Need to remove germ from garlic or onion? My mate always tells me to remove the germ (the center) from garlic and onions, especially if it's turning green. What are the pros and cons of the germs of these plants?

So... I was always taught that you remove it because it's bitter. I generally remove it if it's big enough.

However, there seems to be some contention as to whether this is true (and to what degree it's true). See:
http://www.examiner.com/article/remove-the-garlic-germ-few-do-this-anymore
and
http://ruhlman.com/2011/02/garlic-germ/

In short, there are mixed teachings as to whether you should remove it. But essentially the germ DOES affect the taste of garlic. Some call it bitter, some call it "more garlicky". Ruhlman suggests that if you're hitting it with heat immediately, then there isn't a point in removing it. If he's doing something that will have the garlic sitting around, then he doesn't.

From this what I'd suggest (and what I'm going to try doing from now on) is to ignore it and if you notice a difference in taste, or more importantly find the result objectionable. then take it out next time. Otherwise don't bother as you won't know the difference.


Name of dish - eggs + flour + bread crumbs (+ baking powder) When I was breading I had some leftovers so I decided to mix them together and fry to check if it is edible. It wasn't bad though it was very dense.
Today I tried to make it from scratch and add baking powder. I got something similar to pancake or omelette. I presume recipe is simple enough that humans discovered it long time ago and it has name.

I'd say "pancake" is indeed the correct name.
For something as simple as a pancake the number of different recipes is astonishing. You'll find variations with more or less eggs, with or without whipping the eggs, with or without baking powder, with or without added milk or water, sweet and savory variations. Some recipes substitute some flour with starch or other ingredients like coconut or almond flour.
Adding bread crumbs isn't anything I read in a recipe before, but I doubt it makes too much of a difference to call the result anything else but a "pancake".


Does glutinous rice flour function differently from regular rice flour as a coating? I am going to try making wasabi peas despite a dearth of recipes online. I've read the list of ingredients of several brands, most (including my favorite) contain glutinous rice flour. Others contain rice flour, still others only tapioca and/or corn starch.

My favorite wasabi peas have a very crunchy coating that really looks like it should contain egg whites, but doesn't. Wasabi Peas I've never achieved a coating like that on anything using any starch I'm familiar with, so I'm wondering if glutinous rice flour is key?

I haven't tried either but I found this, which seems helpful:

"there is a big difference between the two..where i come from.(malaysia).we use rice flour to make banana fritters (deep fried in rice flour batter thus giving it a crispy crunchy batter) while glutinous rice flour will give a sticky texture..u cant deep fry the batter but its normally used to make sweet desserts where u boil the cakes in boiling water..when they are cooked they will float and voila... "

I found this recipe online that uses egg whites for the coating. The recipe says wasabi peanuts but picture is of wasabi peas.


Why does slightly cooked (wilted) spinach give me dry mouth but not raw or fully cooked? I used raw spinach in salads.  I use it well cooked in soups, pies, and sauteed by itself.  For some recipes (mostly in omelettes)  I like it flash-fried, just to the point it starts wilting.   And in those recipes, it leaves me with a dry mouth for an hour after I eat it.  Any clues?
If it is of any relevance, I only buy fresh pre-washed baby spinach so I cannot compare to other kinds, or to frozen, or to spinach I wash myself.

Oxalates most likely.
Cooking doesn't change the oxalates but I reckon how it is chewed, more vrs less, might be the reason.
Wilted seems the chewiest to me.
"Spinach contains a high amount of oxalic acids which contain small crystals that do not dissolve in water. These oxalate crystals are released from spinach as you chew, coating the teeth, resulting in that chalky or gritty feeling"


How can I tell when the wax has been removed from citrus fruit? This evening I tried different ways (taken from other cooking forums) of removing the wax coating from lemons.

Pouring boiling water over
In a bowl with (initially) boiling water for five minutes
Scrubbing with warm water and dishwashing liquid
Scrubbing with warm water and ascorbic acid
Scrubbing with warm water and baking soda.

After each trial I rubbed the lemons with a tea cloth. The methods involving boiling water produced slightly tacky, but less glossy lemons. The other methods made no obvious difference. No method really impressed me, and in the end I couldn't say if one method was better than another.

Before I experiment further, I would like to find a more objective technique for judging the results.

Some methods left the lemons looking as glossy as they were to begin with. Other methods left the skin feeling slightly tacky. Neither of these outcomes seems right to me, although I'm hampered by the fact that I live in a country where you don't see many lemon trees. I'm not quite sure how an unwaxed lemon looks and feels.

Is there some way that I can unambiguously tell whether the wax coating applied to prolong the shelf life of a citrus fruit has been successfully removed?

The best way to remove wax from citrus is simply to wash it with dish soap under warm, running water. Don't obsess about how long you should wash the fruit; usually the wax application is very thin and quickly removed.

There is no easy way to tell whether you have removed the wax, so if you return citrus to fridge after removing the wax, you might want to add a sticker to the fruit, or somehow indicate in another way that it has been washed, so that you know to use that piece of fruit promptly.

The true indicator that you have removed the wax is that the citrus will spoil more rapidly :(


"Cooking" with acid (ceviche) At a tappas bar, I had shrimp ceviche. In this dish, the shrimp is "cooked" not by high temperature but by the citric acid of its marinade. This would be really fun to make at home. For such dishes, should you stick to tested recipes? Or is there a way to figure out: what kind of acids will work, what kinds of meats will work, and when the meat is sufficiently "cooked"?

Edit: Added quotes around "cooked" since, as Bob pointed out, the meat is not cooked per se.

Ceviche is not exactly "cooked", but the acid causes the proteins to become denatured in a similar way. It may not kill all bacteria and parasites as effectively as cooking (with heat), so like sdg said, it's safest to use food that you would eat raw.

"Sushi grade" can refer to the fat content of the fish (like the USDA grades for beef marbling) rather than an assurance of its safety, so don't rely on that to pick out ingredients. Saltwater fish should be frozen at sea both for freshness and to kill parasites, and I prefer to get individually quick frozen (IQF) shrimp both for their freshness and convenience. Saltwater fish at your local supermarket has been previously frozen, so you're usually better off just buying frozen fish and thawing it yourself, unless you're really pressed for time.

Freshwater fish should not be used in a raw preparation, including ceviche.


Food safety of meat vs. veggies and fruit with mold on them Obviously, it's bad to eat moldy food, so I don't do so. However, the other day I was presented with both an old pot roast and asparagus in the fridge, both of which had grown mold. Of course, I tossed them both, with some regret (the roast was tasty while it lasted).

While talking to a friend, they mentioned that moldy meat is more likely to cause problems (sickness, death) than moldy fruits or veggies. Since the asparagus was only moldy on the stem end you snap off anyway, they said I could probably have eaten the rest of it (after some judicious cooking).

The question: Is moldy meat worse than moldy plants (i.e. are you less likely to get sick eating moldy asparagus than moldy steak)? Further, if it is worse, why? Is it that meat-mold can eat us, too (as humans are meat), while the plant-mold doesn't eat meaty matter as well as plant matter?

No, the mold on meat isn't especially bad. It won't eat your insides. But still, moldy meat is worse than moldy plants.

Mold itself isn't a strong health concern. It can't cause an illness, and doesn't grow in the human stomach. There are some kinds which produce metabolic byproducts poisonous for humans, and this means that you shouldn't eat moldy food, because you don't know which type of mold it has, unless you know that the type is benign, such as in a piece of Roquefort cheese. But if you see a moldy vegetable and throw away the moldy part plus a generous part of the healthy-looking tissue (mold "roots" are invisible without a microscope, what you see on the surface is only its "flowers"), you have a non-neglible risk of ingesting a small amount of mold, but the probability of it containing toxins strong enough to cause symptoms is very, very small. So it is reasonably safe to eat the healthy parts of plants which had mold growing somewhere on them.

The problem is that mold grows in the same conditions as bacteria do, only more slowly. When food is stored under improper conditions (or for too long a time under proper conditions), if a mold starts growing and reaches a stage where it is visible, in this time all the bacteria capable of growing on this food will have multiplied into unimaginable numbers (remember, bacteria grow exponentially, with a generation cyclus often as short as 20 to 30 minutes).

Both plants and meat in our food supply have some chance of contamination with pathogenic organisms like salmonella, E. coli, and something-resistant SA (it isn't only MRSA which is bad for you, a staphylococcus can be resistant to any number of antibiotics besides methicillin). But these grow on protein, not on vegetables (insofar, your logic for the mold holds). So you are reasonably safe eating a thoroughly washed vegetable - even if it does have some human pathogens, there will be only a handful of them, even after days of non-refrigerated storage, and almost everyone's immune system can cope with that. But if you eat meat which was left in microorganism-friendly conditions for long enough that mold creates visible spots, you are eating colonies of bacteria numbering in the billions, even after cutting the moldy part away. If one of these colonies happens to be a pathogen, your risk of getting ill is very high.

Actually, it was probably high enough hours or days before the mold became visible. Heating to the guidelines temperature doesn't ensure that all bacteria die, it ensures that out of a hypothetical contamination, only one in 1 000 000 is left alive. But if left in a pot full of food, these bacteria left can start multiplying and reach their previous numbers after a few generations. So be mindful of the time cooked food spends in the fridge, even if you don't see or smell any alteration. But if you see mold on meat, it means that every reasonable risk limit for eating it has long been crossed. Just throw it away, period.


Adding salt to the oil making potato chips As a follow-up question, reading this recipe the question comes to mind is that what happens if I add salt to the oil instead of sprinkling salt on chips after they're removed from the oil? Sprinkling salt on chips would make them too salty or not-as-salty-as-desired, so I prefer to add salt to the oil. But I've heard it might make the cooking time longer, is it true?

Potato chips have to be fried in lots of oil. If you are using little, you are doing it wrong and your chips are less tasty than they could be.

