What factors affect collagen to gelatin conversion? I have a bunch of oxtails I've been braising for hours in an adobo sauce and they remain awfully tough. What I'd love to see happen is for that abundant connective tissue to melt away and coat each fiber of meat with its succulent juices, but that collagen just does not want to budge.

This makes me wonder what is causing the conversion to fail (or just take so long). I'm sure the fact that we're dealing with oxtail is a factor--and older piece of meat simply is more tightly bound. But I suspect there may be more going on here as well. For example, the braising liquid is relatively acidic--would the pH of the medium affect the conversion rate? Or water hardness, perhaps? I've checked the collagen references in "On Food and Cooking" but didn't find anything that seemed relevant.

So, generally speaking what factors will affect the rate and effectiveness of collagen to gelatin conversion?

I was unable to find information that might tell what happened to your dish, but found some extremely interesting and detailed sources of information on collagen and gelatin which I think are worth sharing.

I did find that the pH is unlikely to be the major contributing factor, as there are both acid and alkaline processes for gelatin formation--see the Science of Cooking, Gelatin.co.za, and Hydrolization references below.

Since you have read On Food and Cooking, you almost certainly already know the basics of what affects the conversion rate.  To paraphrase one of the articles, it is a high energy stochastic process so:

Gelatin conversion is time and temperature dependent, with higher temperaturs permitting faster conversion
Requires the presence of water, as it is a hydrolization of the denaturing collagen proteins

Of course, it sounds like by braising for hours, you have met these basic criteria.

Here are some sources I found:

why use a pressure cooker for collagen to gelatin conversion? Related question here, on why pressure cookers are effective at gelatin conversion
Gizmodo article on duck confit, with really nice scientific introduction for someone not already familiar with the topic.  No references.
Science of Cooking suggests that acid actually aids in the process by breaking covalent links.  Has references to more sources.  Nicely balanced on the science without being impenetrable to the layperson.
http://www.gelatin.co.za/gltn1.html indicates there are forms of gelatin from both acid and alkaline environments, so the pH of the cooking medium was probably not the major contributing factor.  Extremely detailed including information on chemistry.  Has extensive references to primary sources, but no description of the site itself.
Gelatin Manufacturer's Industry Association article on manufacture, process, uses, chemistry and more.  Extensive references.
Hydrodynamic properties of gelatin: studies from intrinsic viscosity measurements  Introduction has some good summary information on gelatin, and then full on science of the viscosity measurements.  Lots of references.

At this point--I stopped, as I have learned more about gelatin than I need to know as a cook!


Will a metal dough scraper damage a granite countertop? I have a brand new granite countertop, and a lovely metal dough scraper that a friend gave me. Am I likely to damage the counter if I use the scraper regularly directly on the granite surface?

I have kneaded dough twice on it, and very tentatively used the metal scraper with no ill-effect. I don't want to try again and scrape more strongly only to find out that actually the two are not a good combination.

Don't worry, it won't scratch. You can look at where both objects are on Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

From the Strength and Hardness Ratings of Granite and Marble:

  Granite has a Mohs hardness rating of seven.

From Mohs Hardness Test:

  The steel blade of the average knife usually has a hardness of about 5.5.

(I assume the scraper and a knife have equal hardness).


bread sticky after baking I hope someone has an answer.

Although I have been baking 2 or 3 loaves a week for 4 years using a breadmaker, and I haven't recently changed my flour mix or any ingredient proportions, my last 3 loaves have risen fully as normal, but, when cutting a slice, the bread is sticky and heavy and goes to paste when chewing it.

The bread has also become friable, the gluten structure seems to have gone, i can pull the slice apart easily, it has no structure holding it together. The air bubble distibution in the loaf is good and even as normal, no large air pockets.

I tried reducing the usual amount of water, no difference. The yeast is new, the flours are new. If it makes an difference, this has happened after the recent hot weather although my ingredients are stored away from warm or humid air.

Any ideas, I am wary of baking another now, and we need some bread cooked !!

Regards Jonathan

It sounds like the breadmaker is not cooking properly.  If the bread dough feels correct but is the baked loaf is fragile and sticky inside, it is under-cooked.  This could be a result of problems with a thermostat, heating element, or possibly the timer.

To solve this problem, try taking the bread maker out of equation by baking in an oven.  Use an inverted, oiled sheet pan, and hand-shape the dough (The Fresh Loaf has instructions), or use an appropriately-sized loaf pan.  Check the bread 5 minutes before it should be cooked (to make sure it doesn't over-bake due to using oven instead of bread-maker), and keep checking it every 5 or so minutes until done.

If this solves the problem, use the breadmaker for mixing and not baking... or replace/repair it.


How to make a mustard sauce for salmon steak? I'd like to make a sauce for salmon steak, using a whole grain mustard. I would make a roux-based white sauce but I'd like something healthier because the roux has a lot of butter in it. Any ideas of what else I could use to make the sauce?

Gravlaxsås is a mustard sauce for salmon, made with dill.

The one I bought reports the following ingredients:

mustard
vegetable oil
sugar
water
wine vinegar
dill
modified cornstarch

On this site, the ingredients reported for gravlaxsås are the following:

6.5 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. prepared mustard
1 egg yolk
0.25 tsp. salt
0.25 tsp. dill

Preparing the sauce seems quite easy:

Mix all ingredients in a jar and fasten lid.
Shake vigorously until the ingredients are well mixed.

Gravlaxsås is the sauce used for gravlax, a dish prepared with raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill.


