for different prices.

From their names, I would think the chop is intended for grilling and the roast is intended for roasting, but if they're both cut from the sirloin, what's the difference between them besides the shape?

You've answered your own question, it's size and shape. You could buy a roast and slice it into chops and you'd get the same thing as if the butcher does it. That's if they are both pork sirloin, sometimes there can be confusion between sirloin and tenderloin, which are not the same thing.


Stewing with Apple Cider Vinegar I'm working on making a long cooked version of a stew which uses apple cider vinegar as part of the flavor.

I was wondering what happens to the flavor of the vinegar when it's cooked for a long time. I have technical constraints and it needs to cook for about 24 hours, and I was wondering if it would lose the flavor.

Also I was wondering if adding vinegar is pointless, seeing as long cooked stews tend to get very brown, it'll end up being a very alkaline environment, and maybe that would cancel out the acidity.

An acid in a stew serves much the same purpose it would in a marinade. It aids in the tenderizing (typical 'stew meat' is cut from inferior cuts of the beef and can be tough) and balances the flavors. (As such I would disagree with @lspare about adding it "at the end", it needs time to do it's work)

Browning is a separate issue. Browning is the result of the Maillard reaction and should occur when stew meat is seared prior to being incorporated into the stew. In a stew the 'cooking temperature' is never above 212°F (100°C) and this will not 'brown' the meat.


Smoke coming from oven I like to bake chicken breasts in a glass container with a layer of vegetable oil at the bottom.

I bake at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Once I rubbed a bit of Worchester sauce into the chicken and baked it and this caused smoke to billow out the oven.

Now, each time I fire up the oven, my entire house is filled with an acrid smoke.

How can I get rid of this problem?

Probably time to clean the oven. Not sure the Worchester had anything to do with it other than timing. We bake stuff with Worchester all the time with no issues. Set it on self clean and see what happens after that.


Hard to find spatula Just curious if you ever found where to buy those spatulas? (Re: Where did the thin, smooth plastic spatulas go? The dark blue one on the left)
Where did the thin, smooth plastic spatulas go?

My wife would like to get some too but I can't find that type either.

Thanks for any help.

Those spatulas came in many colors, mine were white, I've seen them in pink, green and black. I don't believe they are being made anymore (and I have looked. It's my favorite spatula by far). They were made by Foley. This answer was the last answer to the original question, and eBay is the only place I have seen them other than secondhand thrift shops.


How to make semi-hard, unripened brined cheese I want to make semi-hard, unripened brined cheese, kind of like Nabulsi or Halloumi.

I already know how to make "fresh" cheese from cow milk, rennet and salt.

But, in my attempts, the resulting curds is far from being hard or semi-hard, unless I strain the curds many hours, but in the process I loose the freshness and fresh milk taste, and the cheese develop other more complex flavours, wich is usually good for a cheese, but not for the kind of cheese I want to make :)

I think I read somewhere that the curds in this kinds of semi-hard, unripened cheeses, just like mozzarella, needed to be cooked?

Is it possible to do this cheese with cow milk instead of goat milk?

For the brine, can I use the (in process produced) whey, in wich I add salt?

Can someone post a complete step by step procedure, or direct me to a web site with this procedure?

Thank you!

I've made halloumi with goat's milk (and cow's milk), and I found the goat's milk version to be preferable. Halloumi is traditionally made with a large percentage of goat's milk anyway. It's definitely one of those cheeses that needs the curds cooked - it helps the texture & helps it achieve that "resistant to melting" consistency it's famous for. It helps to be sure your milk is VERY fresh (and unpasteurized, if possible), to help achieve the firm curd you're looking for. Also, I wouldn't use the whey for a brine - make your brine fresh. here's help: cheesemaking.com/Halloumi.html


Can I use an oven instead of a dehydrator to prepare lentils for milling at home Can I use an oven instead of a dehydrator for grains and pulses?  Dehydrators are not so common in my neck of the woods.

From what I've heard you might be able to if your oven can be set on 170 degrees Fahrenheit and left propped open with a wooden spoon or something so the air escapes better


Why microwaves do not kill harmful bacteria as well as boiling? Medical Biochemistry point of view

My biochemistry teacher said today that the problem with micros is that they do not kill all harmful bacteria. He proposed boiling food instead.

