Brioche bread texture I made a loaf of brioche today following a French recipe. Here's how it looks:

I don't like its texture. It's bland and a bit dry. Honestly, the taste of overnight-proof bread is not very atractive to me (perhaps because I used instant yeast instead of fresh yeast???).

Here's the recipe I used:

50ml milk

6g instant yeast

2 large eggs

250g bread flour (13% protein)

125g unsalted butter

50g sugar

1g salt

I kneaded the dough with hand mixer and checked with windowpane test. The dough was soft, and almost not sticky because of butter.Then I covered the dough with plastic wrap and let it proof at room tempearture for 2 hours, deflated, then covered and let it proof in the fridge overnight (around 10 hours).

After shaping in the mold, I let it proof again for another hour.
Finally, I baked at 170°C for 30 minutes, and 160°C for 10 minutes.

How should I improve it? If anyone has a brioche recipe that is soft, moist, flavorful and buttery (like Harry's brioche), it would be great.

Thank you very much.

I am pretty certain you simply overbaked your brioche. "Bland and dry" is a very common symptom of that. Also, if we look at the recipe, you had a quite small loaf, which you baked for 40 minutes.

The first solution I'd try in your place is to bake to internal temperature of 96C, then remove immediately from the oven and swaddle in a kitchen towel, possibly spraying with water before covering.

The other things you can do are finer tweaks, but they shouldn't have that much of an effect on the dryness as such. You have way too much yeast, especially for an overnight raise. I've read books that suggest using more yeast for a brioche, but that's because they also have a shortened raise and/or baking from cold (to keep the very buttery dough firm when forming). I personally don't care much for long rests, so I would maybe reduce the yeast only partially (maybe using 2.5 to 3 g) and do two raises at room temperature, as with normal white bread. If you want to keep the retardation, then use less yeast, about 1.25 g. But since your dough is neither under- nor overproofed, the amount of yeast shouldn't have much impact on texture, mostly on aroma only.


How long can refrigerated eggs last past their date? I have a set of eggs that expired last week, would they still be okay to cook with? Generally in the USA, can refrigerated eggs be used past their expiration date?

Yes, you can use eggs well past their "sell by" date.  A week past shouldn't have a noticeable difference.

The older the eggs get, the more evaporation that will take place (because the eggs are washed, so they don't have a protective layer).

You will notice in older eggs that there's a growing pocket of air inside the egg when you break them.  (for me it tends to be on the more rounded end, but I don't know if it has to do with how you orient the eggs in storage).

I know that I've used eggs more than a month past the "sell by" date, and I wouldn't be surprised if I've gone two months.  It's only really a problem in baking, as the egg whites won't contribute the same amount of moisture as if they were fresh.  And maybe for hard boiled eggs if you want them pretty, as you'll end up with a void where the air pocket is.


Pickles are really salty (lactic fermenation) I decided to make pickles following a recipe that our crop-share association (CSA) suggested: Three Secrets To Crispy Pickles, And A 'Lost Recipe' Found.

After 4 days, I decided to sample my creation.  While the pickles have a nice texture (crunchy) and aroma, they are quite salty (almost inedible).  Are pickles that are created this way normally fairly (subjective) salty?

If my calculations are correct (4T salt / 1Q water = 79.2g / 946.4mL), the recipe uses 8.4% saline solution.  The concentration might indeed by higher if one adjusts for the water evaporation that occurs during boiling and cooling.  From my reading, other recipes use a 5% saline solution.

What is the ideal saline concentration for lactic fermentation?
Will the perceived saltiness of the pickle decrease as it ages?
Is there anything else that might have lead to this result?

I quickly skimmed the article, and this was what I was looking for

"After a week, slice off a small amount of cucumber and taste. If you like the level of sourness that the pickle has reached..."

If the sourness of the pickles increases with time, then the answer to your second question is yes.  I don't have the answers to the other ones, but when I worked in a restaurant, our chef taught me that sour foods, like tomatoes, respond very well to salt.

This is a trend I've observed with other sour things I've consumed and prepared.  Salt-rimmed glasses for lime margaritas take the focus away from 'sour' and vice versa: licking the salt off a margarita glass without drinking anything would get intolerable quickly.

Edit: I found a physiology study that supports this: the perception of saltiness is reduced by sourness (acidity).

  Accordingly, the magnitude of the chorda tympani response to NaCl is enhanced at alkaline pH and inhibited at acidic pH, i.e., in mixtures of NaCl with weak organic acids

The chorda tympani is the nerve that carries signals from the tastebuds at the front of the tongue to the brain.  As the cucumbers develop more lactic acid, the acidity will reduce the perceived saltiness.

Edit 2:  Some more information is available on the Gustatory System Wikipedia page for salt and sour.

Saltiness is perceived primarily by an ion channel in the taste cell walls.  An ion channel is a type of protein that allows ions to flow across cell walls.  The particular protein for salt perception is called ENaC.  Sour perception is facilitated by 3 proteins, one of which is also ENaC.

Re Question 1: I'm pretty convinced that your first question should be something more along the lines of "What are ideal salt/lactic acid ratios for lactic fermentation?"  It appears that you have two variables to play with:

How much salt you put into your pickling brine
How long you ferment the pickles for (controlling how much lactic acid develops)

I'd venture to guess that there may be several different sweet spots for a good balance, but that generally 'too salty' can be offset with more fermentation while 'too sour' can be offset with more salt (and an immediate halt to fermentation).


How can I make creme fraiche quickly without waiting for it to curdle? The recipe I have says to wait 24 hours but I don't have that much time! Is there any way to speed up the process? Thank you!

True creme fraiche is made by a biological process.  Within certain limits, fermentation may proceed faster at warmer temperatures, but in the end, you have to wait for the culture to grow and do its work of emitting the acid that thickens the cream.

I would be cautious of raising the temperature above more than a very warm room temperature, however.

My survey of recipes (you didn't provide the one you used) indicates that should be usable after eight to twenty four hours, but it will be thicker the longer you wait.  Even after the fermentation period, several recipes indicate that it will continue to thicken and improve for several more days under refrigeration.


Cooking on a Himalayan Salt Slab I am interested in purchasing a himalayan pink salt slab to cook on my stovetop.  My cooktop is glass.  The directions for using the salt slab is to be sure to have a space between the heat source and the slab  Can a heat diffuser be used on a glass cooktop and can the slab be used on the heat diffuser?

My mom has a glass top stove...hate it! I use a cooling rack over the burner when I'm trying to not burn a simmering chili. That should work for you.


I only want to buy two knives, which two types to get? I plan on cooking pretty simple foods and will need a knife for things like stir fry, the occasional meat dish, soups, casseroles, basically just standard fare. What brand and type will get me good value and all-purpose use?

I recommend that you get a chef's knife or a santoku (both are general purpose knives), and a paring knife.  For most western cooks who will be learning from western examples, the chef's knife may be the better choice.

These two knives will cover most needs.  See:

Which knife is best for somone just learning to cook?

If you were to add a third knife, a serrated bread knife can be very useful for certain tasks (like bread, and perhaps unexpectedly, chopping chocolate).


Making high-quality frozen-food at home? There's a french chain, picard, which sells gourmet frozen food , for the french. And they really like it - so it must be really tasty. But it's expensive.

On the other hand ,some families , that want to save time and money, cook food in large batches and freeze it for the whole week.

Assuming those families know how to cook great food(say they are the top 20% of home cooks), what are the missing pieces/technologies for them to make really high quality, gourmet FROZEN food ?

Is it only flash freeze tech ? or something more ?

Flash-freezing equipment wouldn't hurt, but for the normal home cook, the main things are to chill it as quickly as reasonably possible, package it with as much air removed as possible (vacuum sealers help here) in individual meal-sized portions, then freeze.

Thaw in the fridge if possible, or by heating your vacuum-sealed bag in a water bath. (Microwaves are pretty bad at heating frozen blocks of food and even with a lot of attention paid will tend to overheat part while other parts remain frozen.)

Choose recipes that work for the equipment you have, and adapt your weeknight process to combine the frozen ingredients with fresh ones.

Soups, many sauces, chilis, beans and rice dishes freeze well under normal home conditions, as do some meat preparations (the texture can change, and usually, the larger the cut of meat, the more likely it is that the change from freezing will be negative). Without flash-freezing, foods with a high water content tend to become mushy, so that the broccoli you steamed to perfection will most likely thaw out to be limp and potatoes may be mushy.


dark black furrows in sweet potatoes I have a large jewel yam. I peeled, diced, and boiled it with sugars and some spices. When I peeled it, I noticed there were deep darkish furrows in the potato, like spots where sprouts had been but were knocked off. There were a bit dark around the corner. Against my better judgement, I didn't cut them out. After boiling, the dark black spots seemed to permeate the flesh. It doesn't taste different, but it looks unpleasant. Around them, the flesh is very fibrous.

Is it safe to eat? Next time should I cut these out or avoid buying potatoes that have them?

Without pictures (or perhaps lab results), it is very difficult to say.  It sounds like your sweet potatoes may have been infested with mold (thus the dark color), in which case the wisest course of action would be to have discarded them.

In general, you should be suspicious of any unexpected appearance in your produce.

Note:  I am inferring the item in question really is a sweet potato, marketed as a yam.  True yams may have channels inside, and are a very different vegetable.


How long should I sear meat after thawing from frozen state? I generally sous vide more food than I can eat at one time, so I put the extra food in a water bath and then freeze.  I'm wondering how long and at what temperature I need to sear meats after thawing to make sure they are hot but not overcooked.  I generally sear on the grill but sometimes in a skillet. Thanks!!!

The Sous Vide Supreme website recommends reheating in the water bath for 45 minutes per inch of thickness (adding 30 minutes if reheating from frozen).  I would do this at a temperature equal to, or a degree or two lower than, your initial cook so as not to over cook.  Then sear or grill as normal...a minute or so per side.


First time cooking/eating asparagus, what's the best way to cook it? So I'm going to bake some salmon fillets today  along with potatoes and hollandaise sauce.
I always see asparagus being eaten with salmon so I went and bought some. Ive never made it before so I was wondering what the quickest and easiest way is to cook it?
Would it be alright to cook it in a pan with olive oil and some garlic?

P.s. I also have some button mushrooms. I'm thinking is just sautéing them on olive oil.if anyone has any ideas please do tell me.