Can I eat chicken that was cooked, frozen, and thawed in the microwave yesterday? I roasted a chicken then took the meat off the bone and froze it in little freezer bags. Yesterday evening I thawed some of the chicken in the microwave, expecting to eat it straight away, but didn't eat all of it. I put the leftover chicken in the fridge yesterday evening, after it cooled. Do you think it is ok to eat today? And if so, would I need to heat it up before eating it, or could I eat it straight from the fridge? Thank you!

I certainly wouldn't risk it. The conventional wisdom with things like frozen cooked foods is to eat them within 24 hours of defrosting. If you defrosted it in the fridge you might have a little leeway (but it would still be a risk) but as you defrosted and reheated it in the microwave the likelihood is that eating will make you ill.

Definitely don't reheat it again, you should only ever reheat things once (though I'm less certain of this as many recipes call for cooking and reheating things a number I'd times) as the various heating and coolings increases the risk of dangerous bacteria growth.


Will vacuum sealing an open bottle of wine make it like it was never opened? I have a professional vacuum sealer, which removes the air, and seals the bottle, or container.

Will this work with wine, or does the wine degrade once it has been exposed to air, no matter how well the vacuum sealer works?

The only way to get "like it was never opened" is not to open it.  But storing an opened wine bottle isn't a new question.  There are a whole range of products, which will keep the wine varying lengths of time.  From simple hand-vacuum pumps which can hold a day or two, to as-decanted nitrogen or argon replacement systems, which can add a week or two.

See http://www.wineenthusiast.com/serve-preserve/wine-preservation.asp?AfID=CJ for some product examples.  The longest holding I've personally played with is something like http://www.wineenthusiast.com/nitrotap-single-bottle-wine-service-preservation-system.asp, which prevents oxygen ever getting into the bottle.  However, even the bit of air between pulling the cork and inserting the spigot causes the wine to degrade within a week or two.

If you're looking to set up a bar, the nitrogen replacement systems can be found in multi-spigot configurations.  So you can have 4 or 8 bottles "open" at a time.


How can I bake normally fried foods? A lot of frozen, convenience foods are foods that are traditionally fried can be prepared by baking.
I'm thinking of, fish sticks, french fries, tator tots, jalapeño poppers, etc.

I'm lousy at deep frying. I don't want to buy a fryer because I don't do it enough to make an expensive bulky appliance worthwhile. When frying in a pan I don't like monitoring the temperature of my oil. My food, therefore, comes out much more oily than it should. I also don't like cleaning and storing a gallon of frying oil.

I know that these foods are different when baked rather than fried. However, my homemade french fries are much worse baked than commercial versions.

How can I make jalapeño poppers at home that can be baked like commercial frozen products?

I would recommend borrowing from the principles found in this post, which details how to "fry" chicken in a kettle grill: Kettle Fried Chicken.

Two key takeaways here: 1) high heat, and 2) all (or nearly all) your food's surface area is exposed to heated air.  You'll just replace "kettle" with "oven," and put something under the rack on which you're cooking your food to catch the stuff that drips away from it, and you should be good to go.  It may require some experimentation to find the right mix of time and temperature for the food item you wish to cook, but it shouldn't take more than a few attempts to get it right, if not the first one.


What Garlic to use for Garlic Bagels I have had great success making seeded bagels; I boil the bagels in water with baking soda and a little sugar, and any kind of seed sticks to the outside and bakes to perfection. My problem is trying to replicate garlic bagels.  Fresh garlic doesn't stick, and doesn't get dried out like I want.  Dehydrated "garlic granules" burn by the time the bagels are done.  So:

What type of garlic works best for bagels?

I am really looking for someone with actual experience making garlic bagels.

Edited to respond to a comment: I can see the following problems with adding the garlic partway through baking.

(The main reason) The garlic will not stick to the outside of the bagel, since the bagel will be dry.  One would have to re-wet the bagel somehow, or maybe wet the garlic?
Interrupting the baking process of bread is not good in my experience.  Since I cook bagels in six-bagel batches, the bagels would be out for a reasonable amount of time to add the garlic.  And re-moistening the surface would further cool them.
It seems absolutely absurd to have to manipulate piping-hot bagels mid-bake just to add the topping. I am positive that this is not how the bagels I have in mind are made.

However, if anyone has done it this way, let me know what your results were.

I've never seen the kind of garlic bagels spiceyokooko is talking about, but I am familiar with garlic bagels of the variety you're referring to. I don't usually make garlic bagels at home because I'm happier with simpler ones, but I have made some ages ago.

I've usually found most things stick just fine to recently boiled bagels, but for fresh garlic, you may find it more reliable to brush an egg wash (roughly equal amounts beaten egg/water) on the top of the bagels before sprinkling on the chopped garlic. That'll work almost like cement to keep most of the garlic in place after baking.

There's some possibility that the level of moisture in fresh garlic may make it harder to just press the egg-washed bagels into a bowl of chopped garlic, as you would likely do with seeds.

Also, I wouldn't expect that all of the garlic will stay stuck. But with the egg wash, most of it will.

As for the texture of the garlic, there's a pretty wide range of common results at the variety of bagel shops I've tried in my life; some are golden brown and some are near burnt. That's a matter of cooking time, mostly, but also the starting moisture content of the garlic.

I would expect that most bagel shops use bulk, pre-minced garlic so that they can save on a little labor. This is typically a bit drier than if you fresh chopped the garlic at home. Consider buying the prefab stuff and see if that gets you closer to what you want. If it does, and you prefer to do the heavy lifting on your own, mince the garlic and let it sit on the counter to dry a bit.