I think there are two reasons.
Water can emit heat to bacteria from many more different directions than microwaves can. The heat frequency is changing all the time to the bacteria, since water is moving.
Radio waves can be applied only from discrete directions. To make microwaves better, I think reflection and different materials on the walls should be considered

I am not sure which one is the stronger reason why micros cannot make good food:

sequentially different waves - probably not
or heating bacteria from different angles by mirror/reflection - I think this is the main reason why boiling and oven is better

There at least two types of micros - wide ones and more vertical ones. I have had an intuition that the vertical ones can be more effective. They can send signals more broadly from the bottom, while the wide micros can send them only from one direction - left or right. Also, the reflection technique is easier to apply to those vertical micros, since the roof can be circular, while in the other boxes it is not possible.

Medical Microbiology point of view

Murray's book, Medical Biochemistry, says for different diseases, like Listeria's epidemiology that "Disease can occur if the food is uncooked or inadequately cooked (e.g. microwaved beef and turkey franks) before consumption.

This suggests me that there is some point of view why microwaved food is called "soft-food".
I will add pieces of evidence here when I explore more.

I'll go ahead and take a stab at answering this, even though the question is a bit vague. I assume by "cook" you mean "cook with a non-microwave method", like boiling, steaming, baking, frying, sauteeing, or anything else.

First of all, no, I can't think of any reason why microwaves would be worse than any other cooking method. If you fully cook something in a microwave, it is as safe as fully cooking it any other way. If the food reaches the same temperatures, and is held there for the same amount of time, the bacteria will be just as dead no matter what the heat source is. The heat supplied by a microwave is fairly similar to that supplied by steaming, and no one claims that steaming is an unsafe cooking method. The only thing I can think that would be unsafe is if you don't actually fully cook the food, but just heat it to the temperature that you want to eat it at. But that'd be a problem for any cooking method; dangerous undercooked meat is dangerous because of the temperature, not the cooking method. (And of course, not all food needs to be cooked to be safe.)

The arguments you suggest don't really make much sense to me, either. For the first, I don't have any idea what you mean by heat frequency or sequentially different waves; heat is not a wave, so I'm not sure how to respond. No matter how you're cooking something, heat is being transferred into the food. Heat caused by absorption of microwaves is no different from heat supplied by contact with boiling water, steam, pan, or the hot air in an oven. It's still heat transfer, and it makes the temperature go up. Different methods may heat more or less evenly, or at different speeds, but heat is heat.

As for your second suggestion, reflection of microwaves, well, that happens already. You may have noticed that the food in a microwave ends up hot on all sides; this is especially noticeable if it's a big solid piece of food like a casserole. It'll be hot on the top, the bottom, and the sides. The microwaves are reflected around; there's really no other way for it to be. If they weren't reflected they'd have to either be absorbed (meaning your microwave would heat itself up) or pass through the walls (meaning standing next to a microwave would be dangerous). And it'd be horribly inefficient, on top of that.

Of course, all the stuff about reflection and heating from all sides is still a moot point in terms of food safety. When you cook something in a pan on the stove, as long as you fully cook it, it's fine, even though it's only being heated from the bottom. All that matters is the temperature the food reaches.


Substituting mayonaise for vegetable oil I know there's a recipe for Mayonaise cake that is super moist.

I am baking sugar free brownies that are a bit dry, box recipe. I'd like to use mayo instead of oil and see if it comes out moister. However I am not sure what the equivalent? I know in the cake mix the oil is double. Not sure if the brownie mix would be the same?

Note that basic mayonnaise normally is made from egg yolks, oil, mustard, citron juice, salt and pepper. This is means that the flavors in mayonnaise are a bit sour. This is normally compensated with sugar in the recipe, but you are using a non-sugar recipe.

I think the idea of adding mayonnaise for the texture is ok. However I experienced the effect of making a cake becoming more moist from some other ingredients from which i think they fit more properly in a brownie recipe. You could replace the amount of oil by the same amount of applesauce. Or add some additional applesauce to the recipe (2 tablespoons I would say)
The flavors of applesauce do not seem to change the flavor of a cake a lot in practice. And applesauce is used in a lot of recipes to bake low fat. So in stand of sugar free you now have low fat brownies. If you still want it to be sugar free you can use or make some sugar free applesauce of course.
If you don't want to use applesauce you good think of adding a couple of tablespoons of vanilla pudding to the recipe. Or even chocolate pudding, to give your brownies even more chocolate flavor.
Also replacing some of the water you use in the recipe by some more oil can work. The water while evaporate during the baking. However, the oil does not do that, and stays liquid at room temperature after baking. This causes an moisty effect.

Note that you will almost always add some more sugar/oil in the recipe if you only want to use 'instant' products. If you want to make non-sugar/low fat brownies this may not be what you want. So you could also think about undercooking your brownies a little. So shorten the cooking time a little bit, so you don't cook your brownies 'dry' but still a bit undercooked in the middle. This makes it very moist, and personally I think the 'undercookedness' of brownies it actually the best think about them.


