Possible for chicken to reach 165F and be raw Is it possible for a piece of chicken to reach an internal temperature of 165F and still be raw?

Update:

Just to be clear, this is not something I experienced. I was just wondering if it was in fact possible. I'm looking for a scientific explanation of why this can or cannot happen.

No, 165 is cooked, but a couple of things could be going wrong. Your thermometer might be out of calibration, or you might not have gotten it exactly to the center of the meat. To test the calibration, check it against boiling water which should be exactly 212 assuming you are at or near sea level.


What is the best way to melt chocolate? Sometimes when I melt chocolate in a double boiler it will turn grainy, and melting in a microwave often burns it. What is the best way to melt chocolate to get good, smooth results?

It depends on what you're doing with the chocolate.

If temperature isn't that critical and its going to be mixed into a cake or brownies or such, then do it in the microwave.  Its simpler and as long as you don't rush it, its does a good job. Just go 10-20 seconds at a time, in bowl that doesn't hold heat well.

If you need precise temperature controlled chocolate (for tempering perhaps), its best to use a double boiler.  The bottom pan just has steaming water - so I never really count that as a dirty dish.  With the double boiler, you get several advantages.  It won't get any hotter than the water.  It its gradual and gentle.  And you can monitor and stir as the temperature rises.  If it turns grainy, its likely a bit of water dripped in.  Depending on the top bowl on the double boiler, its possible to accidentally knock some condensation into the chocolate...and now its toast.  I use a top bowl that has a small outer lip on it to keep this from happening.


How to (cheaply) maintain a plentiful herb supply I love herbs.  When I buy them in packets, it seems they are ludicrously overpriced and go bad quite quickly.  I keep them in the fridge, but perhaps there is a way to make them last longer?  I have tried buying potted plants but either 1. I use the herbs so much the plant is depleted after a very short while, or 2. If I try to be sparing, the plants tend to die anyway.

Does anyway have advice on cheaply keeping a constant supply of fresh herbs (particularly rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley).

Grow them! It's easy, cheap and they'll always be available. NOthing you'll ever grow will give so much back for so little input.

Many herbs - especially rosemary, sage and thyme - are woody perennials and once established in a sunny corner of your garden, they will grow and spread and you'll have them all year round, if your winters aren't too harsh. Better still the woody herbs actively prefer poor, free draining soils with lots of grit mixed in, so they will grow, look good and be fragrant in sunny, high traffic spots such as the edge of a path, where other plants, even grass won't easily grow.

Buy a couple of growing pots from a good local garden centre and have a go. Parsley is a little harder (it germination can be erratic), but it's a binannual (which grows one year and flowers the next), so once you have a root established you'll get a couple of years out of it. Like coriander leaf it needs sun, but more moisture. If you have a moist, even slightly shady spot, and plant chives and mint, you'll never get rid of them as they are hardy and prolific.

Basil will grow very well on a sunny windowsill if you keep it in moist and rich compost and frost free.

Good luck. Nothing steps your cooking up to the next level like everyday access to fresh herbs.


What can I do to make sure plaice filet doesn't get dry? I just cooked myself some plaice in both butter and oil. It didn't feel like I cooked it too long, but still the fish tasted pretty dry.

Is there something I can do or pay attention to in order to prevent this from happening?

Firstly consider a lower temprature but do start with a very hot pan, and turn down the heat and make sure you baste your fish correctly; cook skin side for a longer time, untill you have the desired colour. Add your butter and let it foam, and only then turn your fish. Once you have turned your fish you can take your pan off the heat. Start basting with foamy butter. For plaice, It should be done in under 1 minute. If your not serving straight away remove from pan for hot holding.
If you keep to do this method, its hard to end up with a dry fish.


Sourdough starter - when do you give up? I'm on Day 14 for my sourdough starter and can't get it to work.  I had a half inch rise on Day 3 and nothing since then.  I am using 1:1:1 with the flour component being made up of half whole wheat and half all purpose.

I leave my water out overnight in case of chlorine, and I noted that at room temperature, the batter is at about 68 degrees.  In the oven with the light on, it gets up to about 82 degrees.

I had been feeding it twice a day, but was advised to back off to once a day until I see some activity.  At best though, all I see are a few bubbles as shown here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEe3Su9dwizMnPyM9

I can't find rye flour at the moment (covid scarcity).

Any suggestions from you more experienced chefs?  Or should I give up on this batch and start over?  I'm wondering when to give up on this two week old potential starter.

Many thanks!
Wendy

Typically you can begin to give up at around day 5-7. (Especially if you've taken an aggressive feeding schedule.)

With an aggressive feeding schedule (2-3 times daily), you should begin to see bubbling and sour notes by day three (and is a good indicator for collecting the Lactobacillus bacteria).

Ref: Full Proof Baking

By Day 5, I typically give up if there's no rise or sour notes.

There's two common factors that make sourdough fermentation difficult.

the Type of flour

  If you use plain/white, there's not enough nutrients - so adding rye, ground cereal, or anything with whole grains will help.

The water quality

  Chlorine or other chemicals might be present in your source, so getting a tap filter and boiling/resting the water will assist.

Summary:
- try increasing the feeding cycles until you get the sour notes, keep note of the water/flour until you get some smell/reaction.


How do you decide when to deviate from baking ratios? I've just started studying baking ratios. I like to learn to cook/bake on Youtube, and as I've been analyzing alot of the cooking/baking ratios I notice that quite a few of these youtube chefs do not follow the baking ratios. For example, in a muffin recipe, instead of the 2:2:1:1 ratio with flour:liquid:fat:egg, it was a 1:.6:1 (no liquid but add sugar) ratio (flour:butter:egg). Also does a ten percent deviation between ratios make a major difference? I also noticed that most people are making cupcakes when they make muffins.
Also: Does something like cream cheese fall under a "fat"?

As you asked more than one question here, I'm going to focus on the title: "How do you decide when to deviate from baking ratios?".
And the answer is: when you want a different result.
Ratios are useful guidelines when coming up with new recipes.  They're not laws that need to be followed exactly.  If you think something came out a little dry, then you make a note to add a little more liquid or fat the next time around.


I had delicious Udon soup at a Japanese restaurant, and my attempts to recreate have failed. what am I missing? I recently fell in love with Udon soup.  I've had it at 2 different restaurants in Austin TX, and I find the broth clean and delicious.  My favorite includes cucumber, carrot, a few shrimp, green onion, a and lil of tempura bits. Usually I love spicy soups, but the broth tastes so well balanced that i wouldn't really dare adding any chili, etc. I have tried to recreate it at home but the broth is not remotely similar.

I've tried making dashi broth a couple times.  The second time was after a lot of internet research.  I added about 4 2"x4" strips of Kombu to bout 5 cups water cold water, and brought it to near-boil over 30 minutes. I tasted and really noticed the umami flavor.  But still, it tasted quite watery.  I added 2 handfuls of bonito flakes (they reached boil for maybe a second) and removed from heat.  Steeped 10 minutes.  I could taste more fishyness now.  I slowly started adding salt and it really started bringing out the fishyness, too much.  I added soy a little at a time.. maybe  a tablespoon all told and it was quite 'soy' tasting. not really the golden-rays-of-sunshine broth i had at the restaurant.  I added a bit of mirin, maybe a tablespoon.  At this point the stock tastes discordant: too fishy, too soy-like, and too salty, too sweet, and too watery.

Am I messing something up, or are these restaurants using some kind of chicken stock?  I feel like I'm not in the ballpark.  fwiw, I'm using light soy and sushi-chef mirin.

Any guidance/suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE:
I wrote the restaurant asking what was in the broth, and if they used dashi.  Here is there response: "Our soup broth is made with chicken bone, beef marrow, and assortment of vegetables that is simmered for several hours"

For ramen, udon, and soba, it is not uncommon for Japanese restaurants to use multiple broths for layered flavors.

My friend is from Yamagata in Japan and several of her favorite Udon places will make a sturdy broth with dashi as well as pork and chicken stocks. When I make noodles at home, I almost always start with dashi and fortify with chicken or pork stock. While the aroma of a good dashi is strong, often times it isn't solid enough to feel full-bodied. Try adding other stocks/broths and see where that gets you. Use neckbones and feet if you make your own pork stock.


Sugar and yeast proportion while making sweet bread Should I decrease the amount of yeast I add depending on how much sweet I add (I use jaggery) while making sweet bread?

I understand that sugar (and by extension jaggery) helps yeast multiply at a very fast pace, faster than the rate of multiplication in flour alone.

So is there a rule or ratio by which I must decrease the yeast for every unit of sugar added?

No, there is no "conversion rate" because in baking there is no fixed ratio of yeast to flour or other carbohydrates from the start.

Simply put, the time your dough needs to rise is a function of yeast's growth rate over time - if you start with little yeast, you need more time until you reach the same result.

The growth rate can be influenced by ambient temperature, available food (sugar or flour) and inhibiting factors like salt.

You might be tempted to add sugar or more yeast to "speed things up", but frankly, you probably don't want to. Too much yeast will result in a distinct "yeasty" taste in your finished bread, too fast a rise results in uneven bread structure and "flat" taste. With yeast, slow and steady is usually the better choice.

So yes, you may absolutely decrease the amount of yeast (at least if you start with a typical recipe from the Internet or similar sources), especially if you add sugar. I usually at least halve the amount without batting an eye, but whatever you do:

  Don't judge rising times by a looking at your watch, but by looking at the volume of your dough.

A good recipe should always define rising by volume, e.g. "until doubled in volume" or similar, not just give a fixed time.


Why do recipes call for the vanilla to be added last? In this case it is a banana cream pie, but also in candies. The simple argument I've heard is that the alcohol in it will boil off, but in my case my imitation vanilla doesn't even contain alcohol. (Uses propylene glycol, not really an alcohol, right?)

But either way, why would we care about the alcohol boiling off. It's the vanilla flavor we want right? Does cooking it affect the flavor? (Cakes and such seems to counter that thought) are these recipes just misguided?

It's not the alcohol specifically - the reason alcohol is used to make extract is not because it contributes any flavor itself, but because it dissolves specific desirable substances from the vanilla pod. When the alcohol boils off (or whatever solvent is used in the artificial flavoring), you will also lose some proportion of the flavoring compounds dissolved in the extract.