As Preston Fitzgerald mentioned in a comment, salt doesn't dissolve in oil. It could be that it will fall to the bottom. Alternatively, the convection in the hot oil could move it around. But still, the salt will tend to stay in the oil and not cling to the potatoes. Even if an oiled flake meets the potato, it will not stick, the oil will lubricate it enough to prevent sticking. If you salt the raw potatoes instead, the salt will dissolve in their wetness and coat them evenly.

Your popcorn is entirely different. There, your small amounts of oil, including any salt floating in them, will cling to the popcorn. This is different from frying, where only a tiny fraction of the oil will stay on the potato. Besides, you can't salt corn kernels before popping - the salt will just fall off the hard dry surface. The potato is perfectly salted before.


Can panettone paper molds be used for other things? Can the paper forms used to make panettone be used to bake cake batter? Any cake, a basic dough, sponge cake, chiffon, genoise, etc.

Yes, they can be used for other dishes. I've never done it myself, so I cannot elaborate.

I scanned the Amazon reviews for a panettone paper. I saw people had used them for sweet bread, muffins, some used it for cheesecake. I imagine the papers could be used for souffles and quiches.

One Amazon reviewer mentioned you may need to increase the moisture in your recipe since the paper soaks up some of the liquid.

In any use, I would pan it in a way where spillage would be contained.


Can Creme Fraiche be substituted for Heavy Cream in a Cream Sauce? I am trying to make a past dish and I need to know if I can substitute Creme Fraiche for Heavy Cream in the recipe I am using. Said recipe calls for:

  Cream Sauce
    1 quart heavy cream
    1 head garlic, roasted
    1/2 teaspoon pepper
    2 teaspoons salt
    1 cup parmesan cheese

Actually I would disagree to some extent with the other two answers - I think you can use creme fraiche instead.

I agree with MStodd that it will certainly give a different flavour and texture to the sauce, but if you're just looking for a healthier base to a pasta sauce, I'd say it's fine to substitute. Also as daniel mentions, you have to be careful not to overheat it (although the same is true of cream), as it will curdle.

In my experience, creme fraiche is great to make a very quick and easy pasta sauce. Put it in right at the end of cooking, once everything else is properly cooked and just heat enough so it is warmed through.

It comes down to whether you are wanting to achieve the same flavours though - if you are, maybe you could try what I would call single cream (not sure what it would be called in the US), and thicken the sauce with a bit of cornflour mixed with cold water.


5 Day marinated chicken breast Bought chicken breast on Sunday and put in marinade.  It is now Thursday.  Chicken has turned a bit white . . . is it safe to cook and eat at 5 days in marinade?

2 days is usually the max for chicken in the fridge that is officially recommend, 5 days is definitely on the long side.  Pending the sell by date that the chicken had originally.

Color is just the marinade, it's the bacteria you need to be concerned about.  Hard to tell if chicken has gone bad in a marinade.

Good acidic or high salt marinade, you are probably safe.   Really up to you if you want to take the small risk or just throw away.


Can I use the juice from pickles to make bread? I finished a jar of pickles the other day and was trying to figure out what to do with the half a jar of pickle juice that was left behind so I didn't have to just pour it down the drain. I thought maybe you could use it instead of water to make bread with a pickle flavor to it. I thought it may be good for sandwiches where you're normally add pickles, or even for cheeseburger pizza crust. So, is this a completely horrible idea (like my wife thinks), or could it work?

You don't have to use water as the liquid in your bread. Enriched breads use milk and/or eggs. We have recently had questions about breads which use orange juice.

On the technical side, you have to adjust recipe a little. Pickle juice doesn't have much dissolved solids, so no need to adjust for that. However, it is very salty, so you should reduce or completely leave out the salt. The acidity will help with gluten development and also with breaking down the starches in flour to make them available for chemical reactions which produce more flavour, so this is a good thing to have. However, yeast itself has some strong pH preferences. It grows best in a slightly acidic environment, but if the dough gets too basic or too sour, it will slow down or not grow at all. I think that the diluted vinegar in the pickle water won't oversour the dough, but it would be a good idea to make the poolish with pure water and only add pickle water for the dough itself.

As for taste, I can't say that much without ever having tried it, but my intuition says that you will get a whiff of pickles, but not a full-blown taste. After all, bread made with orange juice doesn't taste like biting into an orange. I think you will notice the difference, but you will still have to add pickles to your sandwiches for taste (and they are needed for the crunch anyway). As for horrible, it depends entirely on personal taste. I am not a fan of pickles or soured breads, and wouldn't eat it. There are people who drink the pickle water from the jar; I think they will enjoy the pickle-smelling bread too. If you are a pickle fan, I think it is worth a try, if it doesn't work, you only throw out under a dollar's worth of ingredients.


Do yellow lentils sprout after submersion for a few hours? Yellow lentils. Not consumed fast enough. Organic. Bought bulk at a health food store 28-29 months ago and kept in a sealed jar.

After leaving them in water for 3-4 hours, they seem to be sprouting. Is that possible, so fast?

One concern is that the sprouting tips appear to be breaking off. Is that a sign that storage for nearly 30 months is excessive and the jar should be discarded?

Worst case scenario: the minuscule tips that appear to have broken off are entirely static (they do not move). Could these conceivably be (dead) worms?

Another thought: my indoor potted plants seem to blossom quite happily in April. It's as if they know it's Spring, despite being in constant temperature year round. Do lentils also sprout more eagerly in Spring than in Fall/Autumn?

(Note to self: must eat grains and lentils more regularly.)

First off, no they are almost certainly not dead worms.

What you are looking at inside the lentil seed is the embryo of the future lentil plant. Soaking makes the whole seed expand as it takes up the water, and sometimes the two halves of the seed come apart so you can see these little plant embryos better. But they are contained in the seeds all the time, even before you start soaking them. When you eat peanuts (also legume seeds, just like lentils are), if you look at the inside of a split open one, you can see the embryonic plant really well because they are so big.

Maybe technically speaking, your lentils are sprouting in some microscopic way from the moment they hit the soaking water, but usually when people say "sprouting", they are talking about when the little root of the plant has started to develop and starts poking out of the seed in a visible way. This wouldn't happen in just 3-4 hours. Maybe at the very least a couple days.

As far as the age of your lentils, 30 months isn't too long at all as far as edibility goes (as long as you kept them dry and in decent conditions), so don't throw them out. If you bought them intending them exclusively for sprouts, sorry, I don't know whether 30 months is long enough to diminish their "sproutability" significantly. But I'd be surprised if at least some of them wouldn't start to sprout after a few days.

Also, sorry I can't answer about sprouting more readily depending on the season. Certainly beans will sprout all times of the year, but maybe someone with more experience can say if they do it quicker in the spring or not.


Should I worry about these green lentils? I bought this pack of organic green lentils.
Just noticed that the bag has some particles which accumulated at the bottom of the pack. Any idea what these are? Is this something I should worry about?
Thank you!

That just looks like some chaff from the harvesting and packaging process.  It's good practice to always rinse beans before use.  Lentils (organic or not) are no exception.  Place in a bowl, fill with water and drain a couple of times.  You should be good to go.


How do I know when my avocado has gone bad, and how can I keep it fresh? I am a big fan of avocados but I usually don't eat a full one in one sitting.  I usually cut them in half, leave the pit in the side I don't eat, and use the other half.  In a day or two, when I come back to the uneaten portion of avocado -  it is usually black and doesn't look good.

How can I recognize whether my avocado has gone bad or not?  (besides blatant mold)

I usually put whats left of the avocado in a bag in the fridge and keep the pit in.  Are these best practices to extend the life of my avocado?

An avocado will keep a few days in the refrigerator after it has been cut. The cut portion will turn brown/black due to oxidation, you can just cut that off, it is not harmful.

From California Avocado Commission to keep the avocado from discoloring sprinkle it with lemon/lime juice or vinegar and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container.

From thekitchn storing a cut avocado with a piece of cut onion in an airtight container will stop the oxidation.

  I don't know why this is, but I suspect that it has to do with the sulfur compounds that the onion releases. This is the same sulfur that makes you cry when you chop onions, but it is also used as a preservative. The onion's smell and taste don't seem to transfer to the avocado, as far as I can tell. But I'm not overly sensitive to onions, so you may want to check this out first if you are.

When not to use, from WebMD

  if your avocado's flesh has become very dark or the flesh has become stringy you should avoid eating it, particularly if there is any sign of mold. Avocados have a very high fat content, so they oxidize and become rancid very quickly at room temperature and will need to be thrown away.


What are these utensils? A friend of mine is on vacation and found these in their condo. I love to cook and now I have to know what kind of utensils these are. Please Help.[

I don't think they are for salads.  Maybe some kind of scooper for melons or fruit, with ability to "carve" at other end?


How important is drying hands for sanitation? Several sites describing how to wash your hands list drying as the last step. Some say you can use a clean towel or air dry them.

I've been curious about something for a while. What if I'm preparing some ingredient or recipe that requires or benefits from having wet hands? For example, handling ground meat with wet hands reduces sticking; sometimes you want to use wet hands to handle dough, either to add more moisture or prevent sticking. What if I'm just picking up vegetables and sticking them back under the running water to rinse them before cutting and cooking or eating them raw?

Is it unsanitary wash hands and skip drying them before handling food items? What types of contaminants are especially risky when doing this?

I prefer answers with sources from health or food safety agencies or organizations.

If you are immediately going to moisten your hands your hands anyway, I can't see a difference. But otherwise, food safety studies do say that you should thoroughly dry your hands after washing using a clean (or paper) towel.

Decades of research from hygiene authorities suggest that wet hands transfer bacteria much more readily than dry ones, as the residual moisture left on hands after leaving the wash station allows bacteria and viruses to transfer to food and solid surfaces by touch...
Multiple studies have looked at the effectiveness of air dryers versus hand towels and results strongly favor paper towels. For example, one study published by the University of Leeds in 2014 found that levels of airborne germs collected and counted near warm air dryers to be 27 times more than those near paper towel dispensers. Another paper, published in 2012 by the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, which observed research from a dozen investigations, stated that “from a hygiene standpoint, paper towels are superior to electric air dryers” and “should be recommended in locations where hygiene is paramount.”