Why should you never re-freeze frozen vegetables? On the back of my bag of frozen broccoli florets it emphatically warns me to not refreeze defrosted vegetables. Why is that? What is wrong with refreezing vegetables after leaving them defrosted for a couple of hours?

I couldn't figure it out through a Google search. Thanks a bunch :)

The problem is two fold.
First is that thawing and unthawing make more and more water to penetrate to "object" breaking the cells. IMO such food (meat or veggies) become woody in texture and making it less tasty (sometimes I would even say I taste the freezer ice not the food).

Second is more serious. Bacteria. There are some bacteria, especially in your freezer, that develop once the food is thawing (or when the temp rise above certain degree). Such bacteria cannot be killed by re-freezing so each time you add more to the food. Same bacteria might not be killed by cooking.

NOTE: a food that have been once defrozen then properly prepared (cooked) can be refrozen again.


What methods are there of getting fresh local meat & produce? I often go to Whole Foods, but I feel like I'm getting ripped off there. I can walk out having spent $120 on a single bag of groceries. I try to get to a Farmer's Market occasionally, but not often enough I guess.

Are there other ways to buy as close to the farm as possible?

You can look for a CSA in your area, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture:

  CSAs consist of a system of weekly delivery
  or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in
  a vegetable box scheme, sometimes
  including dairy products and meat.

You can use http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ to try to find one in your area.


Can soft-boiled eggs be reboiled and turned into hard-boiled eggs? I recently boiled some eggs, then put them in the fridge.  When I went to use them, they were not boiled all the way through.  Can I reboil them or should I throw them away?

In terms of food safety, as long as the egg would have been safe to eat as it is (that is, it still is in its unbroken shell, has been cooled rapidly after cooking and then refrigerated), it is safe to recook.

In terms of quality, I am not sure that you will get a very palatable result.  You are likely to end up with overcooked and rubbery whites at the very least.


Cake Cooking Time: Burning on outside - raw in the middle I am doing some work in a volunteer kitchen and as part of our meals we provide cake that we bake in a big tray, we can only fit two on a rack in a commercial gas oven at a time.  Full gastronorm trays I think they are called.

All our recipes call for a temperature of 180 degrees C (356 F) 40 mins - we rotate them in the oven after 20 mins.

The depth of the cake mixture prior to baking is about 5cm (2 inches) - not unusual.

The cakes are vegan - no egg or butter, we use oil. The lack of egg would affect binding which may be relevant.  Essentially the recipes are vegan variations of a pound cake. (roughly by volume: 2 parts flour, 1 part each of oil, sugar, soy milk. Add in flavor, fruit etc. )

The problem is that by the time the cakes are cooked in the center, the outside is always burned. This seems to occur regardless of recipe to the point that our floor staff consider it normal to have to carve the burnt bits off the cake before serving.  It works - just not a good solution...

Things I have thought of:

1) Use a lower temperature - but longer time.  I don't want to go below 160 degrees or no maillard reaction (browning). But can't work out how much extra time I would need if I dropped the temperature by 10 or 20 degrees.

2) Chaining up the nameless idiot who keeps opening the oven door to see if the cakes are cooked yet. Said idiot swears that if he had an answer for number 1) then he would be able to restrain himself...

The tray size must have something to do with the problem, but I can't figure out what. I looked at the diffusion of heat - but it seems that the heat would be dominated by energy coming in from the top and bottom.

Possibly diffusion of steam?

Any other ideas?

This might have something to do with the amount of oil in your recipe. There is a lot of liquid - traditional pound cakes are traditional, but that doesn't mean that they're a good ratio.

Reduce ratio of oil to at least 1/4 and experiment from there - another factor is the type of oil that is being used. Certain types and qualities of oil have lower smoking points, and so burn at a lower temperature. I have tried recipes that use no oil (fat) whatsoever and remain successful.

Do you use any leavening agents? Baking powder/baking soda? If not, I would add 2tsp baking powder and 1/2tsp baking soda. As well as a pinch of salt.

Experiment by reducing the oven temperature to 160C or 325F, cook for an additional 15 - 20 minutes. To test done-ness, the traditional toothpick method is good (putting a toothpick into the thickest part of the cake and removing to check for crumb - crumbs mean more cooking) otherwise; if you press lightly on the surface of the dough and it 'springs' back, as well the cake should have pulled away from the outsides of the pan (I am a pastry chef and find this method most helpful).

If you continue to have difficulty, get that oven checked out.