Thanks in advance.

Snap the hard part of the asparagus, bend the asparagus and it should snap at some point near the harder part.

Use a peeler to peel the out skin of the stem, the outer skin is tougher, more fibrous.

In all situation, be careful not over cook them, then should still have some bite to them.

Steam or boil, use them whole in this situation.
Pan fry in oil and/or butter, I prefer cutting them in smaller pieces.
BBQ or grill them whole (my preferred way).


How does aging affect Gouda cheese? I'm particularly interested in how aged Gouda will melt compared to young Gouda, but I'm interested in what happens to its flavor as well.

I live in the US and have never actually tasted aged Gouda. The Gouda I know is young, soft, very smooth, and melts beautifully. It's almost like American "cheese" that way, but unlike American cheese, it actually has some flavor. I'm interested in a more intensely flavored cheese that is still very meltable.

As a bit of comparison, I use cheddar quite a bit. Young cheddar melts beautifully (in macaroni and cheese, for example) but it doesn't have intense flavor. I much prefer the taste of sharp (or aged) cheddar, but it doesn't melt smoothly. Using aged cheddar alone in mac and cheese doesn't work well; it's grainy and often separates even in a bechamel. I'll still happily put it on a burger though.

I'm about to buy some Beemster Aged Gouda that has been aged for 18-24 months and I want to use it to its best advantage. I'm interested too in 5 year aged Gouda, but with shipping it's very expensive. I'd happily read any comments about the value of long aged Gouda as well.

Aged gouda is my favorite cheese!

Beemster Classic Aged is like a firmer, creamy, sweet, slightly sharp, nutty version of regular gouda.

I've never had a 5 year, but 2 year aged gouda (like Beemster xo) is kind of like a creamy parmigiano but not as hard... nutty, caramel/toffee flavors with random crunchy tyrosine bits.

I would expect the 5 year to be comparable in flavor to Parmigiano with more creaminess and a less crumbly texture due to the fact that gouda is made with whole milk while Parmigiano is made with partially skimmed milk.

Truthfully, it rarely lasts long enough for me to use it in anything... it is the perfect cheese to eat by itself or with apple, pear, or almonds. You can basically use them anywhere you would use a sharp cheddar or parmigiano.


Is it possible to release the earthy citrus of a tomato in a soup without eating it? I have this idea that maybe along with other ingredients for a savory Thai-inspired soup that I can boil whole tomatoes with it to balance the savory flavor with the earthy citrus that the tomatoes have. But, the tomatoes themselves aren't something that should be eaten with the rest soup because actually biting into a ripe tomato is overwhelming and inconsistent with it.

I haven't gotten much out of experimenting with it so far, so is there a way that I can just cook or boil the tomatoes with the soup so that it adds a the earthy citrus flavor but without being an eaten ingredient? I don't like the idea of canned tomato juice, I usually use fresh ingredients and it tastes more metallic.

Yes, it’s doable, but you will have to plan for an extra step and possibly few hours of preparation before you can start with your actual recipe:

The haute cuisine approach:

Make a clear tomato soup (sometimes also described as “essence” or “consommé”) and use this as an ingredient in your soup.

There are cooked and raw methods and both rely on separating the tomato (and other ingredients) from the liquid, either by very careful straining through a cloth or by an egg white raft.

Or simplified:

In a similar process, you can simply cook the tomato in the liquid you are going to use for your soup, strain out the solid tomato bits so that just the purée gets into the liquid and continue from there.

Even simpler:

Use a stick blender for the soup base in the previous step.

Note that the consistency and opaqueness will change depending on the method you choose, from thin to thick, from clear to opaque and the same goes for the flavor profile.


Roasted Pork Leg is Dried Out Every time I try to roast a pork leg a lot of water drains from it and it becomes dry.

Last time I did it this way: 24 hours before, I seasoned a 1.5kg (3 pounds) piece with salt, pepper, garlic, orange juice and lime juice. I put it out of the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting, and roasted it (covered), with  low heat (150° C, about 300° F) for about 2 hours in the seasoned juices. When roasted, I let the meat rest for 1 hour. Still, the leg was kinda dry.

What could be wrong? The oven, the meat? Something in my process?

It is hard to tell just from text descriptions, but I believe your pork leg is under-cooked.

Note that it is likely fully cooked in the sense of safety, but it has not had long enough for the slow process of collagen to gelatin conversion.

Pork legs (or hams, depending on what you have exactly) are well used muscles with a lot of connective tissue, comprised of the protein collagin.  This is tough, even when fully cooked to 165 F / 74 C (which is well done for most meats).

At temperatures above above 180 F / 82 C, in the presence of water (which is in the meat already), the collagen will begin to convert to gelatin, which has a moist, unctuous texture.

This process is both time and temperature dependent.  At lower temperatures, it takes more time; at higher, it is faster.

Continuing to slowly roast your pork leg will allow this slow conversion to happen, making it again become tender and unctuous, because of the lubricating affect of the gelatin.  In fact, it will eventually be pullable just with a couple of forks (although shoulder is even better for this).

You would probably be better served by cooking it at least three hours; four might be even better.

See also:

What makes a moist steak (or roast)? (despite the name, this is about more than steaks)
What factors affect collagen to gelatin conversion?


What can I do to help prevent flatulence from beans? I love the feijoada (typical Brazilian recipe). For optimal cooking, beans should be soaked in water for 12 hours, but it seems this is the cause of flatulence.

What is it in beans that causes flatulence and what can I do during cooking to help neutralize it?

In fact, soaking helps reduce the flatulence-causing sugars and starches. See this answer, for example. Soaking alone won't completely neutralize the problem, though. Certain spices may help; according to Wikipedia:

  Many herbal substances have been observered since antiquity for reducing flatulence, particularly gas from eating legumes. Cloves, cinnamon, and garlic are potent in reducing gas. The potency of garlic increases when heated, whereas the potency of cinnamon decreases. Other spices have a smaller effect in reducing gas, including turmeric, black pepper, asafoetida and ginger.

Another possibility is to take an enzyme supplement like beano to break down the starches before they get to the large intestine. See Wikipedia for more info.


How to cook with capsaicin and avoid chemically bombarding my housemates? I tend to add a copious amount of spice to the meals I make. I mostly cook simple stir fries with high heat. Whenever I add ground cayenne pepper or liquid hot sauces, the spice seems to aerosolize. I sometimes notice it, but it never really gets to me. But my housemates are more sensitive, and although they haven't told me to stop, I certainly don't want to discomfort them.

Running the fan above the range doesn't seem to help, and I can't cook my meal while it's covered the whole time. Any ideas to mitigate the spread of spice in the environment? Should I add the spice and cover immediately, letting it sit for a while? What do you think may work?

Essentially, don't let it heat/boil as much by itself. For example:

if it's a hot sauce that doesn't really need to cook with your stir fry, add after cooking, so it doesn't boil at all
add into a sauce, not by itself, so it's diluted
reduce heat or even remove the pan from the heat before adding anything spicy, so you can let it cook just enough, and not too hot/fast

That doesn't work if you have something hot that you need to cook with the rest the whole time (e.g. you want hot peppers in your stir fry), but since you mention stir fries with ground cayenne or liquid hot sauce, you have some flexibility. It's pretty common for stir fry sauces to only need really brief cooking at the end, enough to come up to temperature, stir to coat, possibly cook some corn starch through to thicken.


Trusted Custom mold manufacturers for confections Hello Seasoned advice community,

I am new here and just want to say thanks for letting me into your lovely community. =)

I am the R&D manager at a confections company and I am in need of some Custom molds for my jelly products. I've sourced some molds from a company in France and went through the whole back an forth process with them to nail down a design for my molds. They sent me numerous pictures of the mold, as well as, sample products they made using my molds and everything looked great. I received the first set of molds yesterday and they are nothing like the pictures! =( I'm working with them to hopefully rectify the situation but needless to say this will be the last time I use them.

Does anyone know of a trusted and reliable custom mold manufacturer?

I found a local mold manufacture who can produce exactly what we need in a timely manner. The folks over at Acme Apothecary have saved the day!

Support local business! =)
Thanks again to all who commented and thanks to the people at stack exchange for making this all possible.


How to make cookies without using greaseproof paper or a baking tin? I don't have greaseproof paper nor a baking tin and I'm baking cookies. What should I do?

You should use what you have available as long as it is flat. Thin is good, if you have no cookie sheets you could use any thin-bottomed pans you have (thick bottoms take too long to get up to temperature, leading to inconsistent results). A layer of tin foil will work in lieu of greaseproof paper in most cases, shiny side towards the cookie.


Is there such a thing as "food grade CO2"? I'm thinking about building a setup to make my own carbonated water. Should I be concerned that I'll be filling up my CO2 tank at Dick's Sporting Goods?

According to The Brewing Network, industrial and food grade CO2 generally come from the same plants:

  The slight difference between industrial-grade CO2 and food-grade CO2 is the type of tests that are done to qualify CO2 as beverage or beer gas-grade compared to industrial-grade. Currently, the FDA's requirement for food-grade CO2 a 99.90% purity rating. The other .09% is made up of impurities such as hydrocarbons or nitrogen. Industrial grade CO2 is 99% pure CO2, also containing impurities such as hydrocarbons or nitrogen.

However, the nature of those impurities extremely important.  They go on to suggest:

  One impurity that all homebrewers should be aware of is benzene. Benzene is a no-no for homebrewers. If the CO2 that you are purchasing has high benzene levels, it will leave you and fellow drinkers with terrible headaches. When I say high levels, we are not talking about much. Benzene is usually an impurity that is referred to in PPB. The benzene level should be around 20 PPB.

They suggest you ask for a profile of the impurities, although I suspect that Dick's will be unable to comply.   You will have to assess your own tolerance for risk, but you may better off seeking a more appropriate local vendor.


Using applesauce to sub for butter in biscuits I know that the general rule is that you can use half the amount of butter or oil a recipe calls for and replace the other half with applesauce. My question is, can you do this for baked goods that are very butter dependent, such as biscuits? By biscuits I mean American Southern-style biscuits, which are mainly flour, butter, and some type of riser. I was just going to try it and see what happened, but I figured I'd ask the experts before wasting ingredients.