Will soymilk keep well in the freezer? Since I found out that I can't use soymilk faster than it expires, I'm looking for a better solution. If I were to portion out the soymilk into containers, could I freeze all but a week's worth in advance to use later? Or would that not help?

As a reminder, I use it solely in tea, not to cook with or drink plain.

The container of "my" soy-milk specifically says not to freeze it, though I don't know exactly why. I use a brand of "shelf-stable" soy-milk with no other additives (i.e., only ingredients are water and beans), so that's where the following comments are coming from.

I go through about a quart a week, so I buy quart-size containers and go through it before it goes bad. This is probably obvious, but probably your best bet.

As for freezing, I tried to make soy-milk-based frozen popsicles a couple of times, and the results were undesirably grainy; I think the soy milk didn't freeze evenly (there were other ingredients, but it "felt" like particulates from the milk). Even after thawing, the texture and consistency wasn't quite right. YMMV; freezing behavior likely depends on the brand -- for instance, how the milk is made, how it's processed, and how any additives (emulsifiers, thickeners, or stabilisers, such as carrageenan or xanthan gum) happen to respond to freezing/thawing.

For practical concerns:

expansion when freezing -- make sure your containers won't explode!
separation -- shake well before and after freezing!  Some soy-milks have additives (like above), so this might be less of a concern for those.
texture -- I found that after a freeze-thaw cycle "my" soy-milk changed in consistency. It was "off" in some way that I can't really qualify. It may be less of an issue when the milk is used "in" something else.

Some additional thoughts can be found at can you freeze this, but sounds to me not much more than speculation.

Have you tried it?  I'd be interested to hear what your results from "your" milk are like.


Is Yellow coloring inside a fish normal? I recently purchased a Bronzini fish from a local market.

From the outside  it looks great.

But on the inside, a portion of the fish is a mucusy yellow

The other side looks normal whitish/pink.

I was curious if the yellow coloring is normal or something to be concerned about.

Thank you kindly.

This article indicates that it's probably gall bladder bile:

The gall bladder [...] sometimes [...] breaks even when you are cleaning the fish very carefully and close to the skin. If the gall bladder is broken, the greenish yellow biliary fluid pours immediately out into the inside of the fish and starts to absorb into the meat. The meat becomes bitter.
[...] see if the fish is greenish yellow on the inside or not. If it is, then quickly take a piece of paper towel and wipe it off; if it has already started absorbing into the meat, use a filet knife to cut off the part of meat that has turned yellow.

So, it looks like the gall bladder broke and stained some of the meat. If this is the case, cut the yellow bits away, and the rest of the flesh should be fine.


How do I properly cut a bell pepper into a medium dice? I often cut bell peppers up for uses in chili, stir-fry, salsas, salads, or any other similar use. What type of knife should I use and how should I cut it? I'm most interested in the techniques associated with efficiency and safety.

Here is an example of what I'm trying to achieve:

My favourite knife for this application would be a French Knife because they are large and have good finger room under the handle when doing chopping.

What I would do and always have done is start by cutting the top and bottom ends off of the pepper and remove the inside ribs and seeds from the pepper.

After you cut the tops and bottoms off, keep them and then make i slice through the pepper to open it up into a flat open position.

Lay the pepper down on the outer side UP and make 2-3 length-wise cuts across the pepper to make long strips of pepper also, do this with the ends of the pepper as well.

Next I would simply cut them together or separate, depending on sharpness and size of knife as well as your skill and comfort and cut across the strips and make consistent sizes cuts all the way down.

In my experience of cutting peppers this is my most desired and effective strategy. It also helps with efficiency and consistency of the cuts.


How could I split the proving and baking of bread over 8 hours plus? I'd like to bake my own bread now and again, but timing things like proving and baking around a regular work day make it practically impossible. I'm not going to get up at 4am to make dough so it proves in time to be baked before work, and the kitchen is rather monopolised by dinner in the evenings. In an ideal scenario I would like to either:

Make dough before bedtime (before 10pm)
Knock back, second prove and bake around 7am

or

Make dough at breakfast time
Knock back, second prove and bake at dinner time

The second approach is probably better as the oven will likely be hot from dinner anyway so less energy wastage.

The problem is, I can't leave dough to prove for 8 to 10 hours by normal methodology. I'm wondering if there's some way I could reliably slow the first prove. Thinking slightly differently, I wondered about feeding the yeast in a controlled environment, specific amount of sugar and water temperature overnight, and then making dough with that and skipping the first proving.

Any recipes of convenience exist?

For sourdough boules I would usually do the rising in the evening, then shape the loaf and place it on a baking sheet with baking paper. I used to cover that with the biggest cooking pot I had, upturned, which comfortably fit around the loaf. The whole thing went into the fridge and would slow-proof overnight.

In the morning, I took it out, removed the pot and left it until the oven would preheat, then dust, score and bake.

With the 40 minute baking time (for a 500g flour, 340g water, yeast, salt and sourdough starter recipe, so one loaf), this whole process takes about one hour, including a bit of cooling time on a rack. Of course that depends on how quickly your oven can preheat.

In my experience, it did not make a significant difference between doing this at 7pm or 10pm, and I'd usually start the baking between 8 and 10 in the morning.

Here are two examples of two different breads I have done that way (both have part whole-grain spelt flour, hence the colour). The first one didn't have enough scoring, but the product is still OK for an amateur.


When did the US start refrigerating eggs on a regular basis? Does anyone recall when refrigerated eggs became the norm in the US?  I seem to remember buying eggs in the large grocery stores off the shelf--not refrigerated--as recently as the 1990s.  I lived in the Detroit area so I'm talking big city, not country stores.  I know it is required now by the FDA.

The question actually brings up two separate issues:

(1) When did the U.S. "start refrigerating eggs on a regular basis," i.e., when did the process of refrigeration become a common practice with eggs?

Answer: late 1800s

(2) When did refrigerated eggs "become the norm," i.e., when did American consumers expect eggs to be always (or almost always) refrigerated?

Answer: trending upward significantly in the 1950s, very widely accepted for eggs in grocery stores by the 1970s, legally mandated in the 1990s

Further details on both questions below.

Preserving eggs on a mass scale has a long history in the U.S.  There's an entire chapter devoted to eggs in the book Fresh: A Perishable History (2010).  As discussed there (pp. 86-87):

  In fact, of all the perishables first touched by commercial
  refrigeration, no food proved a harder sell than the cold-stored egg.
  Even in the fridge-friendly United States, popular distrust of the
  "storage" egg endured for decades.

  As refrigeration experts saw it, the basic problem was consumer
  ignorance.  People needed to give up the outdated idea that the only
  good egg was a local and recently laid egg.  But as the public saw it,
  the basic problem was uncertainty.  The egg's unrevealing nature
  became an unappealing mystery once merchants began chilling massive
  stocks.  The perceived danger lay not so much in cold storage itself
  as in the way it could be used to cheat people out of wholesome and
  fairly priced provisions.

[This section of the answer largely derives from this book.]

The first wave of egg refrigeration occurred after the mass rail transport system was developed in the mid-1800s.  By the 1860s and 1870s, eggs were sold in New York from as far away as Minnesota and Mississippi, carried there by refrigerated rail cars.  (Of course, these cars were packed with ice, rather than modern mechanical refrigeration equipment.)  By the last decades of the 1800s, eggs even began crossing between continents on refrigerated steamships: Normandy's egg prices were driven down by cheap refrigerated egg shipments from the U.S., while California received regular egg shipments from China.

But aside from egg trading, cold storage at this time was necessary because eggs were a "seasonal crop."  Hens would stop laying eggs for much of the winter, necessitating cold storage to supply eggs year-round.  While previous generations had preserved eggs temporarily in cold cellars or using various other techniques, by around 1900 the United States had a network of cold-storage food warehouses in major cities that was unparalleled elsewhere in the world.

Nevertheless, consumers had mixed feelings about "cold storage eggs."  They couldn't be sure about storage conditions, and eggs often acquired odors and flavors from other produce and food stored at these facilities.  And as the practice became more common, consumers couldn't be sure whether their eggs really were "fresh" as advertised, or whether they had spent time in storage, particularly in the cold months when few fresh eggs were laid.  Consumer guidebooks and magazines of the early 1900s suggested that cold storage eggs were a useful necessity as an ingredient, but were not of high enough quality to be eaten simply fried or scrambled.

There's a lot more to this early story -- involving consumer reactions, business advertising campaigns, political actions, governmental intervention/regulation, etc. -- but suffice it to say that cold storage eggs were both common and available (particularly in major cities) from the late 1800s onward.  But such storage was a necessity for transport and longevity, not something used yet by retail grocers and consumers.

By the early 20th century, there was already a push toward cooling fresh eggs which were not intended for long-term cold storage.  But since farm refrigeration equipment was not commonly available yet, there was little effect, and well into the 1920s there are reports of suspicious consumers who had to be convinced to try refrigerated eggs when told they were refrigerated, even though many had likely had cold storage eggs preserved in warehouses.

There was a temporary setback to the cold-storage warehouse industry with the development of techniques to make chickens lay eggs year-round.  Starting in the 1910s, a series of shifts in feeding schedules, temperature regulation, and henhouse lighting gradually led hens to lay in the "off-season."  While annual cycles didn't disappear completely until around 1970, the demand for long cold storage decreased, as consumers preferred the fresh products.

[This section of the answer is somewhat more speculative and was cobbled together from various sources.]

The true emergence of cold storage as a "norm" for the whole path from farmer to consumer happened after the rebranding of "cold-storage eggs" to "refrigerated eggs" to eliminate the stigma of eggs that were not perceived as "fresh," along with the advent of cheaper and more widespread mechanical refrigeration for farm and home use in the 1940s and 1950s.  Egg production increased significantly during WWII, and after the war, numerous studies of egg longevity convinced farmers that cooler storage conditions would reduce spoilage and thereby save them money in the long run.  By 1953, Popular Mechanics reported the modern marvel of the large-scale chicken farm, including: "Painted on the farm's big refrigerated truck is the slogan 'Eggs From Happy Hens'."