Another strategy altogether is to mince garlic and mix it with some oil, and smear it atop the boiled bagels with your hands. I think this should stick reasonably well, and will affect the texture of your result.

Since I'm not 100% sure what your platonic ideal is for the garlic texture, I can't say whether the oil-mixture or egg wash route is going to be a better choice, or some hybrid, but those are some options to explore that I think will get you closer to your target.


What does "wedge" mean, as in "wedge" a head of Cabbage? In a recipe on Corned Beef and Cabbage, the instructions read "wedge" the head of cabbage before putting it in the slow cooker.

Another way to say this is to quarter the cabbage. The goal is to make "wedges" (triangles, when viewed from above) that are smaller than an entire head of cabbage (easier to cook and fit in your slow cooker) but still relatively intact.

To wedge a cabbage, slice it in half, and then slice the halves into either 2 or 4 pieces (depending on how large a wedge you want).

Image from Green Lite Bites


Any cheap ways to clean restaurant stainless steel fridge? so I know they have antibacterial solution to clean, but what can I say its expensive. Currently we use water+soap solution but its not working well. I am looking to clean the inside of fridge/freezer.

Update from comments: I'm looking to mainly clean, mold around the rubbers of the fridge.

If this is a commercial institution, you are going to have to comply with your local codes.  Many will require using a certified sanitizing solution, a diluted bleach solution, or similar after cleaning.

In particular in the US, I was unable to find any direct requirements in the USDA Model Food Code, and I don't recall any from 25 years ago when I received health inspector training in one jurisdiction.  That doesn't mean there are not such requirements in any given location, even if in the US.

Assuming your location permits, normally you would clean the refrigerator with a mild solution of dish soap, as you have been doing.  With thick gloves, very hot water will help make the cleaning more effective.  Floors, walls, and so on in a walk in would be cleaned with a solution of your general purpose detergent (back when I was in commercial service, we actually used unscented Tide, which is a very effective cleaner).

If it is possible to empty the refrigerator and turn it off for cleaning (which is not always practical in commercial environments), this doing a thorough job, and makes it easier to clean with hot water.

Update regarding moldy gaskets:

Per JES Restaurant Equipment (emphasis added):

  Upon visual inspection you may find that mold or mildew is building up
  on the gasket which is pretty gross and bad for the gasket.  The mold
  and mildew may seam harmless but over time it will deteriorate the
  gasket, basically the mold and mildew will eat away at the seal.
  You can combat this with a simple bleach and water solution, dilute a little Clorox in some water and use a soft cloth or sponge to apply
  the solution to the moldy gasket.  You will notice it start to fade
  away, once you have cleaned the gasket thoroughly discard the “bleach
  water”, get some clean water and a fresh clothe and wipe the gasket
  down again to remove any remaining mildew and bleach solution.

In addition to being unsightly, mold on your refrigerator is almost certainly a code violation that could have drastic consequences.

Your gaskets are also probably fully replaceable, but since you are concerned with cost, this may not be your preferred option.  Still, if you can, temporarily removing the gasket may facilitate cleaning it thoroughly.


How to make Movie Theatre like Popcorn? Any specific brands? so far, I could not find any popcorn that tastes like popcorn at movies.

I think this is primarily going to come down to the method of cooking and the flavorings. I think it's unlikely that you can buy a microwave popcorn that will taste like the movie theatre.

You'll need a specific popcorn pan so that you can stir the popcorn continuously and that will also vent some of the steam from cooking (which a normal pot won't do. Whirley Pop seems to be a common solution here.

Next you'll need to find the right type of oil. Experiment with a couple of things to see what you like. Coconut oil seems to be commonly recommended (and not easy to find).

Finally you'll need flavoring. Try Flavacol. My work has popcorn on thursdays, and they use this flavoring. It's pretty dead on.

I don't think the actual pop corn kernels will make a ton of difference. It's more the cooking technique and other ingredients.

Here's my primary source, but further research and experience backs that up as pretty dead on.


What's happening to the coating on the OUTSIDE of my roommate's non-stick cookware as we wash it? My roommate has a set of non-stick pots and pans.  They advertise themselves as dishwasher-safe, so we typically machine-wash them.

The exterior of the pans is not bare metal; it's covered in some kind of dark gray matte coating, as in the following picture:

However, we've noticed that the pans we use more often (and therefore wash more often) are starting to lose this coating:

The pans also give off a noticeable amount of dark gray dust if you scrub them too vigorously; I assume this is the coating coming off.

Questions:

What is the exterior coating?  Why is it there in the first place?
Why is it coming off?  Are the pans not as dishwasher-safe as they claim?
Is there any reason to be concerned about this?  Does it have any implications for food safety, or for using the pans?

A couple notes:

The non-stick coating on the interior of the pans (which is Teflon or similar) isn't coming off - it's just fine, and the pans are still functionally non-stick.
Pretty sure that brown splotch on the exterior of the second image is just grease spillage.  The pans are aluminum, so shouldn't be rusting.

Are you SURE they were advertised as dishwasher safe? If so, contact the manufacturer because they were lying. It is, in fact, the bare metal you're looking at— those pans are made from aluminum which was anodized: an electrochemical process which changes the appearance of the metal. All aluminum pans including anodized ones that are not painted or otherwise coated will be damaged in the dishwasher because aluminum is sensitive to strongly alkaline chemicals, and dishwashing detergents are strongly alkaline. As long as the interiors have some sort of coating, such as Teflon or ceramic, the exteriors of the pans should work fine, but they'll never look quite as nice as they did. If the interiors of the pans aren't coated, you might want to consider seasoning them like you would a cast iron pan to avoid eating a bunch of aluminum that was softened in the dishwasher.