Adding butter to biscuits or bread is what allows for that flakiness in the crust and that creamy texture in the bread itself. Lard would give you the same effect -- it's pretty much the saturated fat that makes the biscuit taste so great. Substituting applesauce for the butter won't give you the same results. It will be edible, but it will be more like a quickbread or cake than the biscuits you were hoping for.


Dishwasher safe lids for copper cookware? I have a copper cookware set.  I understand that the copper portion isn't dishwasher safe, but what about the lids?  I assume since they have no copper on them, they are dishwasher safe.

My Cookware Set

Those lids appear to be stainless steel, and as such would be dishwasher safe.


How to tenderize squid for ika nigiri? I was at a Sushi restaurant in San Diego today and ordered some squid nigiri.  Although it had been roughly scored with a knife, it was still quite chewy.  I'm assuming it was yari-ika.

Is there a way to prepare squid for nigiri that's less rubbery?

Squid gets rubbery when overcooked and it happens really fast, so you should just blanch it for just a few seconds and immediately cool it in icy water. I used to score the squid on the outside (with a criss-cross pattern, not too deep) to prevent it from warping during the cooking process. It also adds a nice texture.


Can you take a cooked roast and make it tender and moist? I roasted a top round roast low and slow and it still came out dry and tough. I know that this is a cheaper cut of meat but I was wondering if I put it in the crock pot with gravy or water, could I get the roast more tender?

I would dice it and make something else out of it -- roast beef hash comes to mind. The potatoes, onion, and whatever else you decide to toss in will overcome the dryness, and chopping it will overcome the toughness.


In my new mixer, my bread dough gets wrapped around the kneading hook. What should I do? I just got a new stand mixer - a nice, heavy 500W mixer with a 5-liter bowl.
Until now, I'd been making bread by hand and kneading it on the countertop.

So the first thing I tried was using the mixer with the kneading hook, but I find that the dough tends to get wrapped around the hook and just spins around along with it.

I guess I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not sure if it's my technique or my ingredients. I'm using the same bread recipes as I did before. Any ideas?

Edit:

Thanks for all the input, guys. Here's some more info:

The mixer is a Kenwood KMix KMX-50.
I've tried adjusting the height of the dough hook up and down, I'm not sure how far from the bowl's surface it should be. Any suggestions? I don't think
I doubt it's a volume/quantity issue - I'm using a kilo of flour, which is around the 1.3kg bread weight limit of the spec.
I mix at low speed.

I'll try Sobachatina's suggestion and try to add water. Let's see how it turns out. Thanks for all your suggestions!

I think I finally found a solution, which worked for me:
I started with @monte-hill's notes about how the dough is too wet, causing it to stick, and added something I learned elsewhere.

My mistake was that I was dumping all the liquids into the mixing bowl right at the start.

The best solution I found that works is to GRADUALLY add the liquids. I put a about half plus a bit extra in the bowl at the start, then start the mixer. Once all the fluid has been absorbed, I add the rest. I've tried this a couple of times already, and it's made a complete difference in the results and the process!


Why isn't my vinaigrette emulsifying properly? I made a vinaigrette tonight. Normally, to make one, I put vinegar and oil in a mason jar and shake to mix. This usually seems to emulsify the mixture properly and it holds for a while. Tonight, I made one with 20% red wine vinegar, 20% champagne vinegar, 10% dry sherry, 50% Greek olive oil, and nothing else. I found that after shaking, it started to separate within about 30 seconds, being completely split again after about a minute. Why did this particular mixture not stay in a stable emulsified state?

As Michael mentioned, a shaken vinaigrette is only going to stay together primarily while you're shaking it.  If it's been staying together long consider yourself lucky all the other times...this time was what should be "normal".

The more particulate such as herbs, mustard, spices, etc. that you have in a vinaigrette the quicker it will emulsify and the longer it will stay emulsified.  The particles of spice and herbs act as physical barriers that help to interrupt the droplets of oil so that they aren't able to coalesce and come together as they can when you have just oil and vinegar/acid.

When doing vinaigrettes by hand using a whisk, start with your acid and add the salt along with anything else, leaving the oil last.  Adding salt to the acid component will help it to better dissolve so you get a truer reading on the flavor.  When it's added last as it's usually written in most recipes: "season to taste with salt and pepper", the salt usually hasn't dissolved by the time you taste it and you're much more likely to add too much, resulting in a dressing that's a bit saltier than you might like.

The manner in which you drizzle the oil and manner in which you whisk it when doing by hand, are also important factors.  When whisking vinagirettes by hand, drizzle the oil form a higher level so that as it hits the bowl you have a finer stream that's easier to emulsify.  Also, use a back and forth "zig-zag" motion rather than a circular whisking motion.  The "zig-zag" motion will allow the wires of the whisk to better break up the oil into droplets and emulsify them with the acid.  Using a circular motion creates a vortex in the center of the acid where the oil tends to pool, resulting in an oily vinaigrette.

The great part of using an immersion blender (aka stick or wand blender) is that EVERYTHING can go in at once.  Use a container that's deeper than it is wide (such as 2 cup liquid measure) so that there's plenty of depth for the liquid.  Garlic, shallots and herbs can even go in whole.  The immersion blender will blend up your garlic, etc. and emulsify the oil with the vinegar.  An immersion blender or a standard blender provide you with a the most stable vinaigrette.


Using frozen mince beef I forgot to get my mince beef out of the freezer to cook tonight, so it's still frozen...Can I cook it straight from frozen or does it need to fully defrost?

You can of course try to thaw it in your microwave (if you have one) or in your regular oven on low heat. However, I've never had any problems cooking with frozen ground beef. Just cook it on fairly low-medium heat and scrape off the outer layers as they get thawed. This might be easier and take a shorter amount of time if you manage to split it into smaller chunks before cooking it. Continue scraping, and splitting the big chunk into smaller parts as they thaw. If you use a low enough heat,  the parts you scraped off first won't get burnt either.
Turn the heat up when everything is separated, and fry it. Good luck!


What is the purpose of baking a cooked pot pie filling? I will be making chicken pot pie for about 350 people at a conference, but I'm making the filling separate from the biscuit topping.  The plan is to serve the pot pie in a disposable container, topping with a freshly baked biscuit just before serving.
My question is this:  Is there any reason to bake the hot filling, which is fully cooked already?  Does it improve the taste or texture in any way?

Good pot pie has a layer between the biscuit or pie crust and the filling. That layer is goopy, it takes on properties of both of the other elements. Without that kind of middle layer, the two elements would be missing that unifying texture. That said, it's not a big deal. Just be sure that the ingredients in the filling are truly optimally cooked.

If the fresh biscuits can live on the filling for even a little while, that will help that texture issue.


How to keep graham cracker crust from falling apart Whenever I make any type of square using a graham cracker crust, it always falls apart upon slicing.  No matter what I try, either following the receipe exactly,increasing or decreasing the amount of butter, slicing it when it is cold and hot, it always crumbles. There must be a way to succeed or they wouldn't call them squares. Anybody know the secret?

It's unrealistic to expect a graham cracker crust to slice perfectly. However, it shouldn't fall apart completely. The problem could be in the ingredient amounts, the baking time, or in not pressing it effectively. Check this out

http://www.makeitlikeaman.com/2014/01/11/graham-cracker-crust/

and see if it helps. It has a good method for pressing.


why (Calif.) apricot & peach jam will not set? For years, both my mother's and my own apricot and peach jams would never set up. The pectin package warned us that it might take up to 2 weeks to set (WHY??), and we always waited and checked, but it didn't happen then either.  Plum and blackberry jams always came out perfect every time.

Other acquaintances in the area (SF bay area) reported the same thing. I think I have a fix - just put in more lemon juice, like double (or even more), what the recipe calls for.  This has worked well for me a few batches now, but my question is why?

Why would the pectin company put a recipe in their box which doesn't work for so many people?  Are we all doing something wrong?  Or is there something about California fruit - or California lemons? - that is different from the place these recipes were written for? ... Or something about our atmosphere??  And why do these recipes mention that apricot/peach, specifically, might take up to 2 weeks to set.

Pectin needs acid to work. Fruit never has the same amount of acid. Not only do blackberries have much more acid than apricots, but two different cultivars of apricots and even two apricots of the same cultivar but grown in different conditions will have a large difference in the amount of acid. Ditto for lemons.

Your fix proves that this is the reason - once you added more acid (in the form of lemon juice), the problem disappeared. So, the reason "why" is simply "you didn't have enough acid in your jam".

The question of "why would the company publish a recipe" - it publishes a recipe which works on average, but it can't make a recipe which works for all fruit grown under all conditions. I can't tell you why your fruit is lower in acid than average (although the amount of sunny days during ripening is probably involved) but it seems that it is.


refrigerating meat after cooking I've heard that you need to let meat cool down after cooking before you store in in refrigeration, something about bacteria building up when you do that. Any idea if that's true?

In an ideal world, you would chill any hot food product rapidly before putting it in the refrigerator.  However, modern refrigerators can handle the load from a mass of hot food, so it is better to put the food in the refrigerator than to hold it at room temperature to cool.

The goal is to minimize the amount of time in the danger zone (40-140 F, 4-60 C) during which pathogens can grow.

See also:

What are some techniques to cool down a dish so that we can store it in the refrigerator safely?
How effective are modern home refrigerators at keeping other foods cool when hot food is introduced to the space?
How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?


Using cheese in noodle dishes A while ago I went to a Korean restaurant and ordered a noodle dish without really looking at the menu (as I sometimes tend to do). I was surprised when I was served something that had cheese in it, and even though I know that Korean dishes can contain a variety of common but not commonly used ingredients (e.g. Korean Army Stew with Spam and other bits and pieces) this was still unusual for me.

However, I have asked a few people about hot noodle dishes with cheese and no one seems to know much about this. I am wondering if this is a Korean cooking technique/style or if it is also used in other cuisines and dishes around the world.

Is there a well-known Korean hot noodle dish that includes cheese? If so what is it called?

My friend who was in Korea for a few months said that they are obsessed with cheese. It's not a traditional ingredient, but in modern cuisine they try to introduce cheese to some of the dishes - I guess this is the case you described. In my city (Poznań, Poland) there is a Korean restaurant specializing in bibimbap and the serve one option with mozarella cheese (and kimchi, it's a gorgeous combination).