-Food Quality and Safety Magazine (A source of peer-reviewed scholarly articles)


What is the key to a shiny crumb in bread? For example:

My breads seem to be turning out dry instead of looking like that. (I use whole grains typically; does that matter?)

I have read that using higher hydration helps. Does the glossy look just come from extra moisture in the bread?

I don't know the theory behind it, but I have some guesses because I sometimes get it and sometimes don't. I usually get this effect with very developed gluten. And by that I don't just mean a large amount of gluten, it is entirely possible with non-bread flour. I suspect well hydrated starch may be part of it too. So, try recipes with longer rising times, for example a no-knead recipe.

I am not saying that no-knead is the only way, but so far, it is the method which has been most consistent in creating it for me. So, it is worth getting it to work that way, before you start experimenting with others. Also, I can't remember if I have had it with darker flours, but I agree with the comments, white flour is most likely to behave well, and should be your starting point.


How do reduce the sourness of pasta cooked with peppers? I made pasta today using Parmesan Romano sauce and jalapenos and banana peppers from a can. The result was extremely tangy. Is this because jalapenos and banana peppers are sour by nature, or because some of the liquid in the cans was mixed as well? Would not using the liquid from the cans and only the slices reduce the sourness?

Most likely the peppers. Jalapeño & Banana Peppers are usually canned as a pickle, so yes, it is sour.  You added some of the pickle liquid as well; I feel your dissatisfaction with the results. =-)

I love peppers (pickled or otherwise) in noodles. What I do to cut down on the sourness is drain the peppers of it's liquid and rinse with cold water once.  Then the results will be much more delicious.


I used olive oil to finish my salad serving utensils - now what? I recently received some homemade unfinished wood salad serving utensils as a gift, and like a dummy, I figured it would be safe to rub them down with some olive oil. Now, I've learned that since olive oil turns rancid, this was probably not a good idea.

What should I do now? Is there any way to remove the olive oil from the wood (so that it can be replaced with food-grade mineral oil, I suppose) that won't damage the wood and will be safe for food utensils long-term?

Ideas I've seen:

Scrub with hot water and soap - food-safe, but makes me nervous about damaging the wood, and maybe not actually that good at getting oil out of wood pores?
Mineral spirits - doesn't require scrubbing, but makes me nervous about toxicity
Random home remedies involving vinegar, salt, lemon juice, baking soda, etc. - makes me very nervous about damaging the wood [edit: of course foods can safely touch food utensils; it's just that I assume that such things would be low potency and thus require a lot of scrubbing, and more abrasive elements like baking soda might not be great for wood fibers]

If any of the above are actually good ideas, I'm still interested in hearing that, as long as you can tell me that the thing I'm nervous about isn't a problem.

Do nothing, or maybe give them a soap wash.

You seem to be very worried about what are very small effects. Sure, the oil can oxidize over time. It won't turn your utensils into a big ball of funk. You probably won't notice that much difference in reality. Maybe, if you hold them under your nose, the whiff will be different than if you hadn't used olive oil. You can wash if you want to reduce the effect, or keep it so you can at least enjoy the esthetic difference of having oiled wood.

Also, wood is not all that easily damaged, especially the kinds of wood a small artisan maker would use. People used to eat out of unfinished wooden bowls every day. Sure, you shouldn't leave the wood soaking in water, but you can wash it with detergent and soap now and then without getting much change in quality. I have a cheap, large-pore bamboo pan spatula which I regularly wash, sometimes with soaking, which is a worst-case scenario, considering the large pores of bamboo. It doesn't look 100% "like new", but it is still a normal, serviceable, nice enough spatula in appearance. The corners of the turning edge are slightly rounded, and the turning edge itself is a tiny bit frazzled, which could be repaired with a bit of sandpaper - but remember, this is something that gets washed regularly.

If you are still very serious about getting that oil off, sandpaper is probably the way to go. But depending on the kind of surface the maker intended, you may ruin that surface. If you have small-detail carving, that would look much worse, since you'd have to remove a small layer of material, not just surface-polish it, and you may not be able to get into each carved hole/chip anyway. And if the set was not intended to look too rustic, you will need to go through a progression of sandpapers applied with some skill to get a nice, even sheen.

Also, remember that those are salad utensils. If you intend to use them, as opposed to hanging them on the wall, they will come into contact with edible oils frequently, as well as ingredients like vinegar and lemon juice. Especially if you wash them rarely, and/or use little soap, they will get a "seasoning" of salad dressing on their surface just from use. Yes, it will get slightly rancid, and all that. You will likely get a visual difference between the heads of the utensils, and the dry-staying handles. That is normal and expected with wood utensils in use. If you want to keep them pristine, the only chance is to get some heavy acrylic or nitro finishing on them and keep them away from food, in a room different from the kitchen.


Napoletana Pizza dough not elastic and breaking I made a Napoletana Pizza dough with the following amounts:
4 cups of flour, 2.25 teaspoon of Salt, 1 teaspoon of active yeast, 12 ounces water and 1 teaspoon of sugar

After kneading, I left it rise for 8 hours at room temperature and then put it in the fridge for 2 days. Then I took it out and let it rest for another 2 hours before shaping.

When I started shaping, the dough was a bit sticky. Playing with some more flour I could start shaping it but the dough itself would shrink when I was pulling back, so it was hard to create the good shape. Also, at same point it was breaking.

I ended up to using a rolling pin.

What was the issue? What did I miss in my recipe/process?

You probably didn't knead the dough for long enough, so the gluten in the dough wasn't fully developed. There are two useful tests to determine if your dough has been kneaded properly.

1.The Poke Test

Form the dough into a ball and, using a floured finger, give it a poke. If the indentation springs back, your dough is nearly ready - knead more lightly until you try test 2. If the indentation remains, keep kneading.

2.The Windowpane Test

If your dough passes the Poke Test, knead it a little more, then pull off a chunk of dough and stretch it with your hands. If the gluten is sufficiently developed, the dough will stretch thin enough to see light through, without breaking. If the dough breaks, knead it some more.

When shaping, even properly developed dough can spring back after shaping if you've just removed it from the bowl. Let the dough relax for a few minutes before trying to shape it again.

Try and avoid adding more flour if you can - wet dough is good dough. Semolina flour is a good alternative to prevent sticking.


How do I ensure my deep dish crust gets cooked I've made a couple of deep dish pizzas over the last several months and I occasionally get either a soggy or a not cooked crust.  I've been pushing the dough into a cast iron skillet and then putting it into a 400-450 degree oven for say around 25 minutes.  By then the crust around the edges is threatening on burning but the crust on the bottom might still be doughy.

I've thought of a couple things and I'd love to hear some feedback on what you may have tried and found successful:

"sear" the pizza on the stove for a little bit (Wondering if just a minute or two would suffice
Bake the pizza with the pan on my baking stone

I'm nervous that the cast iron might suck enough heat out of the stone to risk cracking it.

As always your feedback is appreciated.

For a deep-dish pizza, around 425°F is right, and so is 20–30 minutes. That's starting with cold dough (need to keep the butter layers chilled, at least for a Chicago-style pizza).

Cooking in an aluminum 3" deep cake pan is fine. I suppose cast iron should work too (though it'll heat slower, so might take longer). As has been pointed out in comments, the cast iron much greater heat capacity may be part of the problem; I'd guess preheating it would help. (You can just put the cast iron skillet in the oven as the oven heats, though depending on how long you let the oven heat, you may want it in for only part of the time—no idea what the optimal temperature for it is). Make sure to have plenty of oil under the dough, and also cook on a lower oven rack.

I'd guess that you're using too-watery toppings. The tomato sauce should be pretty thick, much thicker than you'd ever use on a thin-crust pizza. Vegetables may need sweating to get some moisture out. If nothing else works, partially cook the crust (say, ten minutes or so) and then add the sauce and toppings.

I can vouch by Cook's Illustrated's Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza recipe. Normally they have a paywall, but currently that recipe isn't behind it, so grab it quick.


I'm looking for an extender/filler for my spice mix I mix up a red pepper and salt blend (along with a few other ingredients) and put it in a coffee grinder to powder it.

The blend that I have come up with has just the right flavor for my family's taste, but it is too intense.  We use this spice mix to coat deep-fried tater-tots in a pretty fair imitation of the potato ole's from Taco John's.  When coating the tater tots, it takes a certain minimum amount of the spice to get decent coverage.  But, that makes the flavor too strong.

What can I use as a filler or extender to dilute the strength of my spice mix, so I can use enough to get a good distribution of the spices and not have the flavor so strong.  Any suggestions for something flavorless that can be added and blended with the mixture?

The professional (read: industrial) solution would be maltodextrin powder. It is rather tasteless, has good solubility in liquids, and doesn't change much texturewise.

In homemade spice mixes, the popular filler solution are dried breadcrumbs of a very small size (like breadcrumbs for schnitzel breading). They are noticeable, because the mix gets gritty, but the consensus among those who do it is that this is a feature, not a bug. They could also slightly thicken a wet dish (soup, stew), but present no problem when strewn over dry food.

You can also use a nut flour made of nuts without much of an own taste, like apricot kernels or low quality overdried almonds. Again, this will be somewhat gritty, but not as hard as the breadcrumn solution.


Bean substitute for lamb in moussaka? I need a recommendation. I have had success substituting beans for meat in a number of baked-bean dishes using spice mixtures from cuisines around the world. I'd like to apply this idea to Greek moussaka, but I can't decide what (dry) bean to use. My gut instinct says, "black beans," but memories of the complete transformation of Navy beans in Boston-style baked beans gives me pause.
Any suggestions?