Grocers were gradually convinced of the same thing.  A report from Baltimore on retail egg practices notes that, between 1946 and 1951, the number of retail stores refrigerating eggs went from about 1/3 to 2/3 of all stores.

Consumer recommendations for egg storage followed as well.  The cookbook You Can Cook if You Can Read (1946), for example, notes the following on "The Care of Eggs":

  Always keep your eggs in the refrigerator in a covered dish or pan.
  They deteriorate much more rapidly in warm air than in cold.  And if
  possible, find a grocer who keeps his eggs in the refrigerator too.
  All the grading and government inspection in the world cannot
  guarantee fresh eggs to the purchaser as long as grocers and
  householders keep them in the open air.

In the 1950s, many magazines also began running ads for refrigerators with dedicated compartments for eggs in the refrigerator.  Refrigerated trucks (as described above) were perfected in the 1950s and made refrigeration possible for all stages of transport.  Unless eggs were purchased from a small farm, by the 1960s most consumers were used to seeing eggs stored in refrigerators all the way from the farm to consumer.

Of course, the period around 1950 was also the time that egg washing became widespread, though the relationship of egg washing to refrigeration was probably more to do with a consistent production method and quality control.  (Washing methods varied greatly and were not consistently regulated for inspected eggs until the early 1970s, after a series of Salmonella outbreaks in the 1960s.)

While it may be at least partly true that the U.S. continues to advocate refrigeration for food safety because eggs are washed (even if recent research indicates that the effect of washing on cuticle damage may be limited), the initial trend toward refrigeration occurred in an earlier period for a variety of reasons.

The holdouts among consumers who would leave eggs on the counter were probably convinced to put them in the fridge due to consistent storage among grocers and concerns about quality deterioration during temperature cycles.  (Condensation on cold eggs left out also can help bacteria migrate through the shell to contaminate the interior of the egg.)

But there was nothing actually requiring refrigeration from farm to table until the early 1990s, when more frequent Salmonella outbreaks in the 1980s convinced Congress to act.  (Regulations on refrigeration before that varied from state to state; the applicable 1963 Michigan law -- likely valid for the Detroit area -- only required egg storage temperatures below 60F.)  Since then, a number of new federal regulations have been passed, beginning with temporary refrigeration rules in the early 1990s.  The 1991 amendments to federal regulations also required all consumer egg containers to contain warnings that indicate that refrigeration is required.  These regulations -- basically requiring eggs to remain below 45F from farm to grocer -- were made permanent in 1999 and 2000, though exceptions are still available for small farms with fewer than 3,000 laying hens which pack their own eggs and sell directly to consumers.


Should I peel kiwifruit? What should I do with the kiwi peel?
I've got no problem with its taste and feel
and eat them whole when I'm by myself.
Is it in any way bad for my health?

It is perfectly safe to eat the peel in and of itself. You will need to make sure that you wash it properly, as it may be dirty. But beyond that, it's simply a matter of taste. A lot of people don't like the flavor / texture of the peel and so remove it.

From a site devoted to kiwis:

  Kiwi fruit skin is definitely edible,
  and there's a lot of different
  theories about eating it.

  Kiwi fruit skin contains high levels
  of flavonoids, insoluble fiber and
  antioxidants: these substances all
  have a beneficial effect on your
  body's metabolic functions (flavonoids
  and antioxidants) and on your
  digestive system and cardiovascular
  apparatus (insoluble fiber).

  Common sense, however, should be
  practiced in this respect: while raw
  kiwi fruit skin contains these
  beneficial substances, it also tends
  to contain more than 99,95% of of the
  pesticides in that particular fruit
  (if they have been used), which
  largely outweighs the benefits from
  flavonoids and antioxidants.


Does sauerkraut go bad? I have had a tupperware of sauerkraut I bought from the grocery store in my refrigerator for almost two months. When/Will it ever go bad?

Yes, saurkraut can go bad.  It is a fermented product, protected from other micro-fauna growing by the acidity of the juice, a natural pickle created during the fermentation.

Having the juice cover the solids is important to protect them from spoilage.

If the juice gets diluted, or there simply is not enough to cover the kraut do to spillage, being eaten or whatever, then molds and other things can colonize and begin to grow.

Throw your saurkraut away if it shows signs of mold, or if it has an unusual odor.

Still, because of the pickle, it should have a long shelf life in practice.  Still Tasty suggests six months, refrigerated.


Parsley: flat-leaf or curly? How do I know whether I should use flat-leaf or curly-leaf parsley? I'm interested mostly in their uses as ingredients, but guidance on usage as garnishes is also welcome.

Flat-leaf (also called Italian Parsley) and curly parsley can be used interchangeably but most chefs prefer flat leaf as it usually has a more distinct taste.  That is going to be up to you and your preference.

Curly parsley provides a more unique and visually interesting look when you're talking about garnishes but putting a sprig of parsley on a plate is what would be called a "non-functional" garnish.  Aside from adding a bit of green it serves no purpose as very few people I know will pop it in their mouth and eat it.  You're better to sprinkle with chopped parsley or herbs that can help enhance/accent the flavor.

Curly parsley is also visually appealing used in a parsley salad due again to the ruffled edges.

I usually use flat-leaf if available, then curly if flat-leaf isn't available.  Under no circumstances (except if you just need a touch of green dust) do I recommend using dried parsley.  Clippings from the underside of yor lawn-mower probably have more flavor.  Same goes for dried chives.


de buyer mineral b carbon steel seasoning I bought a mineral b carbon steel pan some time ago and I've cooked with it probably about +-20 times (pretty much use it for steaks). I've been religious about seasoning it after every use using the following method:

Rinse with hot water and wipe dry.
Put back on stove top and reheat and ensure completely dried through.
Wipe on a thin layer of flaxseed oil.

Here is a pic of my pan currently:

Some questions I have:

Are the brown (rusty looking) areas quite normal? I'm certain it's not rust as I've taken a lot of care to prevent that, although if I smell closely it does have a slight rusty/metallic smell.
The only area of the pan that seems to develop some kind of patina is the center as you can see. How do I get that slick black finish over the entire pan? Will that just come from time & use or is my seasoning method incorrect?
The patina seems quite flaky...is this normal?

Thank you for any info/feedback provided.

I have the same pan. Are you following the instructions that come with it?

The center is too burned.
Flaky is not good.
The border is not seasoned.
The border is not rusty.

Is your fire big enough for the pan?

You should clean the pan (thorough scrub with salt) and re-season. See this Q&A


What fuel (burning material) gives the best flavor to meat when barbequing? I normally barbecue with charcoal, but I've seen wood chips in shops, so I started wondering...
I assume the material you use gives a different flavor to the meat. What is your experience on this regard? When is coal preferable, wood, or gas (the latter IMHO ruins the point)? If wood is better, which kind of wood gives a better taste to the meat?

There are two main types of charcoal, briquettes and hard lump. The first comes in preformed pieces, so they are all the same size and include a filler material. They will sometimes also have lighter fluid in them already and be "easy start" or something similar. Hard lump is just charcoal from hardwoods with no filler. These will usually be in all kinds of shapes and look like "natural" pieces of wood (albeit in charcoal form). Hard lump is easy to light, burns hotter, and leaves much less ash than briquettes. It also has a better flavor. I strongly recommend hard lump charcoal.

Wood is usually used to provide smoke as a primary function rather than heat. Smoking on your grill gives a lovely smokey flavor (d'uh). The standard way to use wood is to soak it in water for a period of time prior to cooking. Packages will often say to soak for an hour, and that's ok with wood chips which are very small (but I recommend longer), but it isn't good for anything larger. I generally soak wood for at least 18 hours.

Wood also comes in various sizes, from very small chips (slightly larger than a coin) to large chunks bigger than a fist. The smaller the chips, the less heat they provide and the faster they burn up. These are generally better for shorter smoking times. Large chunks can smoke for 12+ hours if they are properly soaked. In both cases, I put the wood on to already burning coals to get them going.

You can also use just wood to create your heat, in which case you do not soak the wood. When you hear about woodfire ovens, this is what they do. However, I think this is a hassle as it's harder to get the wood lit than charcoal and doesn't provide as much smoke since you haven't soaked the wood. So it's really sub-par in my view. The exception is if you are doing low and slow smoking on some types of charcoal grill, you can use a small bed of coals to light large chunks of soaked wood. Once they get smoldering, this becomes the only source of heat as the coals go out. They smolder hot enough to get new wood going if you find you need more. Great for 12 hour smoking at 200F for Boston Butt or Brisket.

In terms of wood, you want hard woods with low amounts of resin / sap. No glue, nails, etc. It wants to be natural. This is a decent description of types of wood and the smoke they produce. Common woods for BBQ in the SE US are hickory, mesquite, and cedar. I've used old wine barrel chunks which have a really nice flavor, and also bits of rosemary branch (thick from a large plant) which didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. You can even use the shells of nuts like pecans. This is really a question of seeing what's readily available and experimenting with your own personal taste.

You can also use wood with a gas grill by putting it in a smoking box or tin foil with holes in it, and placing directly on the heating element. Wood chips work best for this. I've never had much luck with this though. It's hard to get the chips smoking and, more importantly, gas grills don't have the airflow through them to properly move smoke over the food. I switched to charcoal pretty quickly and a Big Green Egg about two years ago, and I've never looked back.


Where can I find a quality comparison for Zwilling Knives? I'm trying to find comparisons between various knives from Zwilling.  I know the difference between the lines: JA Henckels International tends to be of different build quality as compared to Zwilling.

However, I'm having trouble differentiating between the different knives from within the Zwilling brand.  For instance, sets are named things like Cuisine, Gourmet, Signature, Four Star, and Professional S.

Even the Zwilling website doesn't really offer too much information about the specific lines.  In fact, it doesn't even list some of the lines I've seen for sale, such as Gourmet.  Can anyone provide info about these knives, or a link to further descriptions and comparisons?