Can you deep fry a frozen egg? Is it advisable? I read in a manga (shokugeki no soma chapter 170) the main protagonist froze an egg, then removed the shell and dipped it in tempura batter, making a dish that seems impossible to be created in reality.

Can one achieve that kind of cooking technique in reality?

It appears to be feasible!
I found this article in which a "cooking expert" gives a specific recipe:

Frozen egg tempura
Remove the shell of a frozen egg and cut the egg in half lengthwise without thawing. A peeled egg is slippery, so put a paper towel on the cutting board before you place the egg on the board. Lightly flour the halves of the egg all over, and dip it in a mixture of three tablespoons of tempura flour and two tablespoons of water. Deep-fry the egg in oil heated at 160 C for about three minutes.

They're not too specific about the results, but I imagine they'd have mentioned if it exploded or anything!
This answer mentions doing essentially the same thing for a scotch egg:

Freeze the raw egg in its shell, de-shell the frozen raw egg and wrap the sausage meat around it whilst it is still frozen. This can be difficult as the egg's albumen defrosts quickly. Coat in flour, egg and breadcrumb. Fry till the scotch egg floats and the crumb is a deep golden brown.
It's the only way I know that gives a soft runny yolk every time.

I don't know what frying temperature was used, and it's got sausage and breading around the egg rather than just tempura batter, but it's a deep-fried egg, starting from raw/frozen, and produces a soft yolk.


Is this yeast on my sauerkraut? Iv'e been researching what this white substance on my sauerkraut is, and I'm thinking (hoping) that it's the kahm yeast I've see talked about on forums such as this. But I'm not sure. It looks like a white powder/snow on the surface of the kraut, and also in the brine. I'm using a water filled bag to keep the kraut submerged. I used the method of salting and kneading the chopped cabbage to create the brine. My concern is that it's slime related...how will I tell?
This is my 3rd attempt at making my own sauerkraut...sigh. Appreciate your input.

So, 2 weeks later and I decided to see if I could skim the substance off the top and figure out what it was - except once I removed the water weight the white substance was gone, the brine is a murky light colour which I think is ok, but after a taste-test I realise there is way too much salt, the kraut is crunchy but not much fermented. I think I added extra salt to ensure I didn't experience my previous failed attempt and must have added too much.
Now I have to decide whether to chuck it and start again, or dilute the brine and let it ferment more.

The concern here is that this is something unexpected and potentially harmful. The general rule is - if in doubt, throw it out!

Many microorganisms will grow quite happily and form a whitish sediment below a liquid layer. The liquid you have is also turbid, which tells me that you most likely have some suspended microorganisms as well, but this could also be caused by residues from the chopped cabbage.

Some chemicals will precipitate out of tap-water under certain conditions, particularly calcium, if they are in the presence of conditions that make insoluble salts. Calcium salts are also white, but could be discolored by dissolved colored substances from the cabbage.

However, basically there is no way to tell without doing some basic tests and a bit of microbiology. If you happen to have a microscope you could put some of this on a slide and see if it looks like yeast.

Yeasts will be round or oval and large enough to easily see at 100x magnification (i.e. use 10x objective with 10x eyepiece), and will be visible at 40x too. Classically they will show a budding form; where smaller ones come off the side of the full grown yeast cell, but this is might not be present too. Bacteria are generally much smaller (need at least 100x mag) and come in a variety of sizes and shapes from long rod-shapes to round balls and a whole bunch of others. You would generally fix bacteria onto a slide and stain to make more visible. However, there are few (if any) bacteria that bud like yeast do - off the side, budding bacteria usually do this from one end of an elongated form.

Having said all that... the question still remains; are these what you want them to be? Unfortunately, there is no way to tell.

The only advice I can give is to make sure you sterilize the jars before starting your culture, and make sure that you wash your hands and other implements thoroughly before starting to make the sauerkraut. You could also start with bottled water or water that has been boiled and then cooled, to help eliminate any potential contaminants.


Can anything be done with cooking apples that fall early? Can anything be done with a large amount of cooking apples that have fallen early? They vary in size from golf ball to tennis ball but have fallen a couple of months before they would be expected to be ripe.

We normally have a few which fall early but this year have got a bumper crop.

Are they likely to be usable?

Yes, they are usable, at least if they have reached a minimum degree of “ripeness”.

There are a few reasons of falling fruit. The first is the so-called June drop, when the tree discards excess baby apples. These fruit are so tiny and unripe, they don’t have real value in the kitchen.

During summer, fallen fruit is closer to ripeness, especially if infected by codling moth caterpillars or in early fall, when wind causes almost-ripe fruit to drop. Just try a slice and decide whether they have enough flavor already.

These fruit can be used in the kitchen, but you need to consider a few points:

The fruit will be less sweet than usual - can be fixed with a spoonful or two of sugar. Likewise the flavor may be less complex than usual, adding a bit of spice will help hiding this.
You will have difficulties cutting neat slices. The apples will be bruised where they hit the ground and if you have moths, there will be a “channel” full of gunk that needs to be cut out.

The cooking behavior (keeping the shape vs. falling apart) may be different.
Higher pectin levels in underripe fruit can cause unexpected thickening.

Because you will be cutting off a comparatively large part of the apples, I would collect mainly the largest, ripest (scent and color can be an indicator) and least bruised. This should still give you a decent amount of fruit without too much work.

And you are not alone:


Replacement for sun-dried tomato pesto sauce? I'm crazy about the Barilla sun-dried tomato pesto.  However, the local store where I was buying it has dropped it.  Can I get a similar effect by putting in a blender or food processor the sun-dried tomatoes that come in oil in a jar?

Note, I have not found another dairy-free brand of sun-dried tomato pesto.  (I'm allergic to dairy.)  The Barilla version seems to be the only one.  (I am in the U.S.)

I see that there is a close vote.  Feedback would be helpful so I can recast the question or avoid asking off-topic in future.

Yes, you can use chopped up sun dried tomatoes, either in oil or dry stored.

For the dry sun-dried tomatoes, you should re-hydrated them a little bit in warm water before mixing them up.

As always, you will need to experiment with the ingredient ratios to get the flavour you like best.


Can multiple slabs of ribs be baked at once? I need to bake 10 slabs of barbecue ribs that will be finished off on the grill.

The recipe calls for baking each at 250 degrees for 2 hours. Can I bake 2 or more ribs at one time? If so, what adjustment should I make to temperature and time?

If the oven is large enough, you can bake as many slabs as will comfortably fit on one tray or oven rack without any adjustments.

If you need to seriously cut the total baking time, you could use even two trays at the same time, but in this case, you need to make sure the ribs get enough heat from all sides, which means swapping trays and turning the ribs occasionally and probably baking for a bit longer - I'd guess fifteen to thirty minutes - to compensate for the less-than-ideal heat exposure. I'd leave the temperature setting unchanged unless you notice excess or too little browning halfway to the parbaking.

Not part of your question, but probably worth mentioning, as I assume you will be serving the ribs to many people:

Whatever method you finally choose, note that such a large amount of ribs that will be ready for further processing will need some extra actions to ensure all the meat stays safe and not in the danger zone for more than two hours. So you might want to think about either keeping your meat hot (above 140F/60C) or cooling it down quickly (below 40F / 4C). Find more details and useful links in our canonical post.


How long does it take for potato dough to become thinner? In recipes for potato gnocchi (potatoes, egg yolk, flour) it is commonly pointed out that you should work quickly, because with time the potatoes expel water and the dough becomes thinner. I'd like to know how fast this process is and if it should make me concerned when I can comfortably finish the handling in ~30 minutes. Or would it only be a problem if you left the dough on the counter for say more than an hour?

If your potatoes are prepared correctly before adding the other ingredients, then excess water should not be a problem.  After boiling your potatoes until tender and draining them, I recommend placing them on a sheet pan and drying them in a 300° F oven for 5 minutes or so before passing them through your food mill or potato ricer.

With properly prepared potatoes there should never be a problem with thinning.  In fact, prepared gnocchi can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until ready to boil without fear of disintegration.  With most fresh pastas and dumplings, time delays in preparation usually pose the greater threat of allowing the dough to dry out.

The secret to delicate gnocchi is to use just enough flour for the dough to come together and to knead that dough only briefly.  More flour and more kneading generates more gluten and that means tougher gnocchi.


Thickening old mushroom soup Made a great soup with wild mushrooms . to thicken before serving I tried 2 tablespoons of corn starch mixed in water stirred it in slowly and cooked while  stirring for 5 minutes - no thickening! What do I do now?

For cornstarch to thicken, two things are required: a temperature of 95°C/203°F, and to be left alone for a while to gather its thoughts. Cornstarch causes thickening by building a network of starch molecules. Once this has formed, stirring just breaks the network and the thickening effect is ruined.

Make up a new cornstarch slurry and add it a little at a time to the simmering soup. Only stir it enough to incorporate it through - don't keep stirring after that.


Converting Pressure Cooker recipes for cookers with lower PSI Most of the recipes I'm using (mainly Modernist; stocks, caramelized vegetables, confit) suggest cooking at 15psi. My pressure cooker has two settings 12psi and 7psi. I've always had success just using 12psi in recipes where it says 15psi. However recently the 12psi mode has broken on my PC. I can now only cook at 7psi. How can I convert my recipes to use this lower pressure?

For example I would cook a chicken stock at 12psi for 90mins, I presume at 7psi the cooking time would need to be longer but by how much?

Here's a table that claims to give time equivalencies for cooking at different pressures.  (This is from a website dedicated to pressure cooking information, so it's pretty standard.)

It doesn't go down to 7 psi, declaring 8 psi to be the lowest acceptable pressure, but the time increase for 8 psi is listed as 47%.  Therefore, I'd try increasing the times by 50% or a little more than the recipe states.

Keep in mind that although this chart looks precise, it's really not.  Pressure cooking at lower temperatures will significantly change extraction rates for various flavor components in you stock, for example.  Some things will still cook out at roughly the same rate, while others will take a lot longer at the lower temperature.  I'd guess that increasing cooking times by about 50% is a good place to start, but you may find that's too little or too much, or even that the result in some recipes just isn't right.  (Sometimes boiling for too long alters flavors or textures in undesirable ways, so the fast cook in a high-pressure pot may be okay, but a slower longer cook may end up with just a boiled "overcooked" result.)