Can you have straight up garlic oil? Can you have straight up garlic oil or is it always garlic boiled in another oil so garlic oil always has another oil
As it’s ingredient?
Is there a reason why it always seems to be olive oil rather than others?

Garlic oil; that is, oil directly from garlic is certainly a thing.  It is usually achieved using steam distillation.  I have read that the undiluted oil has about 900 times the strength of fresh garlic.  That's generally much more potent than any home cook or chef wants to deal with. For the vast majority of culinary applications, garlic is used to flavor oil.  Any oil will work, and the way the garlic is chopped (or not), as well as how it is heated (and how long) in the oil, will have significant impacts on the final result.


How to Bake Banana into Banoffee Pie A friend recently went to Ireland and had a banoffee pie with the bananas somehow made into the caramel.  How would one go about replicating this?  The only recipes I can find have the banana slices on top.

My recipe, from the originators' Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding cookbook, The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk, has the bananas sliced, arranged over crust, and the caramel poured over the bananas. The only part that is cooked is the sweetened condensed milk and butter, boiled down to make the caramel.

Since we don't do recipes on SE, I've given you the Wikibooks link which has the full ingredients and directions.


Matcha cheesecake can't keep the bright green color I made a no-bake matcha cheesecake with cream cheese, yogurt, whipping cream, matcha powder and gelatin. The type of matcha powder I used was not very green but it was ok. However, the next day, the green color turned grey, not completely grey but not attractive anymore. How can I prevent this?

Lemon juice / exclude air.

If gray outside only but inside is good I conclude the matcha oxidized from the air.  I am not sure why, but if it stayed green inside it must not have been any ingredient - they are all inside too.

Ideas to prevent oxidation are either preventing air from coming into contact with the cake, or adding antioxidant.

Some apples (not all types; not sure why) turn brown in the air.  Lemon juice prevents this.  I think it is the vitamin C in it acting as an antioxidant.  You could squeeze lemon juice over the top.  Lemon juice brings that flavor to a thing.  It seems to me like it might be OK on this.

You could cover it tightly with plastic wrap such that air is excluded.

Best of all, if you have any cake left,  would be if you would do an experiment with both methods and post images.  Take out a slice of cake, cut it in half, treat 1 side with lemon juice, then new pic next day.  Also take a slice of cake, cut it in half, cover 1 half tightly with plastic wrap and other half leave out.  New pic next day.


Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate - Differences? We use ascorbic acid to help keep our breads from molding over but we have now the option to use calcium propionate. I can't find much online to help distinguish the pros and cons of each of these compared to one another.

Does anyone have any insight on which would be better used for bread making?

As you're asking for "better", well:

better would be to use no preservatives and combat mould contamination in your bakery by using other means like an improved sanitary process.

However, as you're also asking for pros and cons in a bakery environment as well, chemically speaking L-Ascorbic Acid is... well... an acid, so the advantage of Calcium Porpanoate is that it allows bread to be stored for the same time as with using L-Ascorbic Acid but without the faintly acidic taste that goes with an acid and that it combats mould better than L-Ascorbic Acid.


Is it safe to reuse water used to steam corn? Now that the corn season is underway, someone in the house is steaming corn almost on a daily basis.  Is it safe to leave the pot on the stove(covered) with the water in it and reuse it  2 or 3 times before discarding and starting fresh?  Sugar has been added to the water.

No, it is not safe; what you would have left in the pot would have the same <2-4 hours worth of safety at room temperature as anything else. What you would have in the pot after steaming corn is sweetened corn broth; it will mold and it will grow bacteria. You would probably be fine 9999 times out of 10,000, but considering the expense of starting fresh every time, there is no good way to justify the risk of saving the water.


How can I use pollen? My dad and I bought some pollen at a fair about five years ago, and other than taking a little handful out and munching it every so often, we've never really used it.

How can I use pollen?

There are not that many uses for pollen tbh. one of the ways i used it is make smoothies with it or mix it into some ice cream, even perhaps a garnish or a topping for delicacies.
Bee pollen pairs particularly well with honey mustard dressings, poppy seed dressings or slightly sweet vinaigrette so mix it into your salads.


What makes ice shatter in icecube tray? I have two identical ice cube trays. When I twist the trays to remove ice, sometimes the whole cubes pop out perfectly, but sometimes they shatter and I get lots of shards with bits of ice stuck to the bottoms of the molds.

What can I do to consistently get the whole cubes out?

what i used to do for popping whole cubes is-take out the ice tray from freezer. Put it under running tap of normal temp water(for 2-4 secs) from both sides of ice tray,from top and bottom back of ice tray. then twist the trays to remove ice. It pops out shattered ice less frequently.


Can you pasteurize flour at home? As a follow-up to this question about the safety of raw flour, and to possibly update this question about eating raw cookie dough:

Is it possible/how can I pasteurize raw flour, at home, to kill any E. coli that may be present?
If possible, what other effects (e.g., flavor, color, texture) if any, will this have on the flour?

In principle, I don't see why you couldn't take the flour to safe temperatures just like any other food. You'd have to reach temperatures which break down proteins, something like 165 F or 75 C should be sufficient (it's good enough for meat).

This will break down the proteins in the flour too, so I would expect it to behave like standard browned flour (although browned flour is taken to higher temperatures than that). It won't be suitable for making doughs and batters, or at least will perform much worse. You can use it for not-completely-white roux, or for fermenting bosa, or any other standard use of preheated flour.