There's a serious dearth of information about the differences between the Henckels product lines, but from what I can tell:

The biggest difference is the handle design, which impacts the balance.  You'll want to hold the knives to find which is right for you.
Stamped blades are used in the following lines: Twin Signature, Twin Gourmet, International Everedge, International Everedge Plus, International Fine Edge Pro, International Fine Edge Synergy, International Eversharp.  Source: Henckels Site.
Forged blades are used for the following lines: Twin Profection, Twin Four Star and Four Star II, Twin Cuisine, Twin Professional S, Twin Select, International Classic, International Forged Premio, and International Forged Synergy.  Sources: Henckels site, Squidoo, Amazon
Microserrated blades are used in the following product lines: Eversharp Pro, Everedge, Everedge Plus (Source: Henckels International website)
All but the Twin Cermax line are X50CrMoV15 steel, hardened to 54-56 HRC (some reports say up to 57 Rockwell C).  This means they're slightly softer than Wusthof (which now hardens many of their products to 58 HRC), but less brittle.
Twin Cermax uses special, superhard (66 HRC) MC66 steel, meaning they take a sharper edge and hold it MUCH longer than the other lines.  This is probably a clone of the ZDP-189 supersteel. (source)

The microserrated blades aid in slicing, but hurt the ability to chop and mince.  They WILL help retain a cutting edge longer, but also cannot be sharpened normally.

Edit:
Personally, I've not been impressed by Henckels knives.  Wusthof knives strike me as better quality at a similar price, and Victorinox is almost as good but a lot cheaper.  Why do I say this?  Well, Wusthof blades aren't as thick and unwieldy as Henckels, and they harden the steel to 58 Rockwell, so it takes a better edge. Victorinox is comparable hardness to Henckels, but about half the price, and the shapes of the blades just seem so perfect, with a deeper belly to slice thick items, and awesome grippy Fibrox handles.

Edit 2: 5 March 2016  - Henckels appears to have moved to a 57-58 HRC steel standard now for many of their blades, and switched to a narrower 15 degree bevel.  This means they are capable of finer cuts, but the edges may be a tad more fragile. Twin Profection is now 60 HRC. This means that steel-on-steel, the knives should now be competitive with Wusthof. The Twin Signature and International Forged Classic still use the inferior 53-55 HRC steels. Victorinox has also raised the prices on their Fibrox-handled knives.  Personal opinion, they're still a much better value than Henckels, but Henckels may be more competitive with Wusthof now.


What can I do with badly cooked honeycomb? I've made a batch of honeycomb but I didn't quite get the temperature of the sugar right. Now it seems to have the consistency of toffee.

What can I do with this honeycomb? It would seem a bit of  a waste to just through it away...

It might be possible to dissolve the candy, and then boil it down again, foaming it with fresh baking soda when it hits the proper stage.  The thing is, the candy has already got the full level of baking soda reactants (either sodium carbonate or sodium oxide) from from the first cooking, which may contribute to some off flavors.

Instead, if it is enjoyable as is, I would suggest just eating it as a toffee like candy.

Otherwise, chalk it up to experience and watch the temperature more closely next time.


What do I need to clean off before I season this cast iron? Here's my cast iron frying pan. I had seasoned it before but wasn't sure if I'd got it right so I figured I'd start again. I'm not clear on what state it needs to be in before I do that.
I sanded a little bit to remove the bumpy black residue but it was an extremely slow process. What is the black on my pan and do I need to remove it all to be silver again before I season?

Whilst the re-seasoning part could be considered a duplicate, that's not actually what this question asks. It's "What do I do with the existing surface?"
You sand it off, or you get it sandblasted professionally (or you get all chemistry class with lye baths & other potentially dangerous stuff;).
The cosmetic appearance is not vital, but your pan has built up a coating so thick that it can start to come off in chunks.
This is your opportunity to start afresh, so I'd try to get it as close to bare metal as you reasonably can, without being over-fussy about the last vestiges. As your start-point for the new seasoning you want an even surface, rather than a 'perfectly clean' one. New seasoning will stick just as well to remaining coating as it will to bare iron, so long as you re-season properly.
For that part I'd see some of the previous answers on this stack - but note, there appears to be no true consensus as to temperature, duration, oil type...


How long do you let a steak from the fridge come up to temperature, and when do you salt it? Before cooking a steak, you're supposed to let it sit out at room temperature. You're also supposed to salt it. What is the proper timing for these steps? How long do you let the steak come up to temperature, and how long before you cook it do you salt it?

In this thread, Lorenzo notes that steaks may end up raw in the center if you only leave 'em out for 10-15 minutes to come up to temperature. I recommend 30 mins, but it will probably vary on what room temperature actually is for you.

From Weber's Way To Grill, which recommends salting right when you take them out of the fridge, here's Mr. Purviance's take on why you should consider salting early:

  It's true that salt draws moisture toward itself, but over the course of 20 to 30 minutes that's a good thing, because the salt begins to dissolve into that little bit of moisture. When the steak hits the hot grate... [you] create a delicious crust. Any moisture you might lose is well worth the flavor of that crust.


How is this kind of cattle called? I've heard of beef, not specifically "veal", where the animal can be older but has had mostly a milk diet and been restricted of physical movement, preventing muscle development, making for softer and more tender cuts of meat throughout the whole animal. Is this true? What's this meat called?

I believe the cattle you're referring to are Japanese Waygu - there are a number of breeds under this rubric, but there are notable points:

Genetic predisposition to exceptional marbling and tenderness
The animals are hand-massaged by the farmer, due to insufficient space for the cattle to wander freely
Grain fed rather than grass fed, as the cattle is generally tethered or penned for its life.


What is "fine ground cornmeal"? I frequently run across recipes in books that require "fine-ground cornmeal", which isn't a classification that exists in the USA (particularly baffling when the cookbook was published in the USA).  This leaves me unsure of what to substitute; whether I should be using medium-grind cornmeal, or corn flour.  As such, below is a listing of types of cornmeal in the US, as labeled by flour mills*.

Coarse Ground Cornmeal: usually yellow, otherwise known as Polenta, 1mm large grains used mainly for boiling.
Medium Ground Cornmeal: usually yellow, a rough grind larger than wheat flour and about the same size as pasta semolina.  Used for cornbread.
Corn Flour: cornmeal, usually yellow, ground to the same consistency as wheat flour.
Corn Starch: superfine ground husked corn flour, usually white.

So, when a recipe asks me for "fine ground cornmeal", what is it asking for, if no other information is supplied?  A US recipe?  A British recipe?  An Australian Recipe?

I am looking for a generic answer here for each nationality (or region), because I have seen this in multiple recipes, not an answer for a specific recipe.

(* there's also grits and various grades of masa, which aren't relevant for this question)

I'm an American cornbread lover living in the UK, so I have some experience with this. In the UK and commonwealth corn flour = US cornstarch, and in the UK corn meals are coarser then their US counterparts. Coarse polenta is like ball bearings, fine polenta is still too coarse for decent cornbread and fritters. You can get fine corn meal in the UK now, which is slightly finer than your average US cornmeal, but not as fine as US corn flour.

So if I'm in the US using an American recipe that calls for fine corn meal I'd just use regular corn meal, if I'm in the US using a UK recipe and it calls for fine corn meal it would probably mean fine polenta, which is what you generally get in the US.


What variety of tomato is typically used in Italian, canned, peeled tomatoes? I'm experimenting with different brands of canned tomatoes and I just bought some Italian peeled tomatoes, the brand it Petti.  Here is a image of the can.

I was looking into what variety of tomato was used in it, but I couldn't find this info anywhere on the can... nor is it explicitly stated on the website for this particular product.

Unless it's otherwise stated (such as san marzano), what variety should I assume is used in Italian canned tomatoes?  I'm leaning towards assuming they are Roma.  Or is this unusual that the variety of tomato is not listed on the can?

  Note: I'm living in Europe, in case that is relevant for EU foodlaws.

Based on what they say on their web page they use both early and late varieties. The type of tomato therefore probably changes throughout the canning season. Since they source their produce locally (they are based in Livorno) I would guess that two of the varieties are Pisanello and Perino (the last variety is similar to Roma).

Here's an overview of the most cultivated varieties in Tuscany (in Italian).


Can I use brown sugar in No Bake Cookies instead of Granulated Sugar? Can I use Brown Sugar instead of Granulated Sugar in my No Bake Cookie Recipe?

In many recipes, brown sugar and granulated sugar can be substituted for each other fairly freely. Keep in mind that brown sugar will add both color and flavor, and it has more moisture. If your recipe has a narrow moisture tolerance, you'll want to decrease the moisture elsewhere. Also, brown sugar tends to be more hygroscopic than granulated, so the product will remain softer over time.


Minestrone from cold rather than hot water I have been told it's a bad idea to put vegetables directly in hot or boiling water when cooking minestrone. Instead, you must start heating the chopped vegetable soup from cold water. Why would this be?

Looking at the Giallo Zafferano recipe (video below), this does seem to be the case.

According to the Farmers Almanac, root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, anything that grows underground) benefit from the cold water technique as the cell wall gradually stiffens and it helps the vegetables become more resistant to overcooking. Adding directly to boiling water could (in theory) affect the consistency and flavour of the broth. In a similar way, if you pre-soak vegetables some starch and proteins are released into the water beforehand, and if you don't use that soaking water, there will be less starch and foam when the stock comes to a boil.

In reality though, the difference would probably be fairly negligible, especially if you are in the habit of removing any scum that forms when the liquid comes to a boil.

Farmers Almanac: https://lifehacker.com/when-to-start-cooking-vegetables-in-cold-or-hot-water-1737922352

Giallo Zafferano: https://youtu.be/JEtJz-_oBVk


Dissolving cocoa in liquid It seems like cocoa powder is very tricky to dissolve in liquid without using a slurry. So how do store-bought cocoa mixes dissolve so easily?

Commercial cocoa is frequently "dutched" or treated with alkalai, which increases the dispersibility of the powder.

"The process darkens the cocoa ingredients, changes the taste by reducing bitterness, and increases the dispersability of cocoa powder for various applications such as beverages".

Source (paywall, sorry): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18710243


Pure fresh semolina pasta with and without eggs Searching google for Italian recipes of fresh pasta using semolina di grano duro flour (semola di grano duro in Italian), I found a lot of videos and instructions from Italian websites and Italian chefs NOT using eggs. A few examples:

Book writer
Blog
Chef on youtube

Even when I find instructions with eggs, they always mix with common flour (00).

Is there a reason to not mix eggs with the semolina when preparing a pure semolina recipe?