Marron glacé / Candied chestnuts breaking up. How to avoid this? I always use frozen chestnuts to make marrons glacés since I can find those all year long (not only during winter) and because they're already pealed.
I can cook them in simmering water without making them split or break up. But they always start breaking up on the third or fourth day when candying them.
How can I prevent them from breaking into pieces and keep them whole?
When I candy them, it's 75% sugar, 25% water, brought to boiling point. I turn off the heat, wait for the boiling to stop, and put the basket inside the pot. And wait 24 hours before next plunge.
Thanks for any help

This is a guess, but I'm assuming the sugar concentration in the syrup that you're using is way too high.  After a few days, the water evaporates off and the sugar is left in a crystalline form inside the chestnuts.

This makes them very brittle at which point you see the breaking.

If this is the case, I can recommend two things:

Reduce the rate at which the sugar in your confections crystallizes; left in the open air, you're going to lose moisture which is part of the problem.
Increase the water ratio.  I'd start with a simple syrup (1 part water to 1 part sugar) and move up and down from there.  Of course, your going to sacrifice some sweetness as a result, and you don't want too much water, as you'll end up making the chestnuts too soft.  You'll have to adjust the balance to your tastes/tolerances.


How to cream when there is more sugar than butter in the recipe? I am accustomed to creaming sugar and butter, but the recipes I have used until now had more butter than sugar. This time, I tried a cookie recipe which had 180 g sugar and 75 g butter. It was supposed to be creamed at room temperature, without melting the butter. The result was a mass of separated dry crumbles, not the smooth mass I am used to seeing.

Is this normal? Would using a paddle have made a difference? (I used the foam beaters of the handheld mixer, it doesn't have a paddle). Should I have tried to beat for a longer time?

The cookies tasted good in the end, but maybe they could have been better with a better creaming.

For the purpose of mixing butter and sugar (oddly enough) are considered "wet" ingredients. What other wet ingredients are in your recipe? Eggs, Milk, Extract... these may be added in the creaming process to get a more smooth "paste" rather than a crumble.

You may also wish to try starting with 50g (or even less) of sugar to get the "smooth mass" (paste) that you are accustomed to and then slowly add the remaining sugar.


Why can soda be used as a substitute for eggs when using a boxed cake mix? When making a cake from a box mix, I see that soda can be used instead of eggs and oil. What is the science behind this, and what are the properties of oil and eggs that the soda is replacing?

Here's an example of this substitution being mentioned (from ehow)

  Reduce the fat in a cake by using soda to replace the oil and eggs, as
  well as the water. The cake will still have a tender and moist crumb,
  but will be somewhat chewier than usual. A diet soda may be used
  rather than regular soda, which will further reduce the total calories
  in the cake.

Edit: Here are some links to similar recipes

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/diet-soda-cake-recipe/index.html
http://www.food.com/recipe/diet-coke-cake-224794

There are lots of people who have a rather simplistic approach to nutrition and think that removing fat and calories makes you healthy. Then they go through recipes for things they want to eat, replace the sources of fat with something which doesn't have fat and doesn't make the result outright inedible, and declare their recipe a success. I think this is what happened here.

In a cake, eggs provide leavening, moisture, smoothness, own flavor, and enhancement of other flavors. Oil provides smoothness and enhancement of other flavors (and possibly its own flavor, if not netural). And while it is not water based, it keeps the moisture in the cake from evaporating, so it makes the cake less dry.

If you are a "simplistic nutritionist" without all this information, you can approximate some of the effects with soda. It will provide moisture, and it will also provide some leavening because it is fizzy. It will provide some flavor of its own too, but frankly, I find the rather chemical flavor of soda to be unpleasant. And it won't have any fat. In the eyes of the simplistic nutritionist, it has successfully replaced the oil and eggs while reducing fat and calories.

From the point of view of a baker, the cake will be a disaster, and won't even deserve the label cake. It will dry out quickly because it has no fat. It will have a bland flavor. Its texture will be terrible. They say "more chewy?" It will miss both the protein structure and the emulsifying agents provided by the eggs. It will be essentially an overwhelmingly sweet quickbread with no redeeming qualities. From a culinary point of view, it will be terrible.

Bottom line: under some assumptions, it is a good substitution. For me, these assumptions are so far from reality as to be useless. It is a terrible substitution.


What is the "honey stick" called? I often see this utensil used in pictures of honey:

I've never seen this stick-like utensil used in other contexts, just for honey. But what is this "honey stick" called exactly? And is it used only for honey or for other things?

The most common term is "honey dipper".

It goes by several different names, though... largely because people usually can't remember what it's actually called:

  Steven of The Sneeze takes a look at the widespread use of "the honey thing"—also known as a honey dipper, honey wand, or honey drizzler—on cereal boxes despite that few people seem to actually use these honey things

So, "honey stick" would probably get people to think of this tool, too.

For more information see the related question:

How to use a honey dipper?


What is the difference between sorbet and sherbet From my [limited] exposure, it seems like sorbet is merely sherbet with a higher price tag.

Is that a fair understanding?

If not, what is a better way of understanding the difference(s)?

Actually, they are not quite the same.  Sorbet is ice sweetened with fruit, wine, or liquer.  Italian ice, which is similar, does not contain ice but contains frozen fruit purees or similar.  Sherbert contains a small amount of dairy, but the milkfat content is less than 3%, differentiating it from ice cream.

In the U. S. what is commonly called sorbet is most likely an Italian ice.  The difference is the lower milk fat content.


Advice for making/keeping shredded chicken moist? My dietician ordered that I eat chicken. I found that to eat the portion I'm supposed to eat (10oz), it's easier to shred the chicken and take 10oz of shredded chicken, rather than try to find 10oz breasts. I am trying to meal prep this chicken over the week.

The way I currently cook my shredded chicken is I take raw chicken breasts, throw them in a steamer basket, put the steamer basket in the instant pot (pressure cooker), throw in about a cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of pineapple juice, and then pressure cook for 15 minutes with a 5 minute natural pressure release. I then pull out the breasts and shred the chicken breasts. I then store the shredded chicken in the fridge.

The problem is that the shredded chicken is terribly dry. Whenever I reheat the chicken it tastes like I am eating chalk (in terms of texture). This makes it impossible to stick to my diet.

Can someone give me advice on how to cook shredded chicken and maintain moisture for several days (at least 3)? I am not a good cook and I don't know if the problem lies in the cooking, the storage, or the reheating.

Thanks

The first issue I see is that you are over cooking your chicken breast.  20 minutes in a pressure cooker is really over doing it.  Even a little over cooking dries chicken breast.  Chicken breast needs to be cooked more precisely.  A pressure cooker is not the correct tool for the job.  So you first need to correct your initial cooking.  You should get a good thermometer, ensure it is calibrated, and cook your chicken breast to an internal temperature of 160F (71C).  You can remove the chicken breast from the cooking surface when it is a couple of degrees below that.  Let it rest 10 to 15 minutes, and the heat will carry over and you will reach the final target temperature.  This will allow you to begin with moist chicken.


Can Lamb Shoulder Chops be treated the same way as a steak? I am confused about cooking method (dry vs wet heat) and timing of lamb shoulder chops.
According to foodnetwork, lamb shoulder is a tough cut, that is suited for slow cooking like braising, but also from them Pan-Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops shows that I can cook them similar to a steak?
As for why I am looking at lamb shoulder chops, well, it's half the price of a lamb loin/rib over here.

I confirm, I regularly grill lamb chops in a pan (or even better, on a barbecue) and it is delicious! Of course it won't be as soft as a piece of meat that you slow-cooked for hours, but it is not hard either. It should be cooked quickly, 3-4 minuts on each side, I imagine that it will get hard if you overcook them. You can indeed also marinate them before, which will make them more tender and tastier.


What is the name of this plant? I buy things off the street and in markets with no labels. What is this so I can google it?

This looks like watercress to me and Max.


How to keep seasonings from separating in soup I’m cooking soup that consists of chicken broth, water, creme, butter, and puréed vegetables.

When we add the seasonings (sage, creole, etc), after a while the seasonings all float to the top.

I was wondering if there was anything I could add that would keep the seasonings from separating, but not drastically alter the flavor?

You could use a bouquet garni.

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Bouquet-Garni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouquet_garni

  The bouquet garni... is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with
  string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock, casseroles and various
  stews.The bouquet is cooked with the other ingredients, but is removed
  prior to consumption...

  There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most French recipes
  include thyme, bay leaf and parsley.[2] Depending on the recipe, the
  bouquet garni may also include basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary,
  peppercorns,[5] savory and tarragon.. Sometimes, the bouquet is not
  bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet,
  a piece of celery stalk,[3] a net, or even a tea strainer, instead.

I have usually done this with cheesecloth.  If your herbs are dried as in this picture that would be how you do it too.  Make a bag of cheesecloth, fill it with herbs and tie it with string.  Remove from the finished soup and throw it away, so you do not eat it by accident.


Can I fix this bad beef stew? My housemate's mother is visiting and she's been doing a bit of cooking. Today she made beef stew.

She cubed up about 4lbs of tri-tip and dumped it all in my stew pot with some olive oil where it promptly steamed and smoked, then she dumped in some beef broth, a handful of sliced carrots and celery, a couple diced potatoes,  slapped the lid on and boiled everything for about an hour.

The result is remarkable in it's similarity to canned beef stew. She'll be out later today and I'm hoping that I might be able to salvage the stew somewhat. Does anyone have any advice for how I might go about this?

Right now I'm thinking of draining the whole mess and making a new gravy but if there's a way to salvage what's already there I'd try it.

Right now I'm thinking of draining the whole mess and making a new gravy but if there's a way to salvage what's already there I'd try it.

Before you pitch it, I'd consider cooking it even longer -- we're aiming for 'ragoût' (cooked to rags), not just your typical stew.  We want the vegetables to completely disintigrate, until they're more a thickener for the stew, rather than indentifiable on their own.

You can then serve it over pasta, rice, or a baked potato.