Fried capers and caper alternatives I've really been getting into capers lately - mostly just the ones you buy from the store in the little jars that cured in either brine or lye. I didn't even know what the heck they were for a while until someone told me and I looked it up on the internet - basically flower buds that come from a specific bush.

My question is when frying capers (make them nice and crunchy for some yummy meat dishes) would I fry the picked capers or is there another type and where would I buy that?

Second, are there alternative flower buds that I can pick from my garden and use in place of capers?

All capers can be fried crunchy. If you're using capers that have been packed in brine, you should rinse off the brine and thoroughly dry the capers before frying. If you're using the salt packed capers, you can soak and rinse them, just rinse them, or just brush off the excess salt. They are very salty in the package.

The only common substitution for capers that I am aware of is the seed pod of the edible flowering plant, tropaeolum. In a pinch, I have also substituted diced green olives.

EDIT: Tropaeolum is also known as nasturtium, see Wiki link above.

Just for further information for those who might be interested:

Capers are the immature bud of the plant Capparis Spinosa. If the bud is allowed to mature and bear fruit, that fruit is called the caperberry. The berries are much larger than buds, the flavor of the berries varies widely and they're sometimes substituted for olives.

Capers come packed in a brine or packed in salt. They vary widely in size, with the smallest the most commonly seen in American grocery stores. Per Wiki the sizes are known as "non-pareil (up to 7 mm), surfines (7–8 mm), capucines (8–9 mm), capotes (9–11 mm), fines (11–13 mm), and grusas (14+ mm)".

Just for fun, you might enjoy these articles from Huffington Post Caper Recipes and So What the Hell are Capers?


Best way to store tomato paste/puree? What is the best way to store tomato paste or tomato purée? Just to be clear, I'm talking about this stuff

At home we buy metal cans of the stuff (500g or 1Kg), but once opened, within about 5 to 6 days, mould starts to grow, and within 2 weeks, you have a thick layer of green/blue mould on top.

If you scope that top layer off, the you're back to the good stuff underneath.

What is the best way to store this so that I can avoid this mould growth?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

We buy large cans at home just like you do. We prevent it from spoiling by freezing it. Stored in the freezer the paste stays good for months, it's just a matter of correct storage.

What we do is the following: spoon a portion into a plastic bag -> twist the bag around several times -> tie off with a tierib (we use the thingies you get in the package with the bags themselves) and then repeat until done.

Every time you want to use the paste, just cut off a portion from the sausage-like string you will have.

Other options include using icecube trays, but we don't prefer that due to the small size of the cubes and the fact that the trays don't have a lid.


Arugula is very salty, and doesn't look like arugula I recently bought some arugula, partially to make salads with. I tasted some leaves though, and it's incredibly salty. It also doesn't look like any arugula I've ever had before:

I'm used to more "serrated spear"-shaped leaves. This looks more like spinach than anything. If I tear it up though, it releases the distinct, sharply-bitter smell that I associate with arugula.
I thought that the salt may be a result of a pesticide or something that was added to the leaves, but the packaging claims it's pesticide free, and also that it was grown via aquaponics. The salt taste also survives several rounds of washing.
Is there something wrong with the arugula, or is this a particular variety? If I search for "salty arugula", the results are almost exclusively recipes that involve adding salt, which isn't very helpful.

Round-leaf arugula is apparently an actual variety that exists.  However, it is not noted for having a particularly salty flavor.
Given the strong salty flavor, and the appearance, it's more likely that you got orach instead.  A nutritious and tasty green, Orach is known for its high salt content, making it excellent in salads (just don't add more salt to it).


Workflow Planning Template I am currently studying commercial cookery and need to prepare a workflow plan for a practical assessment, I am wondering if anyone has a good workflow template that I could use?

Ever heard of Gantt charts? They can be extremely useful for visualizing how you're going to work.

In general terms, your instructors will be looking not so much at the form of your plan, but at its content. They want to see that you have thought logically and carefully about each task you have to complete, and have budgeted time carefully.

For example, if you have to cook some pasta, they will want to see that you're putting the water on to boil before working on the sauce; you should always start the 'set it and forget it' tasks early on, so you have time to work on everything else, and (hopefully) everything comes together at more or less the same time.


How to correctly make chocolate bars? I was hoping someone would be able to help please?

My brother has started making chocolate bars, we are using cargill 30% cocoa chocolate- we fill the prefamac chocolate machine with approx 7kg and leave the chocolate to melt for about 6 hours at 41-45 degrees. Once melted, we bring the temperature at 30-31 degrees and seed this chocolate and maintain the temperature- we allow the wheel to consistently mix the chocolate. As we fill our chocolate bar moulds we keep topping off the chocolate in the machine with more chocolate which we melt in the microwave at 30-31 degrees.

The issue we are having is that that the chocolate- once we eat it, it won't melt in our mouths like other chocolates melt when you let them sit in your mouth.

Are we doing something wrong? How can we make the chocolate so it is the type which can melt when sitting in ones mouth?

The secret ingredient of all Chocolatiers: cocoa butter...

I use a different brand of chocolate (Callebaut) so I don't need to add any cocoa butter, but as I've never used your brand before, directing you to their product line.

Be careful, because too much cocoa butter will make the chocolate melt in your hands and in your mouth! ;-)

I would start off with 10% of total weight of additional cocoa butter and increase if needed (start with small batches as 7Kg is a lot of chocolate!)


Peel first, wash first, or don't peel at all vegetables? Which vegetables should be washed before peeling them? Which should be washed after peeling? Which can (and should) be eaten without peeling them? What is the logic behind this?