How to simmer bone broth safely with an overnight pause? I'm making broth using beef bones and vegetables. I started by roasting 3lbs of bones with a bit of meat on them in the oven. Then I added them to a large stockpot, covered with cold water, and added 2T of apple cider vinegar. After 30 minutes rest, I added my veggies (celery, onions, and carrots) and seasonings to the pot, and brought it to a rapid boil. I turned it down to a simmer, where it's been for just the past 30 or so minutes.

I started this process late at night, knowing that it takes 12-24 hours of simmer time for a good stock. But I didn't realize my family is not comfortable with me leaving the stove on all night, so I'll have to turn the stove off in about 2 hours.

How can I save my stock? Can I leave the covered pot on the stove (in the off position) for a couple hours? Should I put the whole pot in the fridge? Or should I take it off the heat now and do something else with it?

You definitely can't just leave it on the stove; that'd mean far longer than 2 hours in the danger zone. (See for example How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?)

If cooking until it's done is out of the question, you need to try to chill it. Putting the whole pot in the fridge might not be the best approach, though; it could take quite a while to cool down. Even if that's less than 2 hours, you're going to go through another cycle later, and the time is cumulative.

The best thing you can do is probably to use an ice bath to help chill it faster.


How can I cure and store bacon in a warm climate? I know bacon was originally a meat preservation method. Now it is just for flavor and manufacturers take shortcuts that make it need refrigeration. I have read in other answers that it is possible to find fully cured bacon that does not need to be refrigerated. Bacon curing recipes indicate that the process must occur in a "cool, dry place".

I live in Texas. It is rarely dry and never cool. Do I need to have a temperature controlled fridge to cure bacon? Is there bacon that can be safely stored at relatively warm temperatures? Say up to 85-90F?

Bacon used to be a staple of cowboys, so was it historically more like jerky?

Most bacon home curing methods you will read use a semi-dry cure where the bacon is covered in a cure mixture then allowed to sit in the resulting brine made of salts, sugars, and exuded liquid from the meat.  This is probably due to the fact that most people are more comfortable using their fridge and are also only making a small amount of bacon.  The key to what you are looking for is dry curing with drainage.  By using a cure mixture which includes nitrates (traditional) or nitrites (modern) as well as a draining board or table you produce a quickly cured meat product that is stable and can be produced at higher than fridge temperatures.  The drawbacks are that the final product will have a greater loss of meat weight due to the loss of water, the product will have more pronounced flavor, and will be saltier but it will also be better preserved. This method is best for meats that will not be cooked but smoked and air-dryed or just air-dryed. It is the best curing method for people living in hot climate or having no refrigeration.

In the South, bacon and ham production is something that was traditionally done in the late Autumn to take advantage of the natural cooling to reduce spoilage during the air drying portion of the curing process.  The second traditional foodway that allowed bacon to be a staple in the South was the use of root cellars.

Method:

To guarantee continuous supply of salt and uninterupted curing of the meat, the dry curing is performed in a few stages.

The cure ingredients should be thoroughly mixed. The mix should be rubbed into the meat at a ratio of 1:100, curing salt mixture to meat, by weight. During this initial salting of the meat, it is important to thoroughly cover all surface of the meat piece with the salt mixture, because the high salt level and the cooler temperatures are the only means of protection against the growth of spoilage bacteria.
Then the meats would then be packed tightly in a container with larger pieces like hams on the bottom and smaller pieces on the top so that each piece will retain its shape. The meats are packed skin down. Liquid drawn from the meat will accumulate on the bottom of the container and if the holes were made it would drain off. (If you want to experiment with smaller amounts of meat you can perform this part of the process on a flat tray set at an angle to allow juices to drain away or in a perforated pan.)

The rule of thumb is 2 days of curing for each pound of original meat weight.  Flip the meat after 3 days, and then again every 7 days thereafter, making sure that there is salt covering the entire surface.  (For bacon that would be stored for a long time or subject to higher temperatures they would most likely overhaul the cure, replacing the salt mixture 1 or more times during the process.)

After curing is complete, the meat pieces must be rinsed in fresh water to remove any crystalized salt that accumulates on the surface that would prevent sucessful smoke penetration. Blot dry then hang the meats or place on wire mesh to dry overnight. Store meat in a refrigerator or cool root cellar overnight or for up to 2 days. Allowing the bacon to dry uncovered in a cool place the night before you plan to smoke it encourages smoke retention through pellicle formation.
At this point you would smoke the bacon and then let it air dry in a cool barn (during Autumn and Winter) or a root cellar.  Like country hams, the bacon would likely be stored by hanging it in the root cellar in a muslin sack.
Bacon produced this way is saltier than modern bacon.  If you find it too salty, you can blanch it in simmering water for 30-60 seconds immediately before frying to reduce the salt.