It's a while since I've made (vegetarian) moussaka but as Max says in the comments, lentils are a decent substitute here.  I've used Puy lentils or lentilles vert*.  You want something that holds a bit of texture/doesn't fall to bits too easily, unlike red lentils. A mix of red lentils and lentilles vert works well in other things for giving the sauce some body and maintaining texture.  I haven't tried this for moussaka but do use this mixture for lasagne.
For flavour, I'd also add mushrooms, but you don't have to.
Another thing I'd be tempted to try is urid dal (the larger of two things called black lentils) as I have them for making dal makhani.  These would need pre-soaking and longer cooking.
*yes, that is what they're called in my English supermarket; they also sell "green lentils" that are paler and larger.


How do I fix pickles that are too sour? I made dill pickles using an old Ukrainian recipe fermenting the cucumbers in salt water. I wanted to can them when they were finished instead of keeping 10lbs of fermented pickles in my refrigerator. I didn't want to use the salt brine the pickles fermented in,so I made a brine using 1qt white vinegar, 3tbls salt, 1tsp mustard seed,and 1/2 cup sugar. The result is really, really sour pickles! Can I open the jars and dump the brine and use salted water as canning liquid? Or what can I use?

If you are going to do anything, do it when you are ready to put the pickles in the fridge again, not when canning - acid keeps the canned pickles safe.

So - leave them really sour as canned. When ready to eat a jar, open, dump the brine, add water (whether or not you salt it is up to you and the salt level in the pickles - I'd try plain water) - put it in the fridge. You might want to let that soak for a day or two, and you might want to dump it again and replace it again, depending on how things taste at that point.


What types of rice are appropriate to use in a rice cooker? I have recently acquired a Zojurushi fuzz logic rice cooker.

What I am having difficult to find is the best kind of rice to use with it; I am looking for a good brown and white rice that can go with anything, and then maybe some more specialty types. I tried Uncle Ben's, but modified rices don't work that well.

It seems I have had the best luck with long grain white rice, thus far. I'm wondering if there is a better kind, or perhaps specific brands of rice that are made for rice cookers.

In my experience, rice quality has a pretty substantial amount of variation, but the cooking device has little to do with it.

While I'm sure that most rice cookers on the market from Japanese firms are optimized and tested for short-grain, japonica rice, I've never had issues cooking basmati or jasmine rice in one, and I've even used them for farro and mixed grains.

I doubt that the rice cooker has much to do with it. I've made rice in heavy cast-iron enamelware on the stove, in a cheap Southeast Asian electric steamer without any fancy "fuzzy logic" electronics, in a fuzzy logic rice cooker, and an mid-range IH rice cooker, which is what we use at home now, and the quality of the rice and its age has a greater impact than the cooking method. I would say that the IH rice cooker produces superior results over our old fuzzy logic cooker, but it's certainly not an order-of-magnitude kind of difference.

Assuming you're located in the US, my benchmark go-to rice brand is "Tamaki Gold", which is from a japonica strain called koshihikari, and I think most of this brand's rice is grown near Sacramento, CA. It's more expensive than the typical Botan or Niko Niko brand calrose rice that's ubiquitious in Japanese supermarkets, but I find the quality far superior, and it's still a good value. My wife tends not to appreciate the Niko Niko or Botan calrose rice very much at all, so we don't eat it at home, but probably 80% of Japanese restaurants in the US are using it or a similar product.

Generally, I'd recommend staying away from the absolute cheapest brands, and choose something that's a couple of notches above. We've used imported rice from Akita or wherever and gotten very nice results, but the differences were far subtler than the price (on the order of $10 vs. $35 for a similar quantity). The sweet spot for quality is near the median price, assuming you're in a shop that offers a wide variety of options.

Edit: Sorry, until your edit, I didn't realize you were working from parboiled or converted rice, I assumed raw rice, as I've never heard of anyone cooking the quick cooking rice products in a rice cooker. (Rice cookers often have their own "quick mode" which shortens cooking time with normal raw rice at the cost of a slightly reduced textural quality). Considering that's what you were starting from, consider using other supermarket brands of rice that meet your target grain size and stickiness/fluffiness, but aren't marketed for speed or convenience.


Half butter half shortening in overnight potato rolls? I am making overnight potato rolls and have always used 2/3 cup of shortening. I was thinking that half butter half shortening might make my rolls even better. Will this idea help or hinder a yeast dough potato roll?

That should be fine. Potato and butter is a pretty solid flavor pairing! :) Know that butter contains some water (~15%) so you may want to adjust your liquid ingredients accordingly. That amount of butter contains about a teaspoon of water, so not enough to really worry about, but be aware. Use unsalted room temperature butter, and come back and tell us how it went!


How long will ground beef stay good after being frozen? How long will beef be good after being frozen?  My boyfriend has ground beef in the freezer that has been there for almost a year.  Is it still safe to cook?

From Freezing and Food Safety published by the United States Department of Agriculture:

Is Frozen Food Safe?
Food stored constantly at 0 °F (-18 °C) will always be safe. Only the quality suffers with lengthy freezer storage. Freezing keeps food safe by slowing the movement of molecules, causing microbes to enter a dormant stage. Freezing preserves food for extended periods because it prevents the growth of microorganisms that cause both food spoilage and foodborne illness.

Does Freezing Destroy Bacteria & Parasites?
Freezing to 0 °F (-18 °C) inactivates any microbes — bacteria, yeasts and molds — present in food. Once thawed, however, these microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to levels that can lead to foodborne illness. Since they will then grow at about the same rate as microorganisms on fresh food, you must handle thawed items as you would any perishable food.

Trichina and other parasites can be destroyed by sub-zero freezing temperatures. However, very strict government-supervised conditions must be met. Home freezing cannot be relied upon to destroy trichina. Thorough cooking, however, will destroy all parasites.

Freshness & Quality
Freshness and quality at the time of freezing affect the condition of frozen foods. If frozen at peak quality, thawed foods emerge tasting better than foods frozen near the end of their useful life. So freeze items you won't use quickly sooner rather than later. Store all foods at 0° F (-18 °C) or lower to retain vitamin content, color,


How to get glacé icing right on a cake? It sounds simple enough. You take some icing sugar, wet it, mix it up until it's smooth, and then cover your cake with the stuff.

The problem is, when I do this, the icing always runs off the top of the cake.

Each time I make icing, I make it even drier than the last time. (Although never as little as 3 tsp per 100g. If you do that, it's just powder. I got 4 tsp to work though.) I've now reached the point where the icing is so thick and goopy that I struggle to mix it, and it's murder to stop it sticking to everything it touches - the bowl, the spoon, etc. And yet, it still runs off the cake!

Question: How to prevent glacé icing from running off the cake?

Notes:

I realize I could use butter cream or fondant instead of glacé icing. (In fact, I'm probably going to do that at some point.) But plenty of professional cakes use glacé icing, so it must be possible, and I'm curious to know how.
The cake isn't particularly flat on top.

You have three options:

Prepare for drippage.  If you're doing a lot of small items in particular, you set up a wire rack over a sheet pan, and just let it drip down.  For the small items, you can dip into the glaze, then invert and place on the rack, like you would glaze a donut.
Add a barrier.  Make a thicker icing that won't flow, and pipe right at the edge to give it a little bit of containment, then flood the top with the thinner icing.  You'll need the cake nearly level for this to work well.
Pipe it on.  You need an icing that's just thinned to the point where it will slump and flow back together, but not so thin it'll flow off.  Use a piping bag (or plastic bag with the corner cut off) to make lines close enough together so the icing forms a solid covering.  You may want to start at the outer edge and make a ring like #2, then work inward.  This can work for more uneven cakes, as it doesn't need to be perfectly level, but it's more effort to get the consistency right.

Exact technique and consistency is going to depend on how thick (depth) you want the icing.  It's always easier to thin it (doesn't take much added liquid) than to stiffen it back up.


How to create a soup with frozen chicken? I have chickens in the freezing box. How long can I keep my fatty chicken legs there until they become dangerous to eat? How should I defreeze the chicken? Can I just put it to the hot water or should I slowly warm it up to boiling water? How does freezing chicken cooking differ with non-freezing chicken?

I make stock from my leftover chicken bones and vegetable scraps. I just dump them in the pot still frozen, cover with cold water, and heat until it's a bare simmer. Simmer the stock for 2-3 hours or so, or until it tastes like soup instead of water. (But be careful not to boil, since the stock can get cloudy if you let it get up to a full 100C.) I have made this with both cooked meat and uncooked.

Uncooked chicken (whether frozen or not) will give you a mildly-flavored white chicken stock. If you brown the meat first, you'll get a stronger flavor and a brown chicken stock. (See here for a discussion.) If your chicken isn't cooked, you'll want to roast it to get all the nice brown bits from the Maillard reaction, which will defrost the chicken in the process.


What sausage casing is this? So, I have no photo of this sausage, but to give you a picture: dry-cured chorizo, casing is easy to remove on thin slices, but on larger pieces the casing breaks sort of like paper – the edges becomes white (otherwise being transparent) and fibrous. I find it a bit chewy and like to take it off.

What type of casing is this?

They choose edible casings, either way, you're better off taking the casing off.

It sounds like it's a cellulose synthetic casing. It's possible to be natural casing, but papery fibrous leads me to think cellulose.

I've included some pictures to aid you along so you can guess for yourself.  Often it's easier to tell by the extra casing at the ends since natural and synthetic bunch up differently.

Here's a picture of synthetic casing from this morning's session (it's a sopressata):

This is what it looks like cured and partially peeled:

And this is what natural casing looks like fresh:


Detailed information about a 1st tooth cake design In the following image which is a 1st tooth cake, are the crowns and the tooth made of fondant? Where can I learn about such designs online?

Since you say that you know they're edible, I'd say that the tooth and crown are most likely made of gum paste, not fondant.

The curves on the points of the crown would likely droop really badly if made of fondant because it never solidifies. Gum paste does. So, once you have it molded to the shape you want, you let it dry out and then it stiffens to a candy-like finished product.  Here's an outline of the difference between the two and when you should use one over the other.

As to how to make them, the crown can be made by following any of a number of guides on the web. They generally involve cutting a strip of gum paste in the shape you like and wrapping it around a cylinder of the diameter you need until it dries.