Wash/rinse before peeling or eating the produce, especially if wanting to eat the skin (for example apples...)
It'll help reduce the risk of contaminating the flesh of the produce with residual pesticides (and other contaminants like dirt).
Some vegetables like potatoes can be rinsed after peeling to remove some of the starch, you can also rinse onions to remove some of the "raw-ness" when wanting to eat the onion raw
It depends on the final application/recipe.


Can I season a cast iron pan on a charcoal grill? Every time I attempt to season my cast iron pan in my oven, it sets off the fire alarm in my house! My battalion of fans just isn't working.

Can I season my pan on a charcoal grill? Is it better to put it in right-side up or upside-down?

Maybe you are using heat that is too high.  It really doesn't take that much.  A 375 - 400 F oven will do the trick.  Light coat of oil, heat for an hour.  Allow to cool in oven.  Wipe out.  Upside down allows excess oil to drip out (use a drip pan)...but you don't need that much to begin with.  There is no reason you could not do this on your grill.  For the first few uses, wipe out and scrub with kosher salt to remove cooked on bits.  Then give a light coat of oil and wipe out.  Once you have built up the surface it is fine to clean with soap and water.


Can I cook in this stainless steel balti dish? I recently purchased what I believed to be a balti dish. It turned out, it was just a serving dish.

It is described as

  A Quality Stainless Steel Balti Dish 15cm in diameter. Balti dishes are perfect for serving your Indian food & Curry Dishes the traditional Restaurant way. Two handles on either side for easy handling.

Are there any obvious/common dangers cooking with this on a gas hob? Or is the risk more that the material won't take the heat and could break (spilling the food)?

I would say that is too thin to use on a hob. There isn't an Indian restaurant in the country that uses them to actually cook in: they cook in a proper pan and then dump it in a dish like this to serve.


Preparing trout and avoiding bones? We had recently been given some fresh caught-that-day trout. The trouble is that we didn't know how to prepare it.   The last time my wife filleted it, but we ended up with lots and lots of little bones in the fish.

What is the best way to prepare trout that avoids this problem?

Unfortunately, there's no quick solution to de-boning trout. The best method is to remove the entire backbone, along with the ribs.

To achieve this place the fish skin side down and with the point of a sharp knife, gently work along both sides of the fish freeing each fine rib bone. Once they have been freed from the flesh, you can cut around the spine (try not to break the skin) and remove the whole lot.

If the fish has been filleted, then lay the fillet flat and with a pair of tweezers work your way front to back, extracting the small bones as you go.


Are sushi rice and arborio rice valid substitutes of each other? Sometimes I have only one sushi rice and want to prepare risotto, sometimes is the other way around.

Both varieties have a lot of starch, but I don't know if it's the same starch. Is it?

I've done risotto with other short grain rices (which includes sushi rice), with good results.  I've even used medium grain rice in a pinch, and you'll have to stir more, but it'll come out.

I'd assume the same would be true in reverse -- that most short grain rices (incl. arborio) would make a decent sushi ... unless it's short grained brown rice, that'd likely less you up.

Basically, there's three main varieties of rice:  short, medium and long  (not including 'wild rice' or how it's treated (white vs. brown vs. parboiled).  So long as you stay within one group, you're usually fine, so long as you don't change the treatment or technique used to cook it.


Can I use normal household glass items to steam cook inside pots? I have normal glass kitchenware, like glass rice bowls and glass cups. Can I use these for steam cooking?

Example stuff to cook:

steamed veggies
steamed pieces of chicken meat
maybe use a glass cup to multitask cooking (e.g. pot to cook soup and steam fish while I'm at it)

Would it be OK to use my glass kitchenware - and if so, what are some boundaries (e.g. heat, temperature) that I should keep in mind?

Note:  I am assuming this glass is kitchenware, like mixing bowls or measuring cups, not service ware like drinking glasses or teacups.

Glass melts at about 1500 F / 800 C.  There is no danger of melting the glass in any type of steamer, or realistically with any equipment you may have at home.

The real issue is thermal shock:  very rapidly cooling glass from a hot temperature to a cold temperature can cause it to crack or shatter.  You want to avoid doing this.  The same thing can happen in reverse from cold to hot, which is why you would never use glass cookware on an open flame or burner element of your cooktop (hob to our British friends).

To prevent thermal shock, even in a closed pot used as an improvised steamer, do not place the glassware directly on the bottom of the pot.  It should be suspended on a rack or otherwise raised from the bottom.  If no other solution presents itself, aluminum foil loosly crushed into a ring will do the job (loosly, because aluminum is a good conductor or heat, but air is not).

Steaming is fairly gentle in terms of heating, and if you let it cool on the counter, you should be fine.  Note that I would not do this with any delicate or thin glass.  Think about it this way:  if you would use the glass in the microwave, the steamer should be fine as well.

Of course, you can always steam on a lettuce leaf or similar, which is very traditional, or use a metal steamer basket as well.

Please also see Rumtscho's answer for more optimal alternatives.


Is it necessary to rinse Chinese or other tea before first brew / steep / infusion? I've been told that I should be rinsing Chinese tea with the boiled water before the first full infusion intended for drinking.

I make the occasional very-expensive tea from Taiwan and I feel it is a waste to throw away a first pot simply for "rinsing".  However, my mother-in-law insists it is correct to rinse the tea first :-)

Is this practice of rinsing always advisable, or are there specific cases or kinds of tea where rinsing is necessary? What are we trying to rinse away?  Is the practice only for Chinese tea, or for other kinds of tea as well?

Looking for some enlightenment from some tea experts.  Thank you!