Curing Methods Info


How do you make pork rinds? The little bit I currently know is that they're fried pig skins. However, beyond that it's just a bunch of hand-waving on my part.

Do you buy pig skin from a butcher?
Is there a special type you need?
How do you judge pig skin quality?
I'm assuming they're deep fried, does the oil matter?
Are they a difficult thing to make in your home?

Funnily enough I made some of these just a week ago. They're not at all difficult to make and you can use any rind, which your butcher should be able to supply.

Depending on your health considerations, you can oven cook them or you can part oven cook part fry.

Oven cook method:

Cut the rinds into 4 by 4cm pieces
Place in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes
allow to cool, then place in the fridge until the skins feel 'dry' approx 2 hours
Preheat the oven to 220c(425f) and place the rinds on a baking sheet. Season and place in the oven
Turn the oven down to 180c(350f) and cook for about an hour. You will need to drain the fat a couple of times.
Let them cool and add more seasoning, if needed.

The Oven/Fry method

Cut the rinds into pieces that will fit on a rack over a baking tray (not small pieces)
Half fill a baking tray with water and place the seasoned rinds on a rack over they tray
Roast these in the oven at 220 to 230c(350 to 450f) for 10 to 15 minutes. When they've changed colour and start to bubble they're done.
Remove form the oven and cut into 4 by 4cm strips
In a pan half filled with very hot veggie oil or a deep fat fryer, cook in batches until they 'puff' up around 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove and let the oil be taken-up by paper towel. Season and you're good to go.

I tried both methods and I preferred the second, something about frying them just 'felt' right :)


Is this Kabocha squash bad? I just cut open Kabocha that I picked up yesterday at the farmers market and noticed some strange spots. Is this ok to cook?

No this not ok to cook because it looks like that it is rotten.


How can I alter this high-protein brownie recipe? I'm on a mission to make myself the highest of high-protein brownies. However, the recipes I've found for "high-protein" brownies are lacking in the protein area and I'm after some delicious gains here. I don't care about low carbs, low fat, low calorie, keto, paleo, whatever. Honestly, I'm just sick of drinking protein shakes and I've decided I'm just baking my own brownies.

So far, I've found the following recipe, which has an acceptable protein content, and I'm using it as a starting point.

  1 scoops chocolate whey protein
  2 tbs powdered peanut butter
  2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  1/2 tsp baking powder
  1 dash cinnamon
  1 pinch salt
  1 tbs syrup any flavour
  1 large egg
  1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

  Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl; beat in egg until incorporated. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until there are no clumps. Pour batter into a greased mug and microwave for 60-90 seconds. Enjoy immediately.

I made it yesterday and, while it tasted good, I wouldn't quite call it a brownie. It was airy and fluffy, more like a cake. So, I'm looking to change a few things but I have pretty poor baking knowledge.

Is there a way I can bake this in the oven? In the end, I'd like to make larger batches.
What can I change to make it denser, like a brownie, rather than airy?
Can I change anything to increase the protein per calorie factor?

Sub soy milk for the almond milk, that's easy.
Can I sneak in more whey protein?

Your goals here contradict each other. The reason that a brownie has a brownie-like texture is that it is made out of brownie batter. When you start leaving out some ingredients and pushing different ingredients into the batter, the texture of the resulting product changes. And when you add more protein, you end up with something that's drier than a brownie, because protein produces baked goods with a dry mouthfeel.

To make the whole thing more brownie-like, you will have to add fat and some sugar. Flour is not needed, as it will increase the airiness. Maybe start by replacing the cocoa powder by dark chocolate which you melt over a water bath and add butter into it to melt. Also reduce the liquid (the almond milk - if you wish, add soy milk instead, it is the water content that is problematic here), and add more syrup, or better, dissolve some sugar in the liquid. Also, using powdered cream is likely to give you better results than powdered whey, and you won't need the chocolate flavoring from the whey mixture anyway when you are working with real chocolate. The mixture should be suitable for baking in the oven.

Once you have gotten something reasonably brownie-like that way, you can try to start sneaking protein back in in increments, but pay attention to the texture. It will start going more in the direction of commercial protein bars with too much extra processed protein. You may get away with a bit more by adding more egg yolks, but do not increase the egg whites or you will get the texture further away from a brownie.


Is there a way to handmake alphabet pasta? Is there a way to handmake alphabet pasta? I want to make the small pasta the is shaped into letters that is sometimes used for alphabet soup for kids.

It's usually about half a cm in length. And I cannot imagine that if I cut letters out they will keep their shape if they are that small. And it would take ages. I would guess there must be a device you push the pasta through so that it would get the right shape, but cannot find any reference of such a device.