There are two pasta manufacturing techniques. First, pasta can be cut to shape using a blade or roller, and second, it can be extruded at high pressure through a bronze or teflon die. The first is what most people know of as fresh pasta, and is made using common flour and eggs. The second is made using semolina flour and water. If you are using a standard Atlas or Imperia roller, or cutting with a knife, use flour and eggs. It is the traditional technique and the semolina will not make a good pasta. If you have access to industrial pasta extrusion equipment, use semolina.

Semolina is typically made from a different species of wheat, durum wheat, which has a very high gluten content, so it does not require eggs to bind it together. The egg white has very high protein content, which compensates for the lower protein in common flour. In McGee's, "On Food and Cooking" he explains how the extrusion process aids the formation of a firm pasta:

  The movement, pressure, and heat of extrusion change the structure of the dough by shearing the protein network apart, mixing it more intimately with starch granulas that have been partially gelated by the heat and pressure, and allowing broken protein bonds to re-form and stabilize the new network.

In "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", Marcella Hazan says:

  "[semolina] is the only suitable flour for industrially produced pasta, but I do not prefer it for home use. To begin with, it's consistency is often grainy, even when it is sold as pasta flour, and grainy semolina is frustrating to work with. Even when it is milled to the fine, silky texture you need, you must use a machine to roll it out; to try to do so with a rolling pin is to face a nearly hopeless struggle. My advice is to leave semolina flour to factories and to commercial pasta makes: At home use unbleached all-purpose flour.


Why did the bottom of my stainless steel pan burn during seasoning? While I was seasoning my stainless steel pan, the bottom turned brown before I added the oil. Why did the bottom of my stainless steel pan burn? Can I remove the stain?

The capacity of the pan to store heat is much smaller than for oil or water. Without anything in the pan, the temperature of the pans surface goes up very high quickly. The color change is done by chemical reaction on the surface, thus removal can be done with chemical reagents and/or scrubbing that effected material off the pan.


Why does a pizza stone make my pizza dough bread-like? I have an aluminum pizza pan with a perforated bottom. It looks like this:

Not long ago I purchased a pizza stone, which I got mainly because everyone raves about them. However, the results have been quite disappointing. The aluminum pizza pan consistently produces a thin, crispy crust. But the pizza stone produces a much thicker crust with a bread-like consistency -- not at all what I'm looking for. It's not soggy or anything, just thicker and more bread-like.

The dough recipe is straightforward: flour, water, salt, yeast, and a slow overnight rise. I make two pizzas from the recipe and do one on the stone and the other on the pan. The oven and stone are preheated to 550F/288C for 45 minutes before cooking. I do one pizza at a time, both on the top rack. So all the factors are exactly the same except the stone vs. pan.

Why does the stone produce this thicker, bread-like texture? Is there any way to counteract that or do I now own a heat sink and I should stick to using the pan?

Your aluminum pan is allowing moisture to escape from the bottom and the top, whereas the stone does not, so the stone will have more rise.  To use a stone, after much trial and error, I have to roll that dough out super thin, like 3-4 mm, prebake in the hot oven for 4-5 minutes, pull it out, add the toppings, then finish for another 6-7 minutes.

Also, different flours will bring a different gluten content, which are the sticky bonds that will allow you to roll it thinner without it contracting at every roll.  I use 1/2 semolina flour and 1/2 plain flour, I can roll it thinner that way.

Be not dismayed, a breadier crust can be fantastic, you can load more stuff on it.


How Can One Safely (in a Manner That Rids of Toxins) Cook Red Kidney Beans in a Pressure Cooker? Since the chili bean mix that I have includes red kidney beans, and since kidney beans contain a very high amount of toxin in them, and will cause severe gastrointestinal illness if the kidney beans are not cooked long enough or hot enough to reduce the amount of toxin in them, and since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends boiling for 30 minutes to ensure they reach a sufficient temperature long enough to completely destroy the toxin, and since cooking kidney beans at the lower temperature of 80 °C (176 °F), such as in a slow cooker, can increase this danger and raise the toxin concentration up to fivefold, is it known whether cooking red kidney beans in a pressure cooker will reduce the toxin level to a safe-to-eat level, and if so, how long should they cook in a pressure cooker, and is there any certain technique/method/extra steps that should be used?

I think you're conflating two different cooking methods here. Slow-cooking and pressure-cooking are two opposite ends of a spectrum, with boiling in the middle.

Slow-cooking maintains a temperature below the boiling point (100°C/212°F) for an extended period of time. Boiling occurs at, clearly, the boiing point of water. And pressure-cooking makes use of a sealed vessel to raise the vapor pressure inside, which raises the boiling point above its normal temperature and allows for higher-temperature cooking.

The FDA's recommendation relates to the temperature at which the toxin (phytohaemagglutinin) breaks down. 80°C/176°F simply isn't high enough, but the normal boiling point is. It can be safely assumed that even higher temperatures inside a pressure cooker will be sufficient to reduce the toxin to safe levels if cooked for the same amount of time.

Anecdotally, many instructions I've seen recommend a boiling time of 10 minutes (which is sometimes followed by extended slow-cooking). As with many other topics, the FDA's recommendation may be a bit conservative, but it's best to err on the side of caution.

I will comment that in my own judgment about 15 minutes at pressure is likely to be sufficient, because the temperature will spend some time above the normal boiling point as pressure builds, and will again remain above that point as the pressure falls again (especially if you're not venting the cooker, and letting the pressure release naturally). Keep in mind that a big advantage of the pressure-cooker is that it speeds up cooking, to the point where you can cook kidney beans without any pre-soak. If you are soaking, this much time in a pressure cooker will reduce the beans to mush, and you may as well simply boil for the recommended 30 minutes. If you go with a no-soaking method, it'll take at least 30 minutes under pressure (usually more like 45-50 in my experience) for the beans to cook through anyway, so you're fine from a safety standpoint.


Adding melted chocolate to a sponge cake batter I have baked a victoria sponge cake and it came out fine. In order to make a chocolate sponge cake, Can I use the same recipe of Victoria sponge cake and just add some quantity of melted chocolate to the batter? Will that work?

Will it end up being a (probably delicious) cake? Yes. Will it have the texture of a Victoria sponge? No. The melted chocolate will destroy some of the airiness of the sponge, making it more like a brownie.

Instead, I would recommend substituting a few tablespoons of flour for unsweetened cocoa powder. That will give you a chocolate Victoria sponge.


How to stuff and/or spice the chicken BELOW the skin? Recently watch a cooking show, and in one of the recipes (before cooking the chicken) the instruction was to put the spice below the skin of the chicken.

How to do it? Does it have some special methods to preserve the quality?

It's a tradeoff: salting (and using herbs or spices) a chicken under the skin, rather than on the surface of the skin, will result in a better-seasoned bird but it will make the presentation of the whole bird a bit less attractive, since the skin is no longer exactly where it should be. I've also noticed that the skin gets crispier when you salt it between the skin and the meat.

You can use a spatula as BaffledCook says but I find it easier to just use my hands. Just find a spot on the bird's breast where the skin and meat are a little separated, like the chest cavity opening, where it's been cut during butchering. Slowly slide your fingertips in between the skin and the meat, separating the two, and work your way all over the breasts with both hands. Go slow so you don't tear the skin. If possible, leave the skin attached at the breastbone and near the wings, that will keep the skin relatively in-place for presentation and there isn't much meat that needs seasoning in those spots anyway.

You can work your way over to the thighs and drumsticks this way too, though if you do, the skin will be quite separated from the carcass and your presentation will suffer more. Also, thighs and drumsticks aren't quite as thick as the breast, so salting them on the surface of the skin is more effective.


What's special about ahi tuna? When I see tuna steaks, seared rare, on restaurant menus it's almost always Ahi tuna specifically.  What's special about Ahi with this preparation method?  Does it have different cooking properties from other kinds of tuna steak, like Yellowfin?  Or is it an economic matter?

I ask partly out of curiosity and partly because I'd like to make this myself, so want to know if I should be preferring Ahi to other tunas that are sometimes at the fish market.

As Jolenealaska mentioned in his reply, Ahi is generally yellowfin tuna.

I believe you probably see it on restaurant menus a lot either because it is part of your local fish stock or possibly as part of marketing tactics used by the restaurants.

All of the true tuna fish species will be nice grilled, with some minor difference in flavor. Personally I would choose the tuna based on sustainability and freshness rather than specie.


Cooking one-handed: things to watch out for I'm temporarily without the use of my left, non-dominant, hand (broken shoulder after a bike crash). Obviously my cooking will be rather limited but I still want to make some home made food. What should I be careful of?

I'm mainly thinking of main meals - baking is right out. For example a veggie chilli. Safety is my main concern, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with something I couldn't move half cooked.

Some things I've thought of:

plan how to avoid moving heavy dishes
don't reckon on chopping hard veg, or veg that rolls (buy frozen ready-chopped etc. when possible)
everything will take longer

But I'm sure I've missed a lot, the question is what.

I can give some general recommendations, but if I had some specific recipes that you were considering, I might be able to give more specific recommendations.

First, I'd avoid using any tool that I can't clean one-handed.  If you have a dish-washer, this might not be a problem, but even things like a blender you might have difficulty disassembling and re-assembling one handed, as you can't screw on/off the bottom.  Likewise, most jars and screw-top bottles will be a problem.

There are items that can be mounted under a cabinet to help with opening screw-tops, but most of them are only intended for opening ... they wouldn't work for closing the jar after you've used it.  (and they'd be almost impossible to install one-handed.  VHB or other mounting tape might work, but they tend to fail in torsion, so you'd need to stick the perimeter down well, and maybe add a nail or screw to prevent rotation))

Canned items are likewise out, unless you have an electric can-opener.  (that being said -- check thrift stores.  They often show up there).  It might be possible to use an old school claw-style can opener opener on larger cans, but smaller cans are just going to move around on you too much.  The ones built into pocket knives might work better, as they have a little bit that catches underneath can lip, but getting the tool opened one-handed is going to be a problem.

I would invest in some 'non-slip' shelf liner.  (I like the stuff that seems to be a grid of drops of rubber.  (This stuff might be it, but I couldn't be absolutely sure from the picture.)  It could be placed under bowls that you can't stabilize with your off hand while you mix things, and it might work to place in the sink so that you can scrub a pot one-handed.