Update:

Since I asked the question, my mother-in-law came across a newspaper article, in Chinese, describing pesticides found on some teas from China, and so it is advisable to rinse before consuming.

Here's a scan I made of the article:

Something in English...

Essentially, the article references a 2012 report by Greenpeace.  You can read a press release about the report, and here's a link to the report itself: Pesticides: Hidden Ingredients in Chinese Tea Report (PDF).  Press release summary:

  A Greenpeace investigation has found pesticides banned for use on tea
  in the products marketed by some of China's top tea companies. Some of
  the firms, which include China Tea, Tenfu Tea and China Tea King,
  export tea products to Japan, the US and Europe.

For that reason, I accepted the answer below which suggests rinsing for reduction of pesticides.

Of course, I don't think I'd want to drink a tea with 17 kinds of pesticides present, even if rinsed!  Caveat emptor ... I plan to ask more questions when I buy my tea.

Usually the first infusion is to remove pesticides and some dust that accumulates while aging the tea. Another reason is to let the dry leaves "breathe" to bring out their taste in subsequent infusions. You're supposed to drain out the water in seconds; so it shouldn't take away the taste.


What is this white, non-fuzzy, substance on my kimchi? I have a jar of store bought kimchi that I neglected for a few months (bought around mid July). Today I opened it and noticed that a few pieces had some white stuff on it, but it doesn't look like mold. The best way to describe it is that it is similar to the white yeast concentrate that collects at the bottom of homebrew or in some unfiltered beers. I took a piece without the white stuff on it and tasted it, and it tasted fine, if a little bit stronger with an almost boozy taste.   I was just wondering what this is and if it's safe to eat, because as far as I know, kimchi doesn't have yeast in it.

Click on picture for full size.

That's mold, and you should discard it.

Kimchi keeps forever (well, years) if and only if it's not exposed to air, meaning there's always enough liquid in the pot to cover the cabbage.  If you have bits poking up into the air and you leave them there for days/weeks, they'll dry out and start growing mold.


Possible internal contamination from soaking or scalding slaughtered chicken in hot water to ease plucking I understand that a slaughtered chicken may become externally contaminated due to the impurities present in water.

  Over the course of a processing day and despite scald tank
  temperatures of 50-60C, the water in scald tanks can become
  contaminated with salmonellas and campylobacters as a consequence of
  involuntary defaecation (Humphrey and Lanning, 1987; Mulder et al.,
  1978).  The bacterial load of the tank water can also be increased by
  microorganisms present on the feathers and skin of the birds (Mulder
  et al., 1978; Berndtson et al., 1992; Kotula et al., 1995; Q22-Q28
  Q23-Q29)  Kotula and colleagues (1995) report more than seven logs
  CFU/ml of rinse for both campylobacters and salmonella on some
  carcasses immediately before scalding.  When a carcass enters the
  scald tank, it is not unusual for water to be inhaled into the lungs
  (Thomson and Kotula, 1959).   If there is contamination present in the
  scald tank water and blood is still circulating in the carcass,
  bacteria can be transported by the circulatory system into internal
  organs and muscles.

Source: http://www.ukmeat.org/FSAMeat/PoultryScalding.htm

I am not talking about contaminations like the above. I am asking about any possible internal contamination.

During scalding, do you think that the water is hot enough,
or the process is long enough, to substantially increase a whole chicken's core temperature, and  to actually start some internal body process (metabolism perhaps)? Since evisceration is yet to be done, are there any chances of the organ walls breaking down and leeching filth into the meat?  Is it possible for the filth to escape the organs and permeate the meat? We are assuming the organs themselves are neither punctured nor torn.

I may be talking about a very remote possibility, but I really need to know this.

Are you looking to do this for industrial purposes? Or are you just doing this at home? Also, what is your major concern - putrid water getting into the lungs and growing from there? The water should be hot enough to kill most bacteria at boiling after a relatively short exposure (anything from defecation or exposed on the feathers).

As for internal temperature, at a small home scale, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Whenever we slaughtered our chickens we always scalded them to remove the feathers, and never had any issue. Same with the hogs (removing hair).

Anything which may get kicked off internally should be halted/paused relatively quickly by proper sanitation and food prep techniques after plucking. If you are cooking the bird right away, you shouldn't have any issue because it would take awhile at room temperature for most bacteria to really start working their mojo. Assuming you slaughter, scald, defeather, clean, and then do whatever butchering is necessary (if any), you're talking about an hour to an hour and a half (generously). Afterwards, it'll go in a freezer or a refrigerator (both of which will slow the metabolism of any bacteria), or a pan (which will kill the bacteria using proper cooking techniques). There simply shouldn't be enough time IMHO. Now, I wouldn't let the bird sit around for a few hours, but that's pretty common sense.


Brown rice aricini but always end up with too much water I want to make simple aricini (eggs + cheese + rice) but with brown rice and chopped spinach. When I made this I ended up having too much water in the mixture. As brown rice takes lots of water to cook and spinach secretes water when chopped fine.

How do I go about this?

Keep good notes?

Seriously, just use less water, until you have the correct proportions figured out.  Trial and error is a long process, but I don't see any shortcuts in you case if you can't find a recipe already using brown rice and spinach.  The extra water used in making brown rice should really be absorbed by the rice, the preparation shouldn't have too much extra water left in it unless there was a mis-measurement.  The water added by the spinach has to be accounted for, but without knowing amount or preparation of spinach, or anything else there's no way to guess how much water would be added (and therefore how much needs to be removed to balance it out).