Thank you

That's the exact way alphabet pasta is made in industries, it is called extrusion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_extrusion)

Considering rheology specifications, I think you can repurpose a clay extruder for that, but not sure if there is an alphabet attachment for the tip. Mind that it is only productive if you are going to make a LOT pasta since you're going to make a lot of the same letter before moving on to the next.

(Clay extruder: https://www.amazon.com/Makins-USA-35055-Professional-Ultimate/dp/B0018BOXWQ/)


Add fresh yogurt to whipping cream to make creme fraiche? Can I use fresh yogurt instead of cultured buttermilk, to add to heavy cream (35%) and make creme fraiche?

I learned that adding cultured butter milk to heavy whipping cream makes creme fraiche. I was wondering if I can use my fresh yogurt strain to do this.

Any tips?

Thank you!

No, creme fraiche needs specific cultures, which are not yogurt cultures, and lower fermentation temperature.

If you use yogurt with Lactobacilicus Bulgaricus to innoculate your cream, and a standard yogurt process, you will get smetana (schmand). This is a dairy product with the same fat content as creme fraiche, but a different, sharper, flavor profile. It's typically used in Eastern European cuisine.

I have never fermented cream with bifidobacteria or streptococi, but if you do, you should get yet another kind of sour cream, that's not exactly creme fraiche.

The best way to make creme fraiche is not to use other dairies, but to buy the appropriate starter culture. As long as your process is correct and your hygiene standard sufficient, you will be able to do dozens of reinnoculations without the need to buy new starter.


Does peppermint flavour work with orange flavour? I want to make some cupcakes. I want to flavour the body with orange and the top with peppermint (along some blue colouring). Would this work, on a taste level?

EDIT
The reason why I am asking this is because I am allergic to egg and as such cannot taste to see if it works or not.

There are two main approaches to pairing: experience and (not always reliable, but sometimes surprising) chemical similarity.

On the experience side, The Flavor Bible's listing for "oranges – in general" lists "mint" as a very highly recommended pairing (level 3 of 4). However, on the reverse it lists "orange" only as suggested by a few experts as a pairing (level 1) for "mint – in general" – a surprising asymmetry. Orange isn't listed at all under the specific entry for peppermint.

The conclusion I would draw from that is that for your scenario in which orange is the base and peppermint is the highlight, it should work.

On the chemical side,

  The main constituents [of peppermint oil] are identical in all oil varieties, but the relative ratios vary widely. Constituents include alpha- and beta-pinene, limonene, cineol, ethyl amylcarbinol, menthone, isomenthone menthofuran, menthol, neomenthol, isomenthol menthyl acetate and piperitone. The oil contains: menthone: 15 to 32%; esters (menthyl acetate) 3 to 10%; and menthol: 30.0 to 55.0%.

(Source: Fenaroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients). Of those at least the pinenes and limonene are also found in orange; they're chiral, and I don't know whether peppermint and orange have the same enantiomers, but the pairing looks plausible.

Both approaches look positive, so give it a go and post back when you have empirical evidence either way!


How can I get weak-tasting tomatoes? I love the weak tomatoes that you get at fast food restaurants like Subway. Whenever I buy tomatoes from the grocery store or the farmer's market, they're too strong and I end up throwing them out.

Do restaurants like Subway use weak breeds of tomatoes, or do they have some kind of process for making their tomatoes weak?

Buy "hot house" tomatoes, particularly off-season.  You'll be good to go.


How to prepare squid to avoid spermataphores I was just reading about how some people, when eating squid, have ended up with squid spermataphores in their mouth. Apparently, it is painful (and not that appetizing for me). I am wondering how to prepare squid so that this part is removed.  Can this also happen with octopus?

Based on the article SAJ14SAJ linked to in the comments, in the only known case in which this happened with cooked squid, it was parboiled, and almost certainly not fully cooked: "the whole squid spent just a few seconds in boiling water". If the squid is cooked, then the spermatophore will be inactive, and nothing bad is going to happen. (Living things tend to stop moving once they're cooked and dead.)

If you're trying to completely safely eat raw squid, I expect you need some squid anatomical knowledge which I don't have, so you'll want to wait for another answer.


How to make my cinnamon rolls less bready? I make it like this 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 margarine, 3/4 flour, 25 ounce yeast, 1/4 white sugar, 1/4 water, one egg.

I leave it for thirty minutes, and it hardly rises. When cooked, the taste and texture are a bit too bready. How do I make it less bready?

Didn't write the filling because that turns out right, I just have problem with the dough itself.
I use self-rising dough meant for cake.