This is going to be counter-intuitive, but I'd actually use heavier pans.  You want something that's not going to move around on the stove as you're trying to stir things or scrape up fond when deglasing.  This might also be a good time to learn how to flip your food one-handed.

You can avoid some heavy lifting by only moving empty pots & pans:

Put the empty vessel on the stove
Fill the vessel
Ladle cooked food out of the vessel
Move the empty vessel to the sink (or dishwasher) to clean it

If you have tongs, you can also do this with strand-type pasta, and if you have a good spider you can make shaped pasta.  (I prefer a basket-style spider, as I don't take so long to get it all out that half of it is overcooked).  You can use a pitcher to get the water into the pot, and a large pyrex measuring cup to get most of it out.  (or wait for it to cool, and use whatever you have that you can dip in).

You can avoid some knife work by using ground meats.  (if you're a meat-eater.  If not, well, avoid large blocks of firm tofu)  This will both avoid cutting while cooking, but also while eating.  If you do need to cut things up, I'd recommend kitchen scissors.  You can use them to cut up cooked meats, but they fail at things like cutting up peppers and onions.  (although they might be okay for green onions / scallions)

I would actually avoid anything large that you'd have to move while hot.  This would include casseroles.  If you really want to make something like that, I'd invest in some serving-sized ramekins and make individual portions.  (and possibly put a silicone pot-holder under the ramekin when eating)

You also have to consider eating -- you might be able to cook a steak one-handed, but you're not going to be able to eat it easily.  If you're a meat eater, I'd probably work with boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  They're relatively easy to cook one-handed with tongs, and you can easily cut them up with scissors or turn them into shredded chicken with a potato masher.  (and they're way more difficult to overcook than breasts)

This could also be a good time to call on your friends, and or make some new friends.  (This might work as a pick-up line ... approach someone you're interested in, and ask them if they'd help you cook in exchange for cooking lessons and/or a meal.  If you do this, I'd suggest asking them what foods they like).

You could use your friends for some partial meal prep ... things like dicing or slicing up peppers, onions, or other ingredients so you'll have them for later meals.  Or you could look into making a few single-serve casseroles (large casseroles are going to be impossible to move one-handed) or other dishes that just need to be re-heated so you have meals for a few days.  If you go the second route, you can also send the friend home with a few meals in exchange.


When a recipe calls for a cup of chopped nuts, should they be measured before chopping or after chopping? It seems like it would throw off recipe since you can fit more in once they are chopped?

"1 cup of chopped nuts" is measured after chopping.

"1 cup of nuts, chopped" is measured before chopping.


Why does my chicken breast become so dry? When I roast a whole chicken, I always make sure that my chicken is cooked to the proper temperature. Quite often, this results in juicy legs and thighs, but dry breasts.

Is there a reason the chicken breasts end up so dry, while the legs and things are moist and delicious? Are there any ways to roast a chicken to prevent the breasts from drying out?

It's my opinion that the "proper temperature" is a number set by lawyers, not by chefs. The government standard for a roast bird is 180°F (83°C)! Are you kidding me? HTST pasteurization is 161°F (72°C) for 20 seconds, but my turkey has to get to 180°F for safe human consumtion? What the hell kind of bacteria do they think live in there?

165°F (74°C) is a common number, and a pretty decent one, though I always take mine out before that for the reason below.

You need to remember that the internal temperature of the bird will continue to rise for a while after you take it out of the oven: the heat on the outside is still migrating inward. If you wait to take it out until the internal temperature is the "right" temperature, by the time it peaks, it'll be 10°F (~5°C) HIGHER than the right temperature, and that's in the dry zone. We're talking 190°F (88°C) thanksgiving football. Blech.

Dark meat almost always handles being overcooked better than lighter meat. The breast is the hardest part of the turkey to cook correctly. If you haggle with the temperature, and your white meat is still on the dry side, you might try brining the bird for 24 hours or so. It makes a big difference in terms of juiciness.


How to prepare stuffed peppers? I've prepared peppers stuffed with beef and rice a number of times, but they never turn out quite how I would like. How should I cook the peppers so that they end up soft and flavourful, but are not overcooked to the point they are falling apart?

I pre-cook my peppers -- after I've cut them open, I let them roast in the oven for about 10-20 min, upside down (so they don't end up with a pool of water in the bottom).  I then pull them out once they've softened up a little bit, fill them, and put them back in to warm through and melt any cheese, then switch it to broil to get them browned on top.

My filling is already cooked, as I typically use leftovers such as taco meat, rice & cheese. (my mom always insisted them were 'planned overs' as there are a number of dishes where we intentionally cook too much so that we'd have it as an ingredient for the next night's meal.)


How long is it okay to marinate pork ribs for? I want to grill pork ribs for lunch on Sunday and usually I marinate them in the fridge over night (<18 hours). The supermarket only had "fresh" ones (usually I buy pre-packaged, which are good for a couple of days), so I asked if it was okay to keep them in the fridge until I marinate them tomorrow and the guy said:

Yes, better even marinate them today to add more flavor!

I've never heard/seen anyone marinate meat for more than maybe 18 hours, let alone almost 2 days. Is that really an okay thing to do?
The marinade is: 3Tbsp ketchup, 2Tbsp apple juice, 1.5Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1Tbsp honey, 1Tbsp BBQ sauce, 1.5tsp soy sauce, 1.5tsp mustard, 1.5tsp sugar, 1 onion and a couple of ground spices.
If it's not okay to marinate the ribs for that long, is it still okay to keep them in the bag in the fridge until tomorrow evening or should I rather freeze them now, then defrost them again in the afternoon tomorrow?

This is totally okay to do and will help flavour your ribs deeply. 48 hours is the max I would marinate for personally. If you're really skeptical about it, you should be fine to keep your unmarinated ribs in the fridge until you're ready to marinate them.


Are Turkish Bay Leaves "Normal" Bay leaves? I recently saw a recipe that called for Turkish Bay Leaves. Is this any different than the kind I would find in a standard spice bottle labeled "Bay Leaves", or is this a form of exotic marketing? Are there even different types of Bay Leaves?

Are there even different types of Bay Leaves?

There is the California Bay Laurel  Umbellularia californica.

Turkish Bay is Laurus nobilis

(https://nicholsgardennursery.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/laurus-nobilis-the-true-bay/)

We have an California Bay Laurel (AKA Oregon Myrtle) growing in our yard. While looking the same and smelling like normal store bought bay leafs like from Spice Island, it is 10 times more pungent. I used it once and that was the last time.


Why do chocolate chips stay softer after being baked? I could be wrong, but I have the feeling that after baking chocolate chip cookies, the chocolate chips are still melted; or at least a lot softer than before you bake the cookies.

It's logical that the chips melt, when they are in the oven, and even half an hour later. But why are they still softer the day after? What's the explanation behind this? It's as if the melting point has lowered.

Or am I imagining things?

During baking, all of the nice "tempered" crystals that come in the chocolate chips are melted out.  The chocolate loses its temper, if you will.  When the chocolate solidifies again, it does so with different crystals that result in a softer chocolate with a lower melting point.


Is pork for bo ssam made entirely without oil? According to all the recipes, we have to leave the salted and covered with sugar pork in the fridge over night. In the morning we wash it, wipe it dry and put it in the oven - so no oil. I'm not used to cook without the oil, so I'm interested in if that's ok?

Recipe: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/recipe-momofuku-bo-ssam.html

Thank you.

YUM! I lived in Seoul for a year, Bo Ssam is one of the best things I've ever tasted. You're using pork shoulder (butt) right? If so, no oil is necessary. There is plenty of fat in the pork.


How do I make chai latte at home? I want to be able to make chai latte at home, but I don't have an espresso machine, and I don't really know if it is worth buying one just for an occasional drink.
Is there a way to froth the milk without an espresso? Is there any other way people know to make chai latte?

Frothed milk is not essential to Masala Chai, it's normally made with plain milk; the frothed-milk version is mostly a Western variation. But I assume you like it with that little extra. You might try using a milk frother, you can get them much cheaper than the deluxe model I've linked to here. If you're very particular about your frothed milk though, it seems from some quite detailed instructions I found, that a proper milk steaming attachment as found on espresso machines is the way to go. The author of the instructions states that “With a little care, you can create steamed milk that is velvety smooth like the texture of wet shaving cream. The bubbles will be so small that you can barely see them! This is the way it’s supposed to be, because this way, it will blend with the espresso, creating a harmony of the flavors instead of a dry, tasteless cap floating on top.” The same author provides instructions on how to make Masala Chai with or without frothed milk:

In its most basic form, chai is black tea that is brewed strong with a combination of spices and is diluted with milk and sugar.
The spices vary from recipe to recipe, but usually consist of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pepper and ginger. Chai tea is traditionally consumed hot and sweet. The sweetness is needed to bring out the full flavors of the spices.
How to Make Chai
Here is a simple recipe to make chai yourself at home. This is what you will need:
[...]
Chai Latte
I just love a good chai latte! A chai latte is just the spiced tea mixed with milk that’s steamed from an espresso machine. I love the soft foamy texture the steamed milk adds to the chai.
You can get these at coffee houses, or if you can make them yourself if you have an espresso machine. I have detailed instructions on steaming (or frothing) milk in the coffee section of this site.
You can follow the above directions just don’t add the milk. This makes a strong tea. Then add the steamed milk straight from the espresso machine.
Practice to make velvety steamed milk and use fresh ingredients. This will insure that you make the perfect chai tea latte.
Source: http://www.2basnob.com/chai-tea.html

You may also want to take a look at the page titled “Milk Frother Tips” on coffee-makers-cafe.com, which gives a comparison between different methods of frothing milk. But note that that page also states you will get the best results with an espresso machine's steam wand:

The only way to produce true microfoam is with a good quality steam wand that has enough pressure to swirl the milk and the ability to heat the milk to the correct temperature. You won't get microfoam with a frother. Microfoam is like a thick milk... like runny-yoghurt in consistency. If you swirl it around in the jug it has a shiny, acrylic-like appearance.


When should I add melted chocolate to reduced sugar meringue? I'd like to know when melted chocolate should be added to reduced sugar meringue, and what will the end result be. Will the meringue stiffen up like cooled chocolate, or will it be light and fluffy?