If you'd prefer adding back in some vegetables for texture  without further cooking of the meat ... I'd actually suggest roasting them in the oven, then mixing them in.  Proper selection of vegetables can also be important -- a waxy potato (like a red potato) won't break down like a starchy (aka. flourly) potato (like a russet) will.  If you're going to cook them in the stewing liquid, add tomatoes or a shot of vinegar into the liquid to prevent onions and potatoes from softening too much.  Frozen peas or corn can add some quick texture (canned are typically mush, and might add to the metallic flavor).

As for the blandness issues, it's hard to say.  If your basic salt and pepper aren't working, reach for other herbs & spices.  You could try going heavy on the paprika and thyme to make it more like a goulish, or a blend of 'italian' spices to make it more like a ragù but beware of oregano which can have a metallic quality in large amounts.   Sometimes alcohol can help, like a shot of sherry towards the end, or some wine, hard cider or beer earlier in the cooking process.

For both the blandness and metallic issues, vinegar or other acidic (eg, tomatoes but not canned) or sour (eg, serving with sour cream) notes might help.

... so, to summarize :

Option 1 : cook longer, re-season, serve over rice/pasta/etc.
Option 2 : re-season, add roasted vegetables and/or frozen peas or corn for texture.
Add tomatoes, vinegar or sherry to brighten the flavors
Serve w/ sour cream to mask metallic taste.


What does it mean to overmix? I have a cheddar bay biscuit mix made by Red Lobster. On the instructions, it says not to overmix the grated cheese, water, and biscuit dough, but it says to mix it. What does that mean? How do I know how much mixing is too much?

I did read the other questions that have to do with overmixing. But they mostly concern muffins, and I'm not sure if it is the same with biscuits.

Mixing strengthens the gluten structure in recipes that use wheat flours.  In breads, for example, this is a good thing, as that structure is what allows gasses to be trapped inside, and provides the pleasant chew that we associate with a well-made loaf.  However, when making biscuits (or other baked goods where a softer, more crumbly texture is desired...pancakes also come to mind), it is advised to mix ingredients until just incorporated (or...don't over mix).  This is so that you don't develop the gluten structure in your dough.  So, just mix gently and minimally until the ingredients are well-dispersed.


Plums are sour. Why are prunes sweet? Plums are sour (especially the peel). Prunes are dried plums (with the peel, I presume). Then why are prunes only sweet, with no sourness?

Note: I'm asking about standard American prunes, not unusual varieties like sour prunes.

Prunes are made from specific varieties of plums which are different than many plums eaten fresh, though they are also often available and eaten fresh.  When picked as fresh fruit however, they are often picked much less ripe than for prunes to allow for shipping and sitting before eating.  If they are ripe, sourness is definitely a matter of taste, I for instance find a fully ripe prune plum to be very slightly tart near the skin, the least ripe part of the fruit.  I also find that same fruit to be very off-putting and near rotted tasting.  That is simply the nature of that fruit.  By the time the outer part is fully ripe, the inner flesh has already started to brown, but has not been dried to prune like nature yet.

The acid does not vanish, though some is converted to other compounds including sugars as the fruit fully ripens, the bigger factor is that more sugar forms.  Once dried and more concentrated, the sugars simply overpower the acids and dominate the flavor.


I failed to make yogurt, what have I made? In the past I have successfully followed the instructions at makeyourownyogurt.com to make yogurt using siggi's as a starter for the first batch and from then on used the last of the previous batch as a starter.  This worked great for a few batches.

For my latest I used some milk that had just gone off.  It was at that stage where it smells a bit off and will separate in hot liquids.  The end result was not yogurt.  It was very liquid, but smelled like yogurt.  A night in the fridge and it was separated into a white solid and a pale yellowish liquid.  I poured off the liquid, and noticed the solid smelled and tasted like strong yogurt.  I squeezed the solid through a cheesecloth and have obtained a crumbly cheese-like solid with a strong yogurt tang.  I've used it in my oatmeal.  I would put it on a cracker and serve it.

What have I made?  Pot cheese?  Queso Seco?  A mess?
Is there anything I could have done to fix the mistake?
Was he off-milk the likely culprit, or a dead starter, or something else?

The white part is curd and the yellow part is whey. They can be separated in milk by the presence of acid, and helped along by enzymatic action. More acid typically yields better separation. Fresh cheeses are produced by directly adding acid such as vinegar or lemon juice. In cultured diary products such as yogurt and all other cheese, the acid is produced by bacteria like Lactobacillus. The reason fermentation acts as a short-term preservative is that many harmful pathogens do not fare well in an acidic environment, and when fermentation proceeds properly the "good" bacteria will simply outcompete the "bad."

When milk starts to "go off," that's because it's actually going off in the sense that most other people understand the term: it's starting to go bad. Whatever small amount of bacteria was in the milk has started to multiply, and has started to lower the pH. Coffee is not acidic enough to curdle fresh milk, but if the milk itself is slightly acidified then coffee will curdle it.

The fact that your yogurt separated so thoroughly is a sign that some acid-forming bacterium did serious work on your milk. I like Siggi's but I'm not a microbiologist, so I can't say whether you just had a weird batch of yogurt or there was already something living in your milk. It's probable that whatever turned your yogurt into cheese is in fact harmless. But it's also not improbable that something very unpleasant grew alongside it.

I think you got lucky. This is probably how our ancestors figured out how make different cheeses, but it's not exactly a reliable method. It doesn't help that commercial milk production is potentially a less sanitary process than it might have been in the past (although this might depend on historical place and time), and that the bacteria living in your refrigerator are probably very different from the bacteria living in animals stomachs and wherever else people used to store their milk in prehistoric times. I don't know if they had listeria back then, but we have it now and it is something you absolutely do not want inside you.

Throw it out. Unless you know any microbiologist friends, in which case you should bring it to their lab have fun seeing what's in it.


Beef Bone Broth: How much should I end up with per starting bones? I'm trying a beef bone broth recipe that is short on details... it basically says to cover the bones with water and simmer for 48 hours in a slow cooker.

Based on Google, other recipes don't say to cook for anywhere near that amount of time, but I decided to try it anyway.

I started with 2½ pounds of bones and about 3 quarts of water in a slow cooker.  During the 48 hours the liquid reduced enough that it was no longer covering the bones, so I added more boiling water and continued cooking.  I had to do this a total of 2 times and the final result was about 1¼ quarts of broth (after skimming the upper layer of fat).

My question is: given the initial 2½ pounds of bones, how much broth should I end up with? Is 1¼ quarts of broth going to be super-concentrated and in need of dilution, and if so, how much water should I add?

You can choose. Just taste it. Too strong, more water, too weak, boil down. It is better to leave the lid on while boiling. That will make the broth cloudy, but more tasty.You can always filter it and clear it up with egg white.

For easy storage: boil it down, really down,and freeze. i dont think more than a litre of a kilo of bones will be very strong


How long can a pitcher of tap water be left out, and still be drinkable? My parents say that flies can lay eggs in the water (we do have flies occassionally buzzing around in our apartment). Is this true? If so, what is the longest time that a pitcher of tap water could be left sitting on a table untouched, and still be drinkable?

If you have a clean glass pitcher, the length of time we're talking is months, as mentioned by Tom's answer.

I think you have a few questions that I can clear up:

The bubbles that form over time are dissolved gases. From the faucet (or pitcher), the act of pouring will force some air into the water. Over time, it will warm up and you'll see bubbles form along the glass. This is absolutely harmless.
Flies laying eggs? Well, I wouldn't leave a glass pitcher out and uncovered, but I highly doubt this. Flies want to lay eggs in places where the hatching egg can live. For example, trash, spoiled fruit, the gunk in your drain, etc..
Chemical reactions with dissolved ions? Since most water in the US is fluoridated, there will be some very slow etching of the glass by fluoride ions. The amount of this will be very, very small, since it's a slow process. I think you'll easily be safe over the timescale of days to a week or two.

So what happens to water left at room temperature over a few days? Mainly the dissolved gasses come out. I find this water to taste "flat" even if I cool it again. But there's not much that will happen to the water.

More than a few days and I'd suggest making sure the water is capped or closed to avoid dust or other things falling into the water. Maybe find a closable glass container?


How can I get the maximum flavor from orange peels? At first glance this question might look like a duplicate of this one: How can I intensify the orange flavour in orange cake? it isn't. I'm making this cake for the second time:Orange Olive Oil Cake but I'm giving it a bit of a tweak and could use some advice regarding the tweak.

The recipe calls for two whole oranges, quartered, peel and all. The oranges are to be brought to a boil and drained twice, then simmered in syrup until the rinds are tender. Then the solids are drained from the syrup and pureed in a food processor, the batter is then mixed in the food processor with the orange puree.

The first time I made the cake I followed the recipe exactly and fell in love with its texture. I also loved the way the olive oil came through as an aftertaste. Unfortunately, my oranges lacked flavor and had very thick rinds. I knew going in that the orange flavor component of the cake was going to be lacking, and I was right. As far as orange, all I could really taste was the pith.

So, now I want to go solidly in the other direction. I want knock your socks off orange flavor with little or no "pithyness". Towards that end I have this: (that's grams BTW, tared weight)

I assume the original recipe calls for rinsing twice because the whole rind (including all of the pith) is included. Because I used a peeler, not a zester, I do have some pith, but not nearly as much.

Towards the end of the cooking of the puree I plan to add a couple of peeled oranges. No matter how I treat the peels, I think I can guesstimate to get the volume, consistency and level of sweetness I want. I need the peels tender enough to puree, I'd like to eliminate as much of the pithiness as possible, but I don't want to pour great orange flavor down the drain. I'm not even married to the idea of boiling the peels, I'd love to consider other methods.I want maximum orange flavor from these peels for a very flavorful cake. Any advice?

First I would recommend viewing the episode of Good Eats, Orange Aid. While there is not a direct answer to your question Alton does talk about getting the maximum orange flavor as well as how to avoid the pithy flavor. (This link to Orange Aid will take you to Amazon Prime, where if you are not an Amazon Prime member you may purchase for $2.99...)

The take away that I believe applies to your situation is this: remove as much of the pith as possible (but I'm guessing you already know this)...

The second take away is that the variety of orange really matters, many varieties are more flavorful than others and these are NOT the varieties most frequently found in your mega-mart. (which are chosen more for appearance than flavor--go figure)
Valencia, Hamlin and/or Seville oranges would be good choices. Avoid NAVEL ORANGES!