This is borderline unclear what you're asking but I'll take a shot at it. Cinnamon rolls are made using a fortified yeast dough. Fortified means that there is butter/shortening and/or eggs added, which slow down the yeast action.

There are a few things that aren't right with what you are doing.

you are using self-rising flour in a recipe that is supposed to be leavened by yeast. Self rising flour is usually lower in gluten content and contains leavening agents. You want to use regular flour so you get the right gluten content, also you may not have the right acid balance for your self-rising flour which could lead to the leavening agents not working and adding off flavors. You don't need the leavening agents if you are doing it right
too much yeast: I think you aren't adding 25oz of yeast, but if you are then one packet is enough!
I don't think you have the right balance between moisture and flour. Your recipe has 1 cup of water and milk to 3/4 cup flour, this will make a batter, not a dough. You need to at least triple the amount of flour
too short a rising time: 30 minutes is simply not enough time for the yeast to work. You need to wait until the dough at least doubles in size, which usually takes between 1-2 hours. You need to aim for the amount of rise, not a time as there are many factors which can affect this. If it's not rising at all then you've got dead yeast - either it's gotten too old, been exposed to too much heat, or exposed to salt

I suggest you start with an entirely different recipe as the one you have put up has a lot which needs to be fixed. Given that there's not nearly enough flour and you are not proofing it anywhere near long enough I can't see you getting a decent result.


How to serve fresh bao buns So I would like to make bao buns fresh on my food truck. What would be the best method of steaming. I proof, roll out and proof again then steam for 10 minutes. I guess I can't steam them to order, what would be the best way to go about this. Should I just make as many as I can in the morning? what would be the best way to store them to keep them soft and moist. Should I re-steam before serving?

I appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

Bao are very forgiving.  Food truck aside for a moment, as I don't know what kind of equipment you are carrying, bao can be prepared, steamed, cooled, then frozen.  They can be re-steamed directly from the freezer prior to service with no problem.  You can also make them on the day they will be served. You can steam, cool/refrigerate, then re-steam...or time it so that they are in the steamer during service. Depending on your volume, you can just keep a steamer stocked with the right number of buns.  They can hang out there for a while with no problem.


How to make sparkling powder for candy? When I was young, someone taught me how to make this powder you find on candy.  It's acidic and seems to "sparkle" in the mouth, but I don't know the name and so I can't find a recipe.

I suppose I need to use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), but aside from that, I can't remember what's in it.

What's the name of this powder and how is it made?

I assume you mean sherbet, which is made by mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar (also called icing or confectioner's sugar) with 1 tsp of baking soda (also called bicarbonate of soda) and 1 tsp of powdered citric acid. Altering the proportion of soda (alkali) to citric acid makes it more or less fizzy.


Safety of (re)cooking potentially raw beef from delivery We ordered-in Pho last night, and I got mine with "medium-rare beef".

When it arrived however, the meat looked raw (unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of it). It was wrapped in plastic wrap, balled up into a clump (it actually looked like brain), and placed on top of the sprouts and noodles (the soup base was separate). When I unwrapped it, it turned out to be a couple extremely thinly-cut slices lumped together.

Now, I'm used to eating near-raw beef (I have my steaks cooked blue-rare when possible), but this still looked a tad slimy. I couldn't eat it as-is.

I didn't want to waste it though, so I heated up a pan with some canola oil and fried the beef and veggies until I was satisfied that it was cooked.

Are there any safety concerns in doing this? I realized after that if it was indeed raw, the transport time might have been long enough for toxins to be produced that wouldn't have been destroyed when I cooked it.

Is that really a concern? Is there anything else I should have been aware of? If this was unsafe, is there anything I could have done to make it safe to eat?

It is common, when preparing pho, to add raw, thinly sliced beef to the piping hot broth.  That way the broth essentially cooks the beef.  So what you received is not surprising.  It is impossible to know, from what you have written, if there are safety concerns.  IF the beef was handled correctly at the restaurant, and IF you received and cooked the beef within 2 hours of it being in the "danger zone" (if it was in the danger zone...impossible to know without understanding how it was transported), then there is not a safety concern.


How to fry big potato pancakes for hungarian pancakes? Good hungarian pancakes use potato pancakes the size of a big plate as base under the goulash. I never managed to successfully flip such a pancake. I can make small ones that occupy 1/3 of the pan just fine, but if I try anything bigger, they tear, roll, leak the batter... I have a hard time sticking the spatula under them to let the oil in and keep them from sticking to the pan without destroying them in the process - I can't flip them right for the life of me.