The only ingredients you add to a meringue before the stiff peak stage should be ingredients related to stabilizing the meringue itself - acid and maybe a little salt near the beginning, sugar during the transition from soft to stiff peaks, and starch or other stabilizer at the end of stiff peaks.  It's also OK to whip in small quantities of things like extracts or citrus zest near the end.

But if you're trying to actually incorporate something into the meringue, whether it's chocolate chips, melted chocolate, or anything else large, then you always, always want to fold it in after the meringue is stiff, just before you bake it.

Adding anything to the meringue too early or whipping it in too forcefully - especially fat (which chocolate contains a lot of) - stands a very good chance of permanently collapsing it.  You incorporate other ingredients at the point when it's most stable and incorporate them very very gently.

If you're only whipping up to the soft peak stage then I guess you'd add the chocolate then, but the result would be very unstable, and most meringue cookies are normally whippied to stiff peaks.

Note that if you're incorporating cocoa powder then you can and should whip it in, rather than folding it in, during the stiff peak stage. Many if not most "chocolate meringue" recipes involve a certain amount of both cocoa powder and chocolate.

As for how it will turn out - it won't be very stable or rise much, the chocolate weighs it down a lot, and expect it to crack significantly. It will still be more like a meringue cookie than a solid block of chocolate, unless you add far too much.

If you want some chocolate flavour but the stability of a pure meringue, just add cocoa powder by itself.


Heating bread in the microwave oven and wetting I have a problem when heating bread in the microwave oven. I place it on the glassy rotated bed of the oven, it get heated very well, but there is a lot of moisture are formed at the bottom of the bread (the contact between the glass and it).

How could I eliminate this wetting effect?

There are two main strategies I employ to combat sweating in the microwave.

Microwave the item in short intervals, rotating in between each round. This will help steam dissipate rather than collect on the glass. Using a lower power might also help the item heat more evenly and lose less water.

Place a paper towel or tea towel under the item. This will collect the moisture so it doesn't pool and make things soggy.


Where can I buy kosher salt in London? I make a point of taking a few minutes to look around for the stuff whenever I go to a new supermarket / farmers market / ete etc and I haven't been able to find a source here. At the same time, I'm not wanting to import anything from the States, because it defeats the purpose of having a cheap supply of a goood salt.

Surely there is a place one can obtain Kosher salt in London, no?

You could try Maldon Sea Salt, or similar supermarket sea salts. While not identical to kosher salt, they can be used in a similar way. Maldon is also is much cheaper in the UK than it is in the US (where it's an import).

It's not a product I can recall seeing in many UK stores.


Subsitutions for Monterey Jack cheese in the UK At one point in the US I had some Monterey Jack cheese which was tangy and yummy and delicious.

Here in the UK they also sell cheese labelled "Monterey Jack" but it is bland and tasteless and horrid. Are there any other similar cheeses that I could use (for eg melting onto nachos, grating into burritos etc.) that would have that same tang and flavour?

Or any UK-based suppliers of Monterey Jack that is not bland and tasteless? (I tried Sainsburys and Tescos and they are both the same).

Monterey Jack is in no way cheddar.  The advice to use Gouda was about as good as you can get. (make sure it is neither smoked nor aged).  Sainsbury has a four cheese pre-shred mix with MJ, Aged Cheddar, Edam and mozz that will approximate those four cheese mixes found in most US grocery stores and the finer 7-Elevens but MJ itself is near impossible find.


A simple way to make crushed ice? For many of my favourite cold drinks I need crushed ice. That is, thousands of small pieces of ice, not 3 big ice cubes. Is there an easy way to make crushed ice without expensive equipment?

Put ice cubes in a clean tea towel and bash them with a rolling pin works for me.


Make crispy rice noodles without frying Everywhere I've read about cooking puffed rice noodles says that the soaked noodles need to be fried. I need a less messy alternative to frying. Is there a way I could bake them to get the same or similar consistency?

no... deep frying is necessary because you need the water inside the noodles to flash to steam, which creates the puff. baking is a slow and indirect heat and therefore will not work.


What's the most appropriate way to thaw hamburger meat? So I've long been in the habit of freezing my meat when I get it home from the store, and then thawing it later. My fridge tends to be set rather cool (because someone in my house likes nearly frozen beverages) so if I leave the meat in the fridge, it may not defrost completely overnight. But I'm concerned about leaving it out in the sink for too long.

What's the best way to know how long to leave some ground hamburger meat from the store in the styrofoam tray that's been frozen once it got home?

Assume 1 or 2 lb chunks of meat, 85% through 97% ground beef.

I like to put the meat in a largish ziplock bag and flatten it out so it occupies the whole flat area of the bag but is only a couple of cm think.  Then I press a chopstick into the meat lengthways both horizontally and vertically to create indents in the meat, as if I was making a naughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) grid.

Then I freeze it lay flat in the freezer.  Then when I want to use it I can 'snap' off squares of meat (along the indentation lines) to the amount that I need and I don't need to defrost the whole pack in a single go.

To defrost (I don't have a microwave) I leave the pieces on a metal tray for a little while, turning occasionally.  This usually defrosts them in an hour or so, depending on how many there are


How much calcium propionate should I use as a bread preservative? Love to bake homemade whole wheat bread, but after a few days it becomes moldy. No refrigerator, nor freezer available. I understand that calcium propionate is a safe preservative, but don't have any idea what amount to use. If my bread has four cups of whole wheat flour, how much calcium propionate should I use?

Most sources recommend 0.1% or so, but not more than than 0.5%. Try to use only enough to achieve the preservative results you desire.

In other words, for 1000g of flour, start with 1g of calcium propionate. If that works good for you, then stop there. If you still think it's spoiling too soon, then next time try 2g of calcium propionate for 1000g of flour.

Adding more calcium propionate may or may mot make it last any longer, so don't use more than needed — and never more than 5g for 1000 of flour.


Preparing/Storing freshly made noodles/pasta We picked up a noodle maker recently - it mixes dough than extrudes noodles kinda like this

I figure I could prepare a large batch - and store it somehow.

What's a good way to store home made noodles? Precooking is fine (the 'proper' cooking time for this is about 6 minutes.) though I'd much rather not dust it with flour if there's any alternative to that.

Freezing would be awesome especially if we could avoid dusting it with flour.

A few days would be fine. A week's better.

I spread on a floured plate in one layer (usually multiple plates), place in freezer, then, when frozen, move to freezer bags. You may have to tap plate on counter (I use plastic plates) to loosen pasta that may have frozen to plate. It will last at least a month in the freezer in this state.  When ready to cook, simply put in boiling water directly from freezer.


Clarified butter for gumbo roux I don't have much regular butter on hand to make a roux. Is it a good idea to use clarified butter instead? What could go wrong?

Making your roux with clarified butter will certainly work, and work well. Clarifiying removes the milk solids, which add nutty flavor when browned. Without them, the roux would be far less likely to burn, particularly if you want a lighter roux. Whether you're going for white, blond, brown, or dark brown roux, using clarified butter should not present a problem.


How can I use a "cook for 3-4 hours" slow cooker recipe when I'm away for 8+ hours? I've run across several slow cooker recipes that call for a slow-cooker time of 3 - 4 hours on low heat.  I'd love to use these, but on work days I'm out of the house for at least 8 hours.  What can I do to adjust for the extra 4 hours when I'm just not around to manage the slow-cooker?

It depends on the type of recipe.  While paging through a slow cooker cookbook, I see relatively few recipes recommending only 3-4 hours on low heat.  Of those, I think most fall into some categories:

(1) Drinks (mulled cider, etc.) -- most of these will probably not be harmed by extending the cooking time, though in some cases you might want to tone down spices a bit.

(2) Dishes using mostly fruits or vegetables that will turn to "mush" over 8 hours -- you might try starting with bigger chunks or pieces and perhaps refrigerate them (or even freeze, if it would be appropriate) before beginning.  However, you might want to avoid starting with frozen or very cold ingredients when the dish involves stuff that tends to grow a lot of bacteria (e.g., raw meat).

(3) Dishes that begin with a lot of "pre-processed" ingredients (can of soup or dehydrated mix + precooked, presliced meat + canned vegetables) -- try beginning with less processed ingredients, like fresh raw vegetables, raw large hunks of meat, etc.  If safe, refrigerated or frozen ingredients could again help.

(4) Desserts -- these will often be the most tricky.  Some may be okay simmering for a long time, others probably not.  If it's safe with the ingredients, again you may try starting with cold or frozen ingredients to slow cooking for a few hours.

Whether you could convert a specific recipe really depends on the type of dish.  For things that you want to end up very tender or mushy or liquid anyway, you can probably cook it for 8 hours instead of 4 with few changes.

But in some cases the conversion may just be impossible, unless you can make use of a timer as mentioned in another response to start the slow cooker 3-4 hours before you'll come home.  Even then, be sure it's safe for the food to sit at room temperature for a long time.


When to add vegetables to stew? I am participating in a stew cook-off competition with twelve restaurants involved. Rather than adding the raw, cut and prepared, root-style vegetables (red potatoes, celery, and carrots) near the end of cooking to cook and finish, I am thinking of cooking them separately in salted water, draining and adding to the stew along with frozen peas as it is finished (meat tender).

I am thinking the vegetables will retain more of their inherent individual tastes and flavors, rather than absorbing the flavors of the stew and get lost into a homogenous mix.

Any advice is appreciated, thnk you.

I have played around with this quite a bit myself. For me, boiling and then adding does not work. As suggested in derobert's remark, many of the veg traditionally added to a stew are there not just as filling but to give off their flavor to the stewing liquid. Leaving them out during the stew is detrimental to your flavor.

I have gotten my best results by adding the stock vegetables (carrots, unions, celery, garlic) as early as I normally would and then adding some vegetables late in the process to provide a differing texture to the whole. After some experimentation I have found that quickly stirfrying some green veg gives a very nice effect, as it adds some color and a very different texture to your end result. My personal favorite for this is quartered sprouts, quickly fried at high heat and then dunked in icewater.

Purely from a texture point of view you vcan also get nice results with diced root vegetables such as cabbage turnip and turnip-rooted celery treated in a similar way.