The detailed decorations on the cake and crown and the crown on the tooth are probably made very easily with gum paste using molds.

The tooth itself will likely be the most difficult thing as it will take a lot of artistic talent and patience. Making figures is very complicated, particularly if you have no experience working with fondant/gum paste or with something similar like clay.

There are general guides here, though none of them are for teeth, they should give you an idea of how the process works.


Mochi: pounded vs. from rice flour Is there any noticeable difference between mochi made from pounded rice, versus mochi made from mixing rice flour and water together and cooking briefly? If not, why bother with the labor-intensive pounding method?

A cooked rice grain is not an evenly cooked product... The center has a different consistency to the outside. Pounding the rice would combine the stickiness and would activate rice gluten that is present.

I would assume using rice flour in the recipe would be like using a different grade of flour in a recipe... The texture would be different, more or less sticky, more or less stretchy...

Malaysian cakes are improved by adding different grades of rice flour as well as adding other types of flour to the mix. And freshly made rice noodles made from ground rice; as well as Vietnamese rice paper noodles taste better when the base if 100% steamed rice instead of a mixture of rice and rice flour.

Mochi which is as much about the flavor as well as the texture I feel would benefit from the process as much as the quality or processing.

As an aside, why does hand folded and spread pizza dough taste and feel so much better than a machine made pizza base? Same ingredients, different process no?

Making Rice Paper In Vietnam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaTr-DPC5yo

Making Mochi in Japan (where would it be without the theatre?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olTuSpJTL2g


Can I subtitute water for milk in crêpes? I want to make crêpes, but I have run out of milk. I do have all the other ingredients I need. Can I somehow substitute the milk by water or anything else?

You can substitute but don't expect them to be exactly the same, of course.

The fat, protein, and sugar in milk all interfere with the flour and egg protein binding in the crepes. Milk will produce a more tender product.

Also expect the flavor to be a little less luxurious without the fat and sugar. You can use vanilla or replace some of the oil with butter (if your recipe doesn't already call for them).

Powdered milk or evaporated milk are good to have on hand for when you get in situations like this.


Is it safe to use the same cooking utensils for raw and cooked meat? So, being new to cooking, I tried cooking a pan-seared ribeye steak for the first time recently.  I'm just getting new cooking utensils, and the idea of flipping the steak is something I'm not sure about.

Last time, I used the same utensil the whole way through.  I know, many are likely cringing at the thought.  But I was afraid of over-cooking so I was as attentive as possible to the steak.

I'm wondering if this is "safe".  I'm guessing most will say it is not, and that's fine.  I'd like to do better if it's not safe.  I bought a pair of tongs since then (I was using a spatula to flip before!) but I still only have one pair.  So, should I be placing the steak in the pan with the spatula, flipping with the tongs, and removing it from the pan with...something else?

Is it safe enough to use the tongs, and rinse them each time they touch meat before it's finished?  Should I be scrubbing them with soap each time?  Should I simply stick to different utensils?  (In which case I might just stop cooking--I don't have that many utensils, don't plan on buying more for this purpose, and quite frankly I don't wish to clean so many utensils when I'm finished cooking)

I know there are other topics, but they haven't been quite as specific as the questions I'm asking here, so I hope I can get a good response on the subject.

Personally, cooking for myself, I would only worry about it if were something more likely to be harboring pathogens, such as chicken. When doing steak, I just rinse them in hot water.

If you're worried about it, you could soak the spatula or tongs (the part that came in contact with the raw meat, obviously) in some boiling or near-boiling water for a few seconds, long enough to get them to 160°F+.


Can you cure pork belly with skin and not replace the water? Steve Lamb in his book 'The River Cottage Cookbook' mentions a recipe for pancetta where he removes the skin of the pork belly and then cures the belly in salt. He does not replace the cure and after a while, the salt removes the water from the meat and it becomes a wet cure.

I understand that when you roll the pancetta you don't want to roll it with the rind, but I want to know if you make unrolled pancetta can you cure it with this hybrid dry / wet cure with the skin ON.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "not replace the water".  Pancetta is cured using a dry cure process.  This does result in water/liquid leaching from the belly.  It does, of course, become part of the cure, but it is a dry cure, as opposed to a brine cure.  In any case, skin on or skin off should not matter. I prefer the flat pancetta (and leave the skin on) to the rolled when home curing. Add your salt/spice mixture.  I usually use the "salt box method".  I place mine in a ziplock bag.  I like to place a pan with a pound or two of weight on top, this keeps it flat.  Flip the bag every day until the belly is firm.  Rinse, pat dry, and proceed with drying. I find it one of the easiest, most reliable, home cures to do.


How to thicken marinara sauce? Here's what I'm using:

16oz crushed tomatoes
1 head of garlic
1/2 cup red wine
Parmesan cheese
Basil
Oregano
Salt
1/4 cup olive oil

I start by lightly cooking the garlic cloves in olive oil until they brown. Then I add the tomatoes, followed by the wine, oregano, salt, basil, and cheese. I then slow cook everything for about an hour.

The sauce is turning out kind of watery though. How I can thicken it into a proper hearty Italian pasta sauce?

The best way to thicken marinara sauce for me, without losing any taste is to cook it a little longer.

Cooking it longer is just keeping the sauce on simmer, uncovered and stirring it occasionally so its cooking consistently and taking it off the heat when you think it has reached desired thickness.

You can also try draining the tomatoes before you crush them.

You could even try adding little breadcrumbs, but it might change the taste.


Making flour tortillas softer and more elastic I would like to make a tortilla that is softer and more elastic, allowing for large burritos with lots of filling

I've been using the following recipe below which yields good results, however it is not soft or elastic enough to handle large amounts of filling.

1/4c butter
1/2c water
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 3/4c flour

I knead the dough and then immediately cook.

RESULTS

The tortillas taste great fresh, but after sitting in a zip-lock bag for a few hours the become much less pliable.  I generally re-heat them with a damp towel in the microwave which makes them pliable enough to wrap filling in.

I've read this question about how to make "Big, Fluffy" tortillas, and it notes letting the dough rest is a key step.  I did try this, and I ended up getting more air bubbles but other than that they are pretty much the same.

I would like to figure out how restaurants like Moe's make and prepare their tortillas which are suitable for large burritos. I am open to suggestions in technique or ingredients.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_burrito

  Two key technologies that made the San Francisco burrito possible are
  the large flour tortilla and tortilla steamers, which together
  increase the flexibility, stretch, and size of the resulting tortilla.
  The tortilla steamer saturates the gluten-heavy tortilla with moisture
  and heat, which increase the capacity of the tortilla to stretch
  without breaking. This in turn allows for the size of the San
  Francisco burrito. Corn tortillas, the original indigenous
  pre-Columbian form of the tortilla, cannot achieve either the size or
  the flexibility of the flour tortilla, and thus cannot be used to make
  a San Francisco burrito. A few San Francisco taquerias grill the
  tortillas instead of steaming them, using heat and oil instead of
  steam; and a few grill the finished product before the final step of
  wrapping it in aluminum foil.

  The aluminum foil wrapping, which is present whether the customer is
  eating in the restaurant or taking out, acts as a structural support
  to ensure that the tortilla does not rupture. One of the main
  difficulties of the San Francisco burrito is the issue of structural
  integrity, but skilled burrito makers consistently produce huge
  burritos that do not burst when handled or eaten. A successful large
  burrito depends on an understanding of the outer limit of potential
  burrito volume, correct steam hydration, proper wrapping/folding
  technique, and assuring that excess liquid has been removed from the
  burrito ingredients prior to inclusion.


Similar flavors to caffeine? My wife and I enjoy drip coffee, french pressed coffee, espresso, black tea, green tea, and just about anything caffeinated.

However, my wife wants to avoid caffeine due to its physiological effects.
Unfortunately, in her words, decaf espresso "tastes horrible," and I agree.  I have similar feelings against decaf black tea.

Is there anything with a bitter flavor similar to caffeine that could add some of the punch back to decaffeinated coffee or tea?

Caffeine is definitely bitter. About the only thing I know of that can add bitterness or that strong flavor to coffee is roasted chicory. It's a key ingredient in French Market coffee blends, and it makes them taste pretty darn strong, even though they have less caffeine.

You can get roasted chicory by itself at some supermarkets so you can add it to your decaf coffee, but it may be hard to come by in your area. If you can't find that, see if there's a decaf French Market blend. That'll have chicory and may give you back the bitterness you crave.

I think you're probably out of luck on the tea, though. You might just cut well back on the tea and drink regular tea once in a while. A jolt of caffeine now and again won't kill you, and life's too short to drink tasteless tea.


What is the best sugar for sweet short crust pastry? I am reading an American Pastry & Pies cookbook and they say the sugar granules in sweet short crust pastry stabilize it and recommend using granulated sugar. So does this mean the bigger the sugar grains the better?  I assume there would be a limit to how big you want to use.  I am half American and using my experience of sugar in both countries I will grade what is available here and the US in grain size to help answer the question.

powered sugar/ icing mix - white powder

confectioners sugar / castor sugar - like very fine white sand with tiny separate grains

brown sugar* not raw sugar - small sticky brown grains

granulated sugar - unified small individual white grains

white sugar - cane sugar, most similar to granulated sugar but grains can vary in size and shape depending on brand and processing - white

Raw sugar - large translucent brown individual grains (I have never seen this available in supermarkets in the US and when Australians say brown sugar in their tea/coffee they usually mean raw sugar*)

coffee sugar - big dark brown translucent 3-5mm cubes.

Thank you.

Granulated to caster ie: fine sugar is the most recommended. I use caster sugar to get a smooth transition in the pastry. Then chill at least 20 minutes before baking to relax the gluten so it is nice and flaky.


Cast Iron to Fridge? More of a safety question, but im a beginner cook and I made Chicken and Potatoes n Such in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven.....Let it sit for about 30 minutes and then put it in the fridge.

Is this unsafe? How long should I let it cool?