Having looked at your recipe ever so briefly I might suggest an experiment as well... take about an ounce of vodka or everclear and let that sit for a few days with orange zest and vanilla beans, filter out the solid and use this concoction in place of the vanilla extract. The orange oils in the zest are alcohol soluble and thus should provide you with a nice orange extract to intensify your flavor. (I have not tried this with orange, so this is pure speculation).


How do I make my sourdough crust thinner? I have been playing around with my sourdough recipes, and I can't figure out how to make my crust thinner.

Only things I do out of the ordinary are when baking I have a pot of hot water in the oven to increase humidity, I spray my dough with warm water in the last hour of rising. I also add citric acid for more tang.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Use less sourdough, and stop adding humidity to the oven?

Both sourdough cultures and increasing oven humidity are ways bakers use to increase the crust thickness and crunch.  If you want thin-crusted, soft bread, then you're doing all the wrong things.


Can you identify this black sauce from this Kuala lumpur claypot chicken vendor? There's this world famous claypot chicken vendor at Kuala lumpur who cooked chicken and rice in a claypot over charcoal.

In this video you can see him using a black sauce. www.TinyURL.com/KLclaypot

Assuming that it's a generic sauce  of asian cuisine, can you help me identify it? I want to know what particularly attributes to it's lustre!

Looking at the video, I would say he's using a variety of soy sauces, with one or more being a dark or black variety.

From Wikipedia:

  Traditionally, the cooking is done over a charcoal stove, giving the dish a distinctive flavour. Some places serve it with dark soya sauce and also dried salted fish.

Also from Wikipedia, a picture of the dish with dark soya added:

Update as per the edit to the question:

Dark and black soy sauces tend to have a thicker consistency than 'regular, everyday' soy sauces. (And some are sweetened.) The viscosity allows the sauce to adhere to foods more easily and creates what I refer to as a lovely sheen.

From Serious Eats:

  Dark and Double Dark: Like Japanese dark soys, Chinese "dark" soys are darker in color and thicker in texture, but tend to be lighter in saltiness. They are generally fermented for a longer period of time than their thin counterparts and often have added sugar or molasses, giving them a sweet-salty flavor and viscous texture. They are used solely for cooking, often added at the last stages to season and add color to sauces.


Differences between cooking a whole duck vs chicken or turkey? I've cooked whole turkeys and chickens many times, but never a whole duck or any other "gamey" meat.  Is there a difference in what should be done or technique in general?  I've been told by others that duck is "more difficult", but never how or why.

With chicken and turkey, the most important "trick" to cooking it is to make sure the dark meat gets done before the white meat dries out, and to make sure the skin crisps up somewhat.

Duck is all dark meat, and has a thick layer of fat that must be rendered out. There is not a lot of danger in drying out the breast meat like with a chicken.

Like Martha said, it's best to make a few shallow cuts in the skin over the breast (don't go all the way through to the meat) to help the fat render out. A simple (western) roasted bird would be cooked at 350°F for about 1 hour 45 min, with the oven turned up to 500°F for another 15 minutes to crisp up the skin. There is a LOT of fat rendered out, so it's best to roast in a sturdy roasting pan, on a rack (so it doesn't sit in the fat), and drain the fat about an hour into cooking (save the fat, though; it's delicious).

Personally, I think duck is easier to cook, but it's definitely different from roasting a chicken.


Substitute for arborio risotto rice? What are the best substitutes for arborio risotto rice? And how about when your only choices are all the local shops have: pearl barley, or 'brown rice with barley and spelt blend'?

For the first question, this suggests Carnaroli, pearl barley and farro. This makes me think pearl barley is the best option. It take a lot more boiling than normal rice (40 minutes), so I'll have to half-cook it by boiling before adding it to my pan with stock as my risotto recipe calls for. (My recipe is similar to this.)

What are the best substitutes for arborio risotto rice?

Your best replacement would be another short grain, or in a pinch, medium grain rice.  (if it's a variety that doesn't cook up creamy enough for your liking ... you can cheat and after you remove it from the heat, quickly stir in a beaten egg)

  And how about when your only choices are all the local shops have: pearl barley, or 'brown rice with barley and spelt blend'?

I'd probably go with the pearl barley, just because it'll have a more consistent cooking time than a blend.  (so you don't end up w/ little uncooked nuggets in a puddle of overcooked mush.

  This makes me think pearl barley is the best option. It take a lot more boiling than normal rice (40 minutes), so I'll have to half-cook it by boiling before adding it to my pan with stock as my risotto recipe calls for.

Don't pre-cook it.  You want to toast your uncooked grains in the oil, just as you would with a rice-based risotto before you add any liquid.  If you don't do this step, you won't get the same flavors (I can't comment on the texture, as I've never tried cooking pearl barley this way).

If you're reluctant to spend almost an hour in front of the stove, the period to cheat is in the middle; toast it, do a couple of stock additions w/ lots of stirring, then add lots of stock & let it cook, then once it's nearly dry go back to stirring & slowly adding liquid 'til it's done ... or use a pressure cooker


Scurvy grass - preparation and kitchen utensils So, as many of you may know, I live on a boat, traveling the world by sea.  Though today in most places it is possible to obtain at least some decent nutrition no matter where (Azores sometimes impossible), I am interested.  Scurvy Grass, what is the best preparation for it and do I need any special utensils?

I have found this and that.

I would suggest that you look to Rene Redzepi's new Nordic cuisine, which sources the very type of ingredient(s) in which you're interested. Common scurvy-grass grows along French, northern Spanish, Danish and Norwegian coasts and on mountain peaks in Western Europe. Weigh anchor and sail to the Basque Country coast, and search the Barbadun, Plentzia and Urdaibai estuaries.


How do I make my Thai curry with paste taste better? Looking for simple tips to improve my curries made from paste.  I know of a few answers I've learned, but looking for others...
Thanks!

Original curry recipe:

Fry tofu in oil in a non-stick pan.
Bring coconut milk to a boil, add curry paste.
Add tofu and any other veggies.
Simmer for >= 15 minutes.

If available, add Kaffir Lime leaves to the coconut milk.
They go a surprisingly long way in adding a more authentic Thai taste.  It adds more sweet & savory flavor; not like something like Bay leaves at all.


Low-fat quark plus blended blueberries -- texture changes over night? I tried to prepare my own blueberry quark by

blending (about 200g) of (European) blueberries and
gently mixing the result with 500g of low-fat quark.
Season to taste with sugar.

The result is nice -- but not after a night in the fridge! The next day, not only had a watery phase separated (I kind of expected that) but the whole mix had also attained a crumbly texture. No matter of stirring returned the original creamy texture.

Now, another day later, it has also become quite bitter, but that I would attribute to more bitters dissolving from the blueberries (their skin?).

What is happening with the texture of my quark? Can I prevent it from happening?

What you describe are definitely symptoms of coagulating protein. Not all proteins in quark are coagulated, else it wouldn't be creamy but rubbery like mozzarella (actually, more like cottage cheese, because it would still be grainy). My first guess is that the blueberry acid curdles the protein.

Blueberries are also known to act a bit strangely due to their high pectin content, I once left blueberry-banana puree in the fridge with the intention to freeze it to sorbet when I come back from work, only to find it gelled too hard to go through the machine. But I doubt that this was the culprit in your case, if anything, hydrating pectin would have bound the water and prevented the proteins from the curdling. Setting pectin would have created a mass which is firm, but not grainy, and without a separate watery phase.

As for the bitter taste, many fruits will create an unpleasant taste when exposed to dairy for a long time. Kiwis are especially bad offenders, but some melon cultivars are just as bad. I haven't noticed it in blueberries, but I don't know if I have ever mixed them. Also, there are different plants known as "blueberry", most of them just different cultivars, but the American and European variety are distinct species. It is possible that only some of them have this problem.

If you want to prevent the curdling problem, you can add stuff which will get in the way of the proteins looking for a buddy to curdle with. Fat and sugar are very good in this respect - this is why you can make lemon tarts pretty well, you don't curdle the custard despite the acid lemon juice just because the sugar content is so high. If you are trying to create a low-calorie snack, you can try gelling agents instead, which will not only reduce the curdling rate, but also sponge up the water when a bit of curdling occurs, leaving the final texture more pleasant. But it will also change the texture a lot, making it less creamier (the one creamy binding, starch, can't be used without cooking) and more like a jelly. Also you might get weird synergies between the natural pectin and the new binding agent, ending up with surprisingly firm food.

In short, the best option is to just eat it right away. Everything else has drawbacks, and is not a complete solution in the sense that it probably won't stop the curdling completely.


What can I substitute for pineapple juice in this recipe? My group in cooking class has to make a beverage and they chose my recipe coconut kiss. But, one of the members tells us she is allergic to pineapple. It is hard you see because I made it before and the pineapple really boosts the taste in the coconut cream. I want it to taste no less than it should and so I need a really good alternative for the pineapple juice.

What can I substitute? These are all the ingredients:

2c coconut cream,
2c pineapple juice,
1c apple cherry juice,
1c orange juice and
Crushed ice

Substitute with mango or papaya juice.

It will not taste the same, but it will still have the exotic flavor.


What is in a Jamaican Chocolate Cheesecake? I'm interested in making a variation of this baked Jamaican Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop. The description from the website is not terribly useful in identifying what the possible ingredients are:

  A smooth, baked chocolate cheesecake crowned with mouthwatering
  chocolate shavings, and lightly dusted with icing sugar.

I've searched the internet fruitlessly for a "Jamaican Chocolate Cheesecake" recipe. There are a few other Jamaican Cheesecake recipes but they mostly seem to involve ingredients that are Jamaican (e.g. "Jamaican mangos") so I'm under the impression that the chocolate is Jamaican and it isn't a style of cheesecake. (Is "Jamaican chocolate" a thing? I couldn't find that either...)

The closest I can find is recipes for "Jamaican Hot Chocolate" and "Jamaican Chocolate Tea" which involve some cinnamon and maybe nutmeg and other flavours.

Short of getting the people at the shop to give me the ingredients, which I doubt they would do, I'm at a loss as to what goes in this cake. This website has a non-promo photo of the cake, including the inside after it is cut: http://blog.stillaslife.com/food/jamaican-chocolate-cheesecake-from-the-cheesecake-shop/

Has anyone heard of this type of cake before and know what goes in it?