Is a blowtorch suitable for browning/caramelising steamed food? I have started using a microwave steamer to quickly cook the bulk of meals, including mushrooms, gem squash, sausages, steak. These specific examples are extra tasty when browned or caramelised (that is, when fried or baked instead of steamed) but of course that doesn't happen in the microwave.

I considered purchasing a blowtorch, but everything I read about blowtorches including here on Seasoned Advice limits them to specialised tasks such as creme brulee.

Can a culinary blowtorch be used as a general-purpose browning and caramelising tool for steamed food?

Browning with a blowtorch is the standard method for finishing meat and fish cooked sous-vide.  I see no reason why it couldn't also be used for microwaved or steamed dishes, with the caveat that dishes that have too high of a water content will never brown properly (instead, the surface will pop and boil).  I'd advise experimenting a bit, to see which side of the "too much water" each dish is on, and whether simply blotting the surface dries them enough for browning.

UPDATED TO ADD: I'm also going to advise you to get a hardware store blowtorch, not a culinary blowtorch.  A standard plumber's blowtorch is cheaper, and has significantly more flame and a larger fuel tank.


Can i refrigerate bread doughs twice before baking? Can i refrigerate dough twice? Such that after kneading i will refrigerate the dough overnight. Then after forming i will cold proof it. Will there be any deterrents?

You can knead dough multiple times and let it rest in the refrigerator between. I do this to make a bread with a less tough crust and finer crumb.

Keep it covered and don't let it sit too long as described in How long can I keep bread dough in the refrigerator?


I'm tweaking a Lasagna Bolognese I'm using fresh pasta sheets (boiled al dente), a very slow simmered Bolognese, a whole milk ricotta mixture with a fair amount of spinach, basil, egg and Parmesan and a Bechamel sauce. The thing is, I want six layers of pasta but I don't want a huge pan of lasagna. I'm making this for a (obviously very hot) date. I don't need leftovers into the next millennium. I think I'm going to use my 9" pullman loaf pan (4x4x9 with a lid). I plan to butter the pan then line it with three parchment "slings", maybe one half of an inch between the strips of parchment for slicing. Get it? To make it easier to remove clean slices? After lining the pan with my "slings" I'll butter again then line the pan with Bechamel, then stack the layers. I'm thinking that I will use the pullman pan lid instead of aluminum foil for the initial bake. I will assemble the lasagne the night before and keep it refrigerated it until the next day.

So here's the question. I've looked at a gazillion recipes for clues about baking temperature, when to remove the lid and what temp to finish. Also whether to bring it to room temp before baking. Of all the recipes I've looked at, not a one deals with such a tall but narrow lasagne. Clues are all over the map and I'm losing confidence. Can anybody advise?

The thing about lasagna is that it really only needs to be heated through.  All of the components (pasta, the sauce or sauces, the cheeses) are already cooked, or don't need to be cooked.

So baking the whole lasagna heats it through and helps the flavors to meld.

A 4" thickness not tremendously thicker than some more traditionally proportioned lasagnas, so you should expect it to bake through in about the same time any casserole of that thickness would require.  I would start at about 325-350 degrees, for about 1 hour to maybe 1:15.   You may need to leave it covered for most of the baking period so that the top doesn't overly brown or dry out.

In the end, you can test the casserole with an instant read.  It should probably get up to about 150 or 160 F internally to be enjoyable

Lasagna should be very forgiving.


Cooking Turkey Legs and boneless Turkey breast in an electric roaster Just two people for Thanksgiving.  One wants to eat healthy (I bought a boneless Turkey Breast at Whole Foods) and the other wants Turkey legs (also from Whole Foods).  My oven is broken so I just purchased an electric roaster but have never used one and am new to cooking in general.  I'd appreciate any guidance in terms of how to use the electric roaster to cook both these items.  There is plenty of information out there on how to good an entire Turkey in an electric roaster, but not just parts.  Thank you.

Use a probe thermometer.  Cook the turkey breast to 160F.  Roast the leg/thigh until the temp reaches 180F.  Make sure the thermometer is not touching bone. The legs are more forgiving and won't dry out as readily. So, you might want to start the legs 40 minutes or so before the breast so that they are done around the same time.


What is the difference between Dutch Pie and German Pie? I've seen several recipes of the two pies and even then I don't know if there is an original.

Usually in Dutch Pie in Brazil, picture here, I see it based on a dough made with melted butter and crushed crackers. As filling a crème pâtissière and a dark chocolate ganache.

In German Pie in Brazil, picture here, I never found something "canonical", but usually see it surrounded with chocolate-covered cookies. In fact, I don't know which is used in this pie filling and which procedure should be taken to do it.

The one called, "Dutch pie" is typically a very smooth pie on a cookie base. The one called, "German pie" generally has a layer of crushed nuts on top of the smooth chocolate icing.


Does mayo "break"/decompose if you stop whisking then whisk the other way? Is is true or an urban legend that if you whisk the opposite way while making mayonnaise (after you've whisked in one direction for a while), the mixture will be "undone" into its components?

Welcome to the world of urban legends and old wives' tales.

Handmade mayonnaise can be a fickle thing to create if you don't work within the laws of physics and chemistry and don't achieve the desired emulsion. So like with other tricky processes, many "rules" have developed, that are more myth than method. (I was even told once to "always stir counter-clockwise"...)

If you think closely, it becomes obvious that an emulsion - for mayonnaise, tiny particles of oil suspended in water - is something completely different from tiny strands of something. One can not "unwind" or separate by stirring in the opposite direction.

My personal theory for the origin of the "don't change direction" rule is that if you constantly stir in one direction, you reach some kind of "flow state" and work in a steady rythm - the latter being far more important for a good whipping or stirring result than any direction. And that the rule predates the use of electric kitchen equipment, going back to the times where all whipping was done by hand.


Can I use Granulated sugar instead of White sugar? I'm making a dark chocolate cake, it calls for white sugar but I have an unopened bag of granulated suagr at home. Can I use that instead to save some money or will I have to buy white sugar?

If the sugar you have is actually coarser than "normal" white sugar (say, crystals are more than a mm in size):

If the recipe calls for dissolving the sugar (eg by vigorously stirring it into the wet ingredients), there is no difference at all - just make sure you dissolve it fully, coarser sugar takes more time/work to dissolve.

If the recipe calls for mixing the sugar with the fat or with dry ingredients first, sugar grain size makes a difference in texture - which will likely not ruin the cake though. If you want to be sure, you can make the sugar finer using any of a (dry!!!) blender, coffee grinder, food processor, mortar and pestle...


Chicken breast sous vide: Time in fridge matters? I have kept a chicken breast, packed in plastic (possibly in a near-vacuum environment) in my fridge for more than a week. The best-before-date is tomorrow. I am considering cooking this breast sous vide at 65 C for 1,5hours. It is about 2.5cm thick. Would this be considered safe?

According to the Douglas Baldwin pasteurisation tables for poultry a chicken breast of that thickness would be pasteurised after 55 minutes so you are well within that range.

Thickness   57°C    58°C    59°C    60°C    61°C    62°C    63°C    64°C    65°C
   20 mm    2¾ hr   2 hr    1¾ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr   55 min  50 min  45 min  40 min
   25 mm    3 hr    2¼ hr   2 hr    1½ hr   1½ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr   60 min  55 min
   30 mm    3¼ hr   2¾ hr   2¼ hr   2 hr    1¾ hr   1½ hr   1½ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr


Lime substitute for nixtamalizing corn I want to have a go at nixtamalizing some corn. Upon doing some research I figured I could find the lime (calcium hydroxide) that's traditionally used for the process at the local international food market. Turns out all they sold was something called 'carbonato', which I'm pretty sure is just calcium carbonate. The lady at the store did tell me that people often buy it for boiling/processing corn, but I know enough food chemistry to know they wont' do the same thing. A similar search of the three big grocery stores in town for the lime turned up nothing.

So I thought I might be able to devise a substitution based on things I have on hand. I read you can make something similar to nixtamal with food-grade sodium hydroxide, (which I happen to have in abundance) but according to that recipe, when made with sodium hydroxide in place of calcium hydroxide, the flavor "has the bite of soda, and it lacks the rich corn chip fragrance of corn steeped in slacked [sic] lime".

My question is: before I go ahead and order some lime online, is there a possibility that a mixture of sodium hydroxide and some form of soluble calcium could give me the same or similar results (alkalinity and the right flavor) as lime? I have calcium sulfate and calcium chloride on hand, which will readily supply calcium in solution, and could easily pick up calcium carbonate.

My (very basic) chemical understanding is that, in solution, sodium hydroxide + calcium chloride would be roughly analogous to calcium hydroxide + sodium chloride, since they provide the same ions and are all soluble.

Could anyone weight in on this? Could this possibly be better aimed at the Chemistry SE?

At least in theory what you're proposing should work, however I wouldn't mix sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, water and corn all in one pot as you seem to be suggesting. I'm not chemistry expert, but as I understand it sodium hydroxide and calcium chloride react easily when dissolved in water to form calcium hydroxide and sodium chloride. Having corn in the mix won't help the process so you'd be better off doing it as a separate step. Since calcium hydroxide doesn't dissolve in water very well, most of it will precipitate out making it fairly easy to separate out. Doing it this way you can make sure the sodium hydroxide doesn't end up reacting with the corn instead of the calcium chloride.

However making calcium chloride a home is something I've never tried myself, and I doubt anyone else here has either. There could easily be important considerations that I'm not aware of.
So it probably would be a good idea to ask on Chemistry Stack Exchange about how to best go about producing calcium hydroxide from sodium hydroxide and calcium chloride. That is, assuming such a question is on-topic there, though from a quick check it looks like it should be.

There is however one important consideration that I can mention, one that I'm sure you already aware of, and that's the fact sodium hydroxide (aka caustic soda) is a pretty dangerous chemical. For that reason alone, I think Rick's answer is the correct one. Just buy food grade calcium hydroxide. When sold as pickling lime it's not at all hard to find online. During the fall you might be able it in local stores sold along with other seasonal canning-related goods. Another possible local source might be an aquarium store or club, as food grade calcium hydroxide is apparently used by aquarium owners as a cheaper substitute for aquarium specific products.