For reference I was able to pick it up with my bare hands no prob before putting it in the fridge.

It is not inherently unsafe, but it may not be something you want to do for other reasons.

The main reasons not to store food in cast iron are:

Foods, especially acidic foods, may continue to react with the iron, developing off flavors
Moisture encourages cast iron to rust
It is not good for maintenance of your pans seasoning, which is part of what makes cast iron pans so desirable for cooking
Many cast iron skillets don't have a lid, which may be desirable to protect the food from drying out, getting odors and off flavors from other items in the refrigerator, or contributing odors to the other items in the refrigerator.  This one, of course, applies to any pan.

Note:  we have had extensive discussions elsewhere (see for example, this question, and the many links within).  Putting the food hot into your refrigerator may not be the best practice (it is more ideal to cool it quickly, in a shallow dish in an ice water bath), but putting it into the refrigerator still somewhat hot is certainly better than simply leaving it out on the counter until it is cooler then putting it into the refrigerator.

Per the USDA (thanks to Athanasius for the link to the source material):

  Hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator or it can be
  rapidly chilled in an ice or cold water bath before refrigerating.
  Cover foods to retain moisture and prevent them from picking up odors
  from other foods.

  A large pot of food like soup or stew should be
  divided into small portions and put in shallow containers before being
  refrigerated. A large cut of meat or whole poultry should be divided
  into smaller pieces or placed in shallow containers before
  refrigerating.


Mug cakes in the oven? I'm planning a party and want to make multiple mug cakes, but since I need to make about 100 and don't have a microwave that big I was wondering if I could make them in the oven and if there were oven safe mugs. I've been looking but they all seem to say dishwasher and microwave safe but nothing about the oven. Would it be easier to make them in the microwave one at a time? Just seems like a hassle.

A microwave has a very different mechanism of heating than an oven, and recipes for the two are not interchangeable. The results of making microwave-optimized cakes in the oven will be unpredictable. And this will be a much larger problem than having the right mugs.

A better option would be to find a recipe for muffins or cupcakes that is intended to go in the oven, and bake it in the oven. Do test it in a small batch before giving it to 100+ guests, because not all recipes floating around are good - but still, it is more likely to produce good results than baking your microwave cakes in an oven.


How long can pasteurized milk be refrigerated? The shop where I get milk (homogenized, pasteurized) is quite far from my home. So I would like to buy more milk per visit. Would like some expert advice on storing and handling the extra milk. How long can I use it safely? Would boiling this milk increase its fridge-life?

Thank you for your guidance.

Regards,
Simi

Per Still Tasty, well refrigerated, milk should last about 5-7 days.  Note that this almost certainly assumes that the milk has been pasteurized.

It is theoretically possible that you could periodically reboil milk, and then try to get it cooled to refrigerator temperatures rapidly, to increase its life.   I suspect that the benefit would not justify the effort.

You can also freeze milk, if you have a freezer available.  It will last essentially indefinitely (there probably is a limit due to oxidation of the milk fat, but that is a slow process), and will still be quite suitable for cooking.

Depending on availability and how you use it, you may also wish to consider shelf stable milk products like dry powdered milk, condensed milk, or sweetened condensed milk.


Why is it faster to reheat something than it is to cook it? In my experience it takes less time to reheat a cooked item than it does to cook it. This is true for every single different "type" of cooked item I can think of. (Meat, soup, pasta, beans, etc etc).

It's quite common for me to use the microwave to reheat things, and that might lead me to be biased in thinking that it's faster because the microwave itself is often the fastest way top reheat something, but this observation isn't true just for microwaving. It doesn't even seem to matter on the method of reheating, as I can reheat something faster if I use the same method of as I did to cook it (e.g. by frying).

Note that I always check the temperature of something I've reheated via a food-probe, so I'm also not making a mistaking of cooking something to 70C and then reheating to 45C etc.

So:

Is it always faster to reheat something than it was to cook it, or are their exceptions?
why is food faster to reheat? What's the food-science behind it?

"Cooking" is often a chemical process.  Denaturing proteins, gelatinization, causing chemical reactions like browning, or even causing state changes like evaporation.

In many cases for these reactions to happen, we need to overheat the food.  (Cook it and let it rest to cool off back down to undo some of the changes that were made and/or bring it back down to a reasonable temperature to eat).  This is true when grilling meats, frying, baking bread, and lots of other types of cooking.

Other times, we need to bring something to temperature and hold it there for some period of time.  This holds for extracting collagen, starch gelatinization (eg, cooking pasta, potatoes, etc.) but also just waiting for flavors to transfer in soups and similar dishes.

With warming, you're just adding enough heat to it to move it a few degrees, but you're not typically trying to change the state of the food, so less total energy is needed.

Now, it is always faster to reheat vs. cook things?  For the most part it's true, but I suspect that there would be an edge case out there.  Something that's cooked from room temperature, but then stored chilled and the chilling causes issues (like retrogradation in starches, maybe?) that make them more resist than reheating.


Does adding oil to pasta water reduce the tendency to boil over? I know that adding oil to pasta water doesn't keep the noodles from sticking--much better to do that after cooking. I also know that there's no need to cook pasta at a rolling boil. My question is purely that in the title, does adding oil in any way inhibit boiling over? Scientific answers please.

Not significantly. The idea behind the technique is to reduce surface tension, thus reducing bubbling.  Oil isn't very good at doing this.  Oil is, however, very good at coating your pasta, which can reduce the ability of the pasta to absorb the sauce.  Better idea:  Use a bigger pot and more than enough water to let the pasta move about freely.


Kefir sensitivity to drinking tap water? I had a batch of kefir go bad - a slightly un-nice parmigiano smell and bits and pieces of proper cheese-like consistency. I tried gently rinsing in water and putting it back into a fresh batch of milk (risking bits and pieces of "cheese" in the milk over overstressing the grains), but it ended up the same way after 24h - separating into "cheese" and whey and same un-nice parmigiano smell.

So I washed the grains through a bit wider retainer and made sure all bits and pieces are really clean under a stream of water.

So I'm wondering, how well do kefir grains handle drinking water? Can the kefir grains be dipped in water for 10-15 minutes to facilitate easier cleaning? (instead of exposing them to a stream of water from the tap). What if the tap water is chlorinated for drinking purposes? In my particular case the water does not have a chlorine smell, but chlorine and other anti-bacterial agents are almost certainly there.

In general, rinsing milk kefir grains is not recommended. Rinsing grains apparently washes off a layer of protective bacteria. An experiment showed that rinsing produced grains that were smaller, and kefir that was milder.

I'm told that occasionally the grains build up orange fatty deposits that must be rinsed off, though I've never seen this so far. If you must rinse the grains, then the advice is to use as mild and soft water as possible. The link specifies non-chlorinated water. I've also seen advice that says the water should be boiled to kill possible contaminant bacteria, then cooled to room temperature before being used for rinsing the grains.

That said, kefir grains are hardy little chaps. Or chappettes, if they're of the feminine persuasion. I don't know where they identify along the gender spectrum. But I digress. They're pretty resilient and bounce back nicely from most injury. You may need two or three changes of milk but they will most likely thrive again soon.

Which leaves the question of why your kefir was the way it was: separated and tangy. There are two possible reasons. The unlikely and more worrying one is cross-contamination from cheese, sourdough, yeast, or other cultures. In that case, you may be out of luck and will need new grains; though you could try the suggested remedies at that question too.

But a far more likely scenario is simply that your kefir is overfermented. When kefir ferments for too long or too quickly, it separates into watery whey and thick curds. Cultures for Health mentions the precise symptoms you're seeing:

  Other characteristics include a strong yeast or cheese odor, as well as a tangier-than-usual kefir flavor.

Such separated kefir is fine to consume, though. If you stir the kefir, the liquid and the curds will mix and it will be easy to strain out the grains, which are otherwise hard to discern in the curds. Once you do that, you can drink it right away, and the flavor is not as strong as the separated kefir. Or let it separate again by leaving it undisturbed for a couple hours. The curds can be eaten, and the whey used for baking bread, adding to soups, etc.

So how to prevent overfermentation in the first place? Separation is a sign that all the milk sugars have been converted into the thick  curds, leaving behind the watery whey. The standard reasons and remedies for this are:

Fermentation time is too long and your milk is done separating before 24 hours. Check your kefir at 12 hours, 18 hours, etc.
Too little milk. Since it's inconvenient to have less than a one day cycle for kefir, just add more milk for the same amount of grains.
Too much starter. If you started with some grains and haven't ever taken some out, but have kept adding all the grains back to the fresh batch, then you probably are using too many grains. More grains = quicker fermentation. As the grains grow, you need to remove some so that the quantity of starter stays roughly the same between batches. I usually need to do this once every ten days or so. You can eat the grains (which I don't recommend) or give them away. As you know from your previous question, they store well in the fridge with milk until you find someone to take them off your hands.
Temperature a bit too high. You can slow down the fermentation by trying a cooler spot. Or do a long ferment in the fridge. Or simply use cold milk to start each batch, instead of room temperature milk. I invariably use cold milk because otherwise my kefir is done more quickly than I can drink it.

Some combination of the above will probably solve the issue for you.


How to make celery root dish without parmesan? I've used a recipe before (can't find it anymore, sorry) where I steamed sticks of celery root. The ingredients I remember are garlic (whole cloves steamed together with the celery), probably a small amount of water or vegetable broth and butter - or perhaps olive oil - (for the steaming) and Parmesan sprinkled over in the end. After steaming in a small amount of liquid covered with parchment until tender the vegetables were removed and the resulting broth cooked until thick and used as a glace.

My question is, what could I do to be able to cook this if I don't have Parmesan. As the dish does have a strong flavour on its own I think it would be OK but is there perhaps something (nondairy, non-meat, not from a special shop) I could substitute with? I am concerned with what would complement the tastes, not necessarily finding replica Parmesan taste in another product.
I want this to taste great, not just be edible!
Thanks

I find celeriac loves coriander -seed and especially root. White pepper, horseradish or perhaps mustard oil or powder can be added by a smidge for a hint of warmth.