Unfortunately I haven't tasted the cheesecake. A choc-orange variety was requested so I'm just left guessing what else could be in it. I was mostly hoping it was a more common recipe than it is...

I ended up contacting them and it is just a normal chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate biscuit base. I inquired if it had rum or cinnamon or anything and they said no they just add cocoa to the normal vanilla cheesecake mix.

I'm going to award the answer to LoganGoesPlaces for the useful info and because their idea is very creative and sounds tasty.

While I've never experienced this cheesecake personally and the photo doesn't show anything at all "Jamaican" about it, I'd hazard a guess that the recipe involves rum.  The traditional go-to cake in Jamaica is a black fruit cake.  It involves soaking dried fruit in rum for an extended period of time and making liberal use of molasses for color.

If I were making it myself, I'd soak some dried fruit such as dates in rum for a few days.  Then I'd add rum to the cheesecake recipe and I'd chop the dates fine to put on top along with the shaved chocolate.


What bean species are best for baked beans? I want to cook baked beans, the slowcooker version. I want to make it from dry beans. My question is: what sort of beans will be best for this dish? I need at least 2-3 alternatives, cause I live in Poland, and I'm not sure if I will be able to buy some more exotic species...

If you live in Poland, you should easily find the "normal" white ones in your supermarket. They should be good for baked beans, although the British version uses white beans that are a bit smaller.

For more American style beans, you could also use the pinkish-brown or spotted type.

There are so many types of beans, that I can't give a specific "name". Stick with the smaller ones, as they have less starchy parts and usually keep their shape better.


For slow cooker meal prep should I freeze the vegetables separately from the meat and sauce? I have a new food saver vacuum sealer.  I want to seal up all the ingredients for a slow cooker meal.  Should I add the vegetables separately from the meat and sauce, or all in together?  I was concerned some vegetables should not be frozen (such as onions).

If you're doing a one step cook in the slow cooker, you can freeze everything together. If you want to brown any ingredients first you'll need to keep them separate. I do tend to, so I'd have a bag for any meat, a bag for veg that wants browning or softening (onions, carrots, pepperd etc.) and a bag or other container for the liquid part, with any veg that doesn't need an initial step (beans, sweetcorn, potatoes...)

Most slow cooked dishes freeze very well after cooking, so an alternative is to cook several portions at once, divide and freeze, microwaving when you want to eat them. These approaches aren't mutually exclusive of course.


Making homemade seitan for stew recipe, do I need to cook the seitan first, then cool it, then use it? There are several homemade seitan recipes available, and all call for boiling the seitan in some kind of broth for a bit, then letting it cool. I'm making seitan for this "vegan beef stew" recipe.

Do I need to boil the seitan first, then let it cool, then use it in this recipe? Or can I just make the seitan and use it "raw" since I'm going to be boiling it in the stew anyway? Is seitan something that wants to be twice cooked or anything along that line?

Raw seitan can work in these kind of dishes, but it needs a different kind of temperature regime than "just boiling" it.

You want to avoid heating it through above the boiling point of water before it is well set, otherwise you will get a lot of expansion and a brain-y/fluffy texture that is far from meaty. Also, raw seitan pieces tend to recombine (it is glue protein after all). You will eventually need to heat it to boiling point to "finish" the texture.
The surface can be a bit "slimy" in the end result, probably due to remaining starch coagulating on it - this is not a problem in thick sauces but can be in thin and soupy dishes.

A strategy I found working well:

Cut raw seitan, so your thinnest dimension is a cm or less.
Sear surface with an open flame (brulee torch, stove burner...) to get some browning and to stop it from being sticky. Avoid overdoing it, you neither want strong expansion nor a strong burnt-hair taste. Do not saute instead, this will cause too much expansion.
Have your cooking liquid (broth,sauce,soup) ready, set up for a long simmer at a stable temperature. A rich or even emulsified liquid is preferrable, so add any fats (or things like coconut milk) now. Avoid adding strong acids or anything that could act as a protein tenderizer yet.  It should be well out of the food safety danger zone but safely BELOW ANY BOILING. 70-90°C. Repeat: You do not want it boiling even for a moment before the seitan is well set.
Add the seitan. Add anything else that benefits from long stewing. Make sure there is enough liquid to well cover it, some expansion can still happen. Leave alone to simmer for 3 hours.
Finish - bring to boil, and boil anything that needs boiling alongside, so you have a 15-30 min boiling phase. You will get some expansion but not overexpansion of the seitan pieces.


Help with getting the correct consistency in dairy-free ice cream I'm lactose intolerant and have been experimenting with homemade ice cream recipes. I've been making my ice cream using a vanilla custard recipe - substituting the milk/cream with almond milk and adding guar gum to it. I make a recipe that yields a 2 quart batch of ice cream. However, I cannot get the guar gum amount right.  Too little and the ice cream becomes as hard as a brick when freezing. Too much and it is so slimy, I might as well add vanilla to raw egg whites and slurp it down.

Is there an additive or method to make my non-dairy ice cream that will give it as close a consistency to normal ice cream (scoopable after freezing, but not soft serve) as possible?

I want to make some for my daughter's birthday party coming up and would rather make it ahead of time to save myself some stress. I want to be able to freeze it and bring it out when guests arrive, rather than letting it thaw out for hours previous and it be half-melted and the consistency off. BTW, I use an ice cream machine, if that helps any.

You can't do kitchen chemistry without measuring. Most "US measures" include a 1/4 teaspoon measure, and some include a 1/8 teaspoon.

At the roughest quick look from your list, I'd say that 1/2 gallon of almond milk plus 17-25 fl ounces of eggs (depends on the size of the eggs) would call for more like 3 cups of sugar for a reliable frozen dessert texture.

I prefer text to video; the video is easy to find if you prefer that. Alton Brown's "Churn, Baby, Churn" episodes of Good Eats are a frozen dessert experimentation primer.

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/season1/churn/churntranscript.htm

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/season9/ice_cream/churn_baby_churn_ii.htm


What kind of wok should I get? I saw the question on the site about preparing a wok, but I'm curious what kind I should get. I have heard of stainless steel, carbon steel, aluminum, etc. Also, there's a non-stick variety. I'm new to stir fry and will be cooking on an electric ceramic stovetop.

You should get a carbon steel wok with two short handles (not one long handle).

You want the steel to build up a patina of oxidized oils, which rules out stainless steel and aluminum and non-stick. You could conceivably get a cast-iron wok, but those are really heavy.

You want the two small handles so you can pick up the wok, but you don't want long handles that will dump hot oil or food everywhere if you bump them. Unlike a saute pan, you don't toss the pan, you toss the food. (Tossing the pan pulls it away from the flame, which is bad when stir-frying!)

Your best bet is to go to an Asian grocery. You'll be assured of getting a product at a good price. Shouldn't cost more than $25, I don't think.

Oh, one other question is what sort of stove you have. If you have an electric stove, (a) I'm sorry, and (b) you have to get a flat-bottomed wok. If you have a gas stove, you can either get a flat-bottomed wok or a round-bottomed wok, but the latter only if you get a wok ring that holds the pan just above the flame. You want as much heat going into that pan as you possibly can manage!


Complementary taste to elderberry ice cream? The elderberry ice cream I made turned out a bit too sweet to my taste, so I would like to compensate it with an accompaniment of some sort.

What would be some flavors that I could pair it with?

I would use yogurt.

First, yogurt dilutes tastes farily well. It has some taste on its own, but it doesn't clash with most aromas you encounter in other dishes (sweet or savory). You can also add it in large amounts without making a dish heavy or changing its character too much.

Second, yogurt goes well with ice cream. I eat the combination even when I don't want to dilute anything, just a cup of ice cream with fruit and yogurt as a dessert. I know I am somewhat biased towards yogurt, but the fact that many gelaterias offer such cups mean that I'm not the only one who likes it.

Third, yogurt is slightly sour (or even very sour, depending on the type you eat), and sweetness and sourness are connected in human taste perception. You can mask large amounts of sugar with enough acid, as evidenced in most soft drinks.

To make it clear, I am talking of pure yogurt here, unsweetened and non-flavored.


Black spots on cups from Cracker Barrel I have a favorite cup made in China that has developed black spots inside the bottom.  I'm worried about lead -- should I stop using it? It isn't crazing but seems to be a failed glaze. I bought 6 of these from Cracker Barrel restaurant a year ago as part of a set with serving dishes signed by Susan Winget -- the Nature Walk series for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. The add picture function isn't working but I can send pictures to anyone who's interested.

You can buy lead testing kits online or a hardware store. (You want test swabs, not a water-testing kit). Expect to pay $10–20.


When to use "wine vinegar" vs just wine? How do you choose between red wine and red wine vinegar in cooking?  Likewise, how do you choose between white wine and white wine vinegar?

The specific example I am thinking of is deglazing a pan, but I'd love to know the general "do's and don'ts."

I did a fairly thorough search of this site, and I'm a little surprised this question hasn't been asked yet.  This is the closest one, but it asks about vinegar vs wine vinegar, not wine vinegar vs wine.

Wine vinegar and wine are very different although are produced from the same thing. Wine vinegars are vinegars produced from fermenting wine by acetic acid bacteria which convert the ethanol in wine into acetic acid.

Being a vinegar, it is much sharper than wine although like wine many flavours can be detected beyond the generic sharp lemon-like flavour, particularly in the premium aged varieties such as balsamic vinegar from Modena.

Wine vinegar has no alcoholic content in it and so there is no need to 'burn off the alcohol' which you would do when cooking with wine.

Wine has a much subtler flavour and so would use it in things like gravies, sauces, etc. Likewise, vinegar is much stronger and I would mainly use  it in vinaigrettes or in small quantities in cooking (ie finishing of a dish with a small drizzle of vinegar)in much the same way as you might use lemon.


Poured fondant that stays liquid I need help regarding poured fondant - to be precise, I would like to have it more on the liquid side.
I plan to use it as a chocolate bar filling, that is why I am asking :)
The recipe I use in general:
6 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup.
I melt them over low heat until completely blended, and then usually let it cool down and glaze cakes.
Can this recipe be modified so it stays somewhat liquid?
Maybe like a creme egg filling?

I recommend you add some form of fat into your recipe. Fat is what gives foods a smooth creamy texture. Some ideas to use are butter and coconut oil.