I know there are techniques involving two pans, or a plate, where you flip the whole pan (and somehow miraculously not end up with hot oil all over your kitchen) but I do know people manage to flip them using just one pan and some kind of spatula. What's the art?

I guess it involves batter just right, the right temperature, oil depth and pancake thickness, and waiting just long enough so that the batter solidifies all across the pancake during frying the first side. In my case the batter from the surface tends to leak off it as I'm halfway through flipping, or splash everywhere when the pancake lands, or just tears. I nearly burnt one side of the pancake yesterday trying to get it hard enough that it wouldn't depend on spatula underlying most of its surface, and still the other side was quite runny. I don't want to buy another pan just for that, and I'm afraid I'll end up with oil all over the kitchen if I try flipping it onto a plate (I found only using a plenty of oil I'm getting any reasonable results, otherwise it's just thin burnt crust under runny batter.) I just can't get it to the right state to be flippable.

What's the secret?

The secret is to use non-stick frying pans. I love cast iron and stainless steel, however when it comes to eggs or potatoes I tend to fall back on the inexpensive, teflon-coated aluminum frying pan because of the very issues you've described. They also require less oil for cooking, so less chance of getting hot oil on you.

You need the pan to be hot enough at the beginning when you pour the batter on, otherwise the pan will cool too much and the batter will adhere rather than forming a crust, then no matter what you do the result won't be good. Small pancakes won't cool the pan as much which may be why they come out better. I would try putting the pan on as hot a heat as possible (use an oil with a high smoke point like corn or sunflower) and get it smoking hot before you pour the batter on. Then keep it high for a minute, maybe two before turning it down. This should form a crust while on the highest heat, and turning it down will prevent it from burning. As for how much to turn it down and how soon depends on your stove, pans, and batter so some trial and error will be in order.

As for flipping technique, I would flip it using the whole pan, using the spatula to guide it a bit. It takes a bit of practice but it really is the simplest way. You could use a two-pan technique as you mentioned, you'd want to get an identically sized pan up to temperature, invert it over the cooking pan, then flip the whole assembly over. Any spare oils is a worry as you say, but if you are using non-stick you don't need that much oil so chances are it will be ok. The trouble is you can't have much oil on the fresh pan as you are turning it over.

No matter the technique you use the most important thing is to make sure the pancake is free to move. You do this by working the spatula around the pancake until the whole pancake slides around. Once it slides freely you can flip it without worrying about it sticking.


What flavor (if any) do ti leaves impart? How about substitutes? I'm just back from a trip to Hawaii, and hot to make an oven version of kalua-style turkey. Of course, all the recipes call for Ti leaves for wrapping the whole thing up. I don't think I can easily get Ti leaves locally, though I know I can get Banana leaves. I know that you can't just substitute banana leaves because they do have a slight anise flavor--fine if you want it, but definitely not the same.

The problem is I don't know what flavor, if any, ti leaves impart to cooked items. In the case of kalua-style cooking, the leaves are used as a steam-retaining wrap in a low temperature, long cooking situation. Our hosts in Hawaii said they didn't think they have a flavor, but I'm not so sure. There was definitely a slight plant-y flavor to the turkey that I couldn't readily identify.

Does anyone know if Ti leaves have a flavor and what it might be like?

If folks think there's not any (or very little) flavor imparted, what might be a good substitute if I can't get them?

it has to do with moisture. The ti leaves are to help with the internal steaming. You can use dried corn husks you can get in a Mexican super market. Soak them for 10 minutes and then wrap your item with it. It works well. I've done this for lau lau before and should work with your turkey.


Can cashew milk go bad, and how do you tell? How can you tell if your cashew milk has gone bad? If it is past the freshness code on package?

Yes, it can go bad.

The date on the package is one indication, but it may be a "best by"  date and does not guarantee the milk will go bad by then. It doesn't necessarily mean it is guaranteed safe, either, although most stores will give you a refund on product that spoils early.

Look for the following signs (written for almond milk, but cashew milk follows the same rules):

  the container seems abnormally bloated after opening
  mold is present
  any funky or pungent odors
  the product has curdled or is visibly thick and slimy (observe the consistency when putting)
  a change in color, as almond milk may appear more yellow when it has spoiled

Source


Plain flour or strong bread is there any difference when making a cake Could you please tell me if it is possible to use strong bread making flour when baking a cake when the recipe calls for plain flour.

Flours are different in their protein content. More protein means more gluten means more structure. Strong bread flour has a lot of protein, cake flour has very little, so a cake made with strong bread flour will not be as light and fluffy as with all purpose (medium protein) or cake flour. If all you have is the bread flour and you want to bake a cake, you can cut it with corn starch (see link below).

https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-cake-flou-74565