This is still a mild side-dish, ya for something else flavorful on the plate?
I love serving pumpkin at the same meal 'cause they bring out the best in each other... IMHO.


My apple cider vinegar became infested with fruit flies and maggots. Can I wash the mother and use her again? My apple cider vinegar  became infested with fruit flies and maggots. Can I wash the mother and use her again?

Yes, as far as personal use is concerned, but it would not be recommended by food safety professionals.
I'd suggest instead cutting out a small piece of the mother and making sure that it is completely clear of eggs, or you'll repeat the experience even with washing.
Vinegar is known to inhibit bacterial growth across a wide range of foodbourne bacteria (more scientific version here), so the insects are unlikely to have corrupted it unsalvageably.
Further if the vinegar mother is bacterially contaminated, the 3-week period of fermenting the new vinegar will show it well before you use the vinegar.  Just be very wary of any off smells or colors.
Note that if you were asking this in a food service context you absolutely would need to throw everything away.  The risk of contamination is small and not worse than many other things in home kitchens.  However, the standards for professional cooking are higher.


Parmesan rind:  should I use it, or trash it? I grate my own Parmesan cheese (and others). When I get down to the rind, I usually throw it out. Is there a use for it?

Yes, you can save it and add it to soups such as Minestrone for additional flavor.  Once the soup is done, remove and discard the rind.  For extended storage, keep it in a bag in the freezer until you have need for it.


strawberry and fig vincotto I have one strawberry and one fig vincotto (bottle). What can I do with it ? Am having trouble finding recipes to use it in, other than fruit/icecream/salad related. I prefer a recipe with only a few ingredients, so the vincotto remains primary.

I have a wonderful recipe that originally uses Red Vermouth as it's main flavour. I daresay it would go very well with a fig vincotto. If you do make it, let me know how it works out in a comment.

My grandmother originally made this with veal escalopes. My mother makes it with chicken breast pieces. Since I'm basically a buddhist monk food-wise, I make it with tofu. Probably wouldn't work for really red meat though.

Anyway, cut the meat/tofu into bite size chunks, and shake them in a bag with flour seasoned with salt and pepper and some ground mace (nutmeg is just as good here).

Put some olive oil and a whole diced white onion in a skillet and start the fire on low. Stir and cook slowly to let the onion get all dark and sweet. Then add some minced garlic, the vincotto and a teaspoon or two of tomato paste.

Now throw in the floured meat/tofu bits and sautee until done.
The whole things takes half an hour, most of which is the onions, which need the time.


What is the layer of grey stuff on the bottom of salmon? On the bottom of a piece of salmon there is a layer of grey stuff, I am wondering what this is?  I assume this is its fat?

It is coagulated albumin leaked from the flesh of the fish.  Not terribly inviting, but not harmful either.


carbon steel pans in dollar store Okay.. so I watch this video in youtube where this guys seem to have done their homework. They have this fried egg dancing on the pan like skates on ice:

https://youtu.be/-suTmUX4Vbk

So we don't have this brands in Spain,  so I start searching for carbon steel pans at the hood and find this 3 pan set for 8,50 euros  (bout 10$) at the dollar store with carbon steel written on the label.

So what's the deal? Is carbon steel always the same or is there anyway of recognizing good vs bad. As everyone I guess, I don't like to pay extra just for the brand. Will this cheap pans do the egg job if I season them properly?

Steel is pretty much steel (carbon cast etc)

It's the surface that's needs to be conditioned. Only buy pans with a smooth surface regardless of price. Then use metal scourers and spatulas to remove any rough spots. And then regularly heat with oil until it smokes

For eggs, with a conditioned pan, pour in a layer of salt and heat until the salt discolours, discard salt, let cool a bit, roughly wipe out with paper, add a little oil, and the eggs should cook fine


Why is my yogurt sour at the top and non-sour at the bottom I make yogurt with a yogurt maker and the yogurt is nice and thick, but it is very sour at the top only and the rest is almost sweet, like a sweet fresh cheese. Why isn't it sour all over?

This is how I prepare it:

heat 1l (goat or sheep) milk slowly (1h) to 85° Celsius,
keep it at 85° Celsius for 10 minutes,
let it cool slowly to 45° Celsius,
mix well with 50g simple yogurt,
put it in the yogurt maker at 45° Celsius for 12h.

There could be a few things that are going on here.

My best guess from what you have said would be the temperature or mixing is a little off.

Let the mixture cool a little more before combining with the yoghurt. Also, do this gradually, adding a small part of the cooled milk to the yoghurt each time, mixing until smooth.

Hopefully, this helps.


How can components of a packaged food item exceed the net weight? In some packaged foods, the added weight of its components (like sugar, protein, carbohydrates) exceed the weight of the total item.

Example:- 1 pack of Chocos Cereal has net weight 30g. But its components like Total Carbs + Sugar + Protein exceed the net weight of 30g.

How can the component's weight exceed the net weight of the item?

As Zanna said, you can't just add all the values together, some items are a fraction of others.
In this case, "total carbohydrates" already includes the "sugar" and "dietary fibre" items, so the total is "fat" + "total carbohydrates" + "protein", which adds up to 27g out of 30g. That leaves 3 g for water, ash (inorganic salts, like table salt, basically) and minor components (like vitamins).

But keep in mind that all those values are rounded to the nearest whole number, which causes the energy stated to be different from that obtained from the ingredients weights.


How to prepare shallot greens? I have a bunch of shallots with the greens (stems) on them, and I was wondering if anyone has experience with them.  How are they used? Throw them in with the shallot bulbs? Use them like green onions or chives? What dishes are good with them (or require them)?

I would personally use them exactly like chives, though their flavour may be more intense.


choosing a red food color for red velvet cake Are there any tell tell signs to choosing a red food colouring for red velvet cakes. Having just whipped one up, mine is sadly brown despite a bottle and half (45ml) of red food colouring.

Also can too much colouring affect the final colour the same as too little colouring?

Originally, red chocolate cake did not have artificial coloring. The red (not nearly as red as we're used to now) came from natural (not Dutch processed) cocoa (acidic), plus another acidic ingredient (buttermilk or vinegar). The double-dose of acid  reacts with the anthocyanins (antioxidants that are red, even more so in the presence of acid) in the cocoa and the alkali baking soda to create a subtle reddish tone.

Try an old-style recipe, with natural cocoa and additional acid. Then if you must make your cake redder, it shouldn't take a bottle and a half of #40 red. Dutch processed cocoa will not give you the red effect, and it will cause your cake to be much darker. The flavor will be fine, but it won't be red and it will be difficult to dye red. Using dye to color a very dark brown (think Devil's Food) cake is going to require (as you have apparently seen), A LOT of dye. There comes a point that you're just going to cause anyone who eats the cake with their hands to have red fingers.

As far as your cake with a bottle and a half of food coloring? I'd quit trying to achieve a redder tone. You may or may not be able to taste the color in the cake, but you're going to see bright red tongues and possibly other weirdness.

This is an article about the chemistry of red chocolate and red velvet cakes: Chenected

Oh, and there is no such thing as too little artificial coloring for the sake of flavor, you can even skip it entirely. Your cake won't be as red, but it will taste just fine.

  The unrelated addition of “red” to a chocolate cake’s name initially arose due to the chemical reaction of acid in unsweetened bar chocolate and natural (non-alkalized) cocoa powder in conjunction with an acidic liquid (generally buttermilk or sour milk) with an alkali (baking soda), which reveals the red anthocyanin, a water-soluble vacuolar pigment. (In contrast, chocolate cakes made with baking powder and a non-acidic liquid turn out blackish in color.) Near the beginning of the 20th century, these chocolate cakes became known as “red cake,” “red regal cake,” “red feather [as in light-as-a-feather] cake,” “feather devil’s food cake,” and “red devil’s food cake.” However, their slightly reddish-dark brown hue was quite different from and much duller than food coloring-enhanced red velvet. - Tory Avey History of American cakes


Can I separate garlic into cloves for storage? I bought jar for garlic but it can store only two bulbs with most place being wasted. Can I separate bulb into cloves and store them? Or will it significantly shorten the lifespan of garlic?

EDIT To clarify - this is jar made out of ceramic with holes in the bottom for ventilation.

Traditionally (at least in Spain) garlic was kept in a braided string, hung in a dry place, so that they could last until the following season.

Separating them in cloves will cause them to dry prematurely.


How do I cook bolognese-filled ravioli from frozen? I'm planning on following Jamie Olvier's bolognese ravioli recipe, freezing the ravioli and then cooking and serving them the next day.

When talking about cooking them, the recipe says:

  Cook the ravioli in the boiling salted water for 3 minutes, or until
  tender, then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the sauce. Gently
  toss together and simmer for another couple of minutes [...]

But earlier in the recipe, where it talks about freezing them:

  [...] or make a double batch of pasta and freeze as ravioli – you can cook
  them from frozen in the sauce.

Does that mean I don't cook the frozen ravioli in boiling water at all? And, as the recipe doesn't say, how long would you recommend cooking them?

The recipe does say to cook them in the sauce if frozen, but I think it is more a suggestion about another method you could use to cook the ravioli. You could definitely still just boil the frozen ravioli and add them to the sauce. I would probably boil them an additional minute or two being very careful to check to see if they are done past the 4 minute mark. Typically I'd say if the ravioli float, they are done, but the bolognese sauce filling may be too heavy to allow the ravioli to float.

To cook them directly in the sauce, I would heat the sauce up and then add the ravioli so that they make a single layer and can be nestled into the sauce. I would probably cook them 6-7 minutes from the time the sauce comes back to a simmer, but once again, I'd be very careful to watch them. Ravioli is usually pretty easy to tell if it is done and since it will be in the sauce you can easily poke one in the pan, you shouldn't have trouble getting it right.

EDIT: I would actually not recommend refrigerating this recipe rather than freezing it because the sauce filling could make the pasta soggy unlike a cheese filling.


Is it possible to determine if fish caught from fishing is safe to make into sashimi or sushi? I know that fish bought from a grocery store isn't always great quality or safe to consume raw and this was elaborated in this question.

However, is it generally safe (if prepared properly) to turn a fish caught from a local fishing spot into sashimi/sushi? Are there any specific factors to look out for such as water quality and pollution? If it is not generally safe to do this are there methods one can use to determine the safeness of the practice?

The biggest concern with fish caught in the wild is the presence of parasites. You'll have to look up which species of parasite are present in the species of fish that you wish to use, and treat it accordingly. Tapeworm is common in salmon, and several other varieties of fish have various parasites capable of infecting a human host. Most sites I've seen suggest that you need to freeze the fish at -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celcius) or colder for 7 days or -31 Fahrenheit (-35 Celcius) for 15 hours to guarantee any parasites are dead. Many home freezers may have difficulty keeping temperatures this low. Also the freezing process, if done in a home freezer, has a good chance of ruining the taste and the texture of the meat. You may want to look into flash freezing methods to avoid this.

Supposedly there are certain species of fish that do not have any parasites, or at least no parasites capable of infecting humans. You will want to do your own research on this to be certain.

Beyond parasites bacteria are the other biggest concern. Make sure you put the fish into a cooler immediately, and freeze it as soon as you return home.

Sources:
http://seafoodhealthfacts.org/seafood_safety/patients/parasites.php
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_concerns/sushi_parasites.html


How can I keep my jam from overcooking while I process it? As we've rolled into fruit season this year I've started canning up some jams using a traditional boiling process in my big stock pot (though I'm getting pretty close to investing in a pressure canner at this point) and I'm running into a problem: I wind up with too much jam to process in a single batch (which comfortably handles about 7 4-ounce jars or 4 8-ounce jars), so I'm forced to do one batch, then sterilize a new set of jars before I can process another batch — and in the meantime, my jam is continuing to cook down, pushing past 220F/105C and taking on a much thicker, taffy-like consistency.  Is there any way of keeping my texture consistent across batches, or should I just be making smaller loads or accepting the difference in results?

If it's getting cooked too much, well, stop cooking it. You can cover it to prevent water loss. If it's too hot sitting on the same burner (on an electric stove), move the pot. It sounds like your cast-iron pot might be part of the problem, too - if it's still staying too hot, you could pour it into something else. Finally, if you do still have significant water loss, I believe you should be able to add a little water (careful not to add too much) and stir and reheat.

P.S. you could also just get a lighter pot. (I know that's not ideal.)


How do I become more time efficient in the kitchen? The only thing holding me back from truly enjoying cooking is that it takes so much of my time. The prepping, cooking, cleaning...

What techniques do professional chefs utilize to cook a three course meal in the time an average cook finishes seasoning a beef roast? How do you become more time efficient in the kitchen?

Chefs, professional cooks (and experienced home cooks) do a LOT/MOST of the preparation in advance.

They prepare all vegetables in advance (clean, cut, blanched (if necessary).
They prepare all meats and fish in advance (clean, cut...)
They do all sauces in advance.

They have all ingredients at hands and know what ingredients to use for each dish they prepare.

They know how long each ingredient takes to cook (by virtue of experience).

If you have the chance to go to a restaurant with an open kitchen (where you can see the cooks cooking), you will see that they most assemble ingredients prepared in advance; they will usually cook the "protein" and re-heat the vegetables and assemble that on the plate.

The preparation time can be time consuming at first, but with experience you can more or less reduce that to nothing;
You can cut and chop vegetables as you go in order of cooking time (for example, cut onions, put in pan, cut garlic, put in pan, cut tomatoes put in pan...)

The cooking part is the most important, either hot and fast or not so hot and slow; again, this is dependent on what you want to do; For example, a steak takes a few minutes, while a stew can take up to hours to cook.

For that, recipes are a good starting point; most of them do well in telling you how long it takes to prepare and cook the recipe.

Same thing for the cleaning part; if possible to it in parallel of other tasks, while the tomato sauce is simmering, clean bowls, boards and cutleries; wipe counter tops...

Don't wait up and let dirty dishes pile up (unless you have a nice boy/girl friend that will do the dishes and clean up after you :-) )

Good luck with that.


How do I sous-vide a shoulder of lamb? I've recently purchased a sous vide immersion circulator in preparation for Christmas. In my home we typically cook lamb on Christmas (don't ask..). The way that I usually cook a shoulder of lamb is by searing it in a skillet so that it is well-browned all over and I then place the shoulder in a very hot pre-heated oven. I then cover the tray in foil and immediately turn the temperature to 80 degrees celsius and then I let that cook for 7 hours or so. The resulting shoulder is fall off the bone tender, moist and unctuous because the collagen and fat have been rendered. I'd like to recreate the same thing using the sous vide method.

My family are very queasy at the thought of meat being even the slightest bit pink so ideally I'd like to avoid this. My biggest concern besides this is that the meat will become mushy if I cook it long enough for the collagen and fat to become tender and that it will look "boiled" as opposed to "roasted".

So my question is:

How can I achieve this same result with the sous vide immersion circulator?
What temperature would I have to sous vide the lamb at and for how long?
Also would it be advisable to sear it beforehand and then sous vide it? or sous vide it and then finish (to give it a brown roasted exterior) it off in the oven?

I would sear first, both to begin flavor development and to kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat.  Bag with or without herbs and a small amount of liquid.  Cook sous vide for 18 - 36 hours at 165F/74C for well-done/traditional braise texture.  Then before serving, I would have a very hot oven ready.  Carefully remove from bag (it will be very tender), pat dry, and finish in hot oven to finish browning.

At the end of the day, you just may prefer roasted/braised to sous vide.  It's just another tool/technique.


Caffeine pills don't dissolve in hot tea I'm drinking Rooibos Vanilla Tea and I like to dissolve an 80 mg caffeine pill in it. I hand press the pills myself from pure caffeine powder. However, the pill doesn't dissolve very well in the tea. Instead, it either breaks into smaller pieces which float around or it doesn't dissolve at all.

Is there a creative way to make them dissolve, such as using some sort of binding agent? I already tried to use capsules, but I don't like the idea very much, because you have to open them and pour out the powder.

If it really has to be pills, then I guess you need to mix in something that dissolves more easily than the caffeine powder. Powdered sugar seems like a good candidate. I found a couple references to people using it as a binding material for other pills, so presumably it'll work.

Depending on how you're making your tea, you could also add the pill while you're boiling the water, to give it more time to dissolve, and to make sure it gets the full heat.


Make tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes? I'm quite new to cooking, but nonetheless I have been experimenting in the kitchen for a while to try and make some sauce from tomatoes. But all my attempts failed: I usually get just a bunch of fried tomatoes or something similar.

I have tried the following:

Chopping and just throwing on the pan, this one seems like the correct way.
Grating the tomatoes - this one sounds odd and, well, it is.

I just really need to find a simple method to generate sauce from tomatoes and I haven't found anything that worked for me. I'm obviously doing something wrong.

Whenever I'm looking to make something I've never tried, I seek out recipes from a site that has reviews. I look for something that has many good reviews (not just 5 stars from one person). Then be sure to read the reviews, as they often have good suggestions and details on how the recipe worked for them.

For example, here's a tomato sauce recipe from Allrecipes.com. Seems pretty straight forward: smush up the tomatoes, throw them in a pot with oil and spices, cook until done.

Based on your description, I'd guess you're either cooking at too high a heat, cooking too long, not using enough tomato, or not using enough oil. Very hard to tell without knowing more about your process.

As for a simple method to generate sauce from tomatoes: I generally don't make that rich, heavy sauce one typically associates with Italian tomato sauces. I make a fresher, lighter sauce that goes something like:

Start some pasta cooking in well-salted boiling water.
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan over medium-low heat. I generally use decent extra-virgin here, as I won't be sauteing or frying in it.
Dice some onion and add to the pan to sweat them down a bit. They should gently sizzle, not hiss and pop. If they do, turn the heat down.
Mince some garlic, add to the pan. Just cook for a minute or two to flavor the oil.
Dice the tomatoes and add to the pan. I normally dice them whole, skin on, and leave most of the pulp, juice and seeds.
Add a pinch of salt, some pepper and a small pinch of red pepper flakes (a larger pinch if my wife isn't joining me).
Cook until the tomatoes cook down and the sauce looks yummy.
Chiffonade some fresh herbs (I love fresh basil and oregano, and roll up all the small herbs in the big basil leaves to make everything easier to thinly slice) or add a pinch of dried. I like to wait until the end to keep the herbs tasting bright and fresh.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.
Drop the pasta into the fry pan and toss with the sauce, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water (see here for some reasons why).
Toss and cook for a minute or two to get the sauce and pasta loving each other thoroughly.
Taste, adjust seasoning to your taste.
Enjoy with a nice Chianti.

I know that looks like a lot of steps, but it's actually super-simple, and breaking it down into print is way more complicated than actually making it.


Is the root/rhizomes of ground elder edible? Ground elder is a terrible weed with delicious leaves. But is the root edible too?
Wikipedia:

Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, and snow-in-the-mountain, is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places.
[...]
The tender leaves have been used in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages as a spring leaf vegetable, much as spinach was used.

I found this on http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/freefood.htm

Ground-elder
Aegopodium podagraria   all parts edible
young leaves in salads or cooked as a spinach,
roots dried and ground into a flour.

Jeannet


How can I keep my reheated Oats from sticking together? I usually make steel cut oats in a rice cooker (1:3 ratio of oats and water) and generally have a couple of servings left over. When I try to reheat in the microwave it comes out all congealed together in small little chunks. Even if I put a little milk before microwaving still doesn't seem to work - The milk stays settled on the bottom of the heated bowl and the oats are still clumped together.  Any Tips?

You have to really beat the milk into it. Start with all of the oatmeal in a bowl, and add just a little milk and mush it in with a fork. Keep adding milk a little at a time until you reach the texture you like, then reheat it.