The recipes I found for Arancini (I I think this is the same thing, please mention if if you meant something else) - have the rice and other ingredients cooked risotto style first, rather than in a rice cooker or by some hands-off method that requires pre-measured water. In short, it means you don't have to get the amount of rice exactly right immediately, you can use much less water at first, and slowly add more if it's getting too dry, or even cook a bit longer to reduce if it's getting too wet.  Longer cooking may change the texture a bit, if you aren't careful, but if you are gentle with the heat it may come out alright - especially since the recipe is going to be cooked again anyway to make the balls with.

If you are intending to have the spinach stuffed into the balls, instead of mixed into the risotto - then Joe's link will be useful, as you need to get as much water as you can out of the spinach beforehand (possibly you can still add it to the risotto), and there are limits in how dry you can make the risotto to balance the extra moisture.  If you cannot balance the moisture even after pushing the spinach and the risotto to their limits, you may just have to use a different preparation of spinach, or lesser quantities.


Does whiskey go bad by freezing? This question does not have to do with home brewing but I figured someone here would be able to answer.

Does scotch whiskey go bad if kept in standard home freezers for a few days?
Does it also matter that the air-tight seal has been broken? In other words for opened bottles.

It does seem to bubble very slightly when poured out but tastes fine. Just wondering if there is a big 'don't do that' attached to this.

Putting strong spirits in the freezer should not harm them. The solubility of air gases increases at low temperature, which is why you see bubbles as it warms up.

Drinks with a lower alcohol content will be affected in the freezer. There is potential to freeze water out of anything with an alcohol content of 28% or lower. Many people use the freezer to increase the alcohol content of their home brew in UK, by freezing water out of it - the alcohol stays in the liquid portion.


Non-flaky non-crumble pie crust For some reason everone seems to love the standard pie crusts and want to get it either flaky or crumbly.

For me, both are equivalent to "dry and floury, and give me the same shills down my spine as nails on a black board".

Thus, I've rarely eaten any pie crust that I like, and neither know what to search for or how to proceed.

I could pretty much go with any kind of crust; chewy like flapjacks, hard like thin crispbread, or soft without being crumbly.

Are any of the above choices actually used, and if so, in sweet or savory pies?

And in that case, what are they called?

What you are looking for is typically considered a kitchen mistake:
Overkneading.

Not-so gentle handling of the dough and some kneading plus a bit more eggs or a dash of milk will add density.

There is actually one special use case where bakers go for that more elastic and less crumbly dough: Cornish Pasties
Straight from the Cornish Pasty Association, comes this recipe.


How to understand "for immediate consumption" term? Recently1 I have found some products that has "for immediate consumption after opening" notice instead of the usual "store in cold place and consume within 48-72 hours after opening" (the usual "keep in a cold place" / "store in fridge" usually follows in both cases).

How should I understand this term?

Am I really supposed to eat entire package right / the same day after opening and am I really not allowed to store it for 2-3 days in fridge after opening?

Or maybe explanation is completely different? Maybe "for immediate consumption" means that I can eat it right away without any extra preparation needs (like warming up or cooking etc.) and maybe this term has nothing to do with storing after opening requirements?

Examples of products on which I have recently found such note includes: Humus and French Pâté.

1I have intentionally made an emphasis on "recently" because I haven't seen such products ever before. However, I don't know, if I was just so lucky to not find them or if this has some correlation to food without any preservatives, that is currently flooding Poland? Can "immediate consumption" be enforced by the fact that food has no preservatives and thus must be immediately consumed once opened and once air is added to it?

It's not generally about food safety or even quality. That phrase refers to the type of license the seller of the food item has. So the phrase has a legal meaning, which may have nothing to do with the food.

In some jurisdictions, grocery stores have different regulations and zoning than restaurants. So, one way to differentiate between grocery stores and restaurants is that food sold in restaurants is for immediate consumption. Some packaged food may only be sold to restaurants, or the labeling is different for packages destined for restaurants. Some information may be required on labels destined for grocery stores, which isn't required on labels for restaurant packages. Restaurant packages may be labeled "for immediate consumption".

Such rules are often frequently ignored, and regulations can change faster than labels.

In the US, a more common way to see it on packages is "for foodservice use only".


How long can i keep home made caesar dressing? The dressing contains raw eggs, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, Worcestershire, mustard, salt and pepper. How long can I keep it in the fridge in a airtight container?

Up to 7 days (homemade mayo as well). Egg whites/yolks out of the egg (but not combined with the acid) can last 3-4 days refrigerated, and eggs in-shell are good for 2-4 weeks depending on processing.


How do I avoid splatter when frying ginger garlic paste? I see in all cookery shows that they use ginger garlic paste with ease. When I bought a sachet of the same and put it in oil, it spluttered so much that all of my stove surface ended up oily. How do I avoid that?

Have you considered using a splatter screen? You place it over the frying pan while cooking and it will prevent any oil or other substances from splattering out of the pan and onto the stove. Something like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81D4-YeDBtL.SL1500.jpg

Alternatively you could try lowering the temperature you are cooking at.


Buy Omega 3 eggs in bulk? I maintain to a high protein diet and consume a lot of eggs. No, seriously, a lot of eggs. I want to make the switch to Omega 3 eggs but I'm not really able to find these in bulk through your average grocery story. Whenever I ask for bulk eggs, they always show me the box of 5-dozen eggs from unknown origin - yuck. Is this something that a restaurant supplier would carry? A local farm? How would I go about finding Omega 3 eggs in bulk?

Step 1: Hit farm markets and organic co-ops to locate local producers. If the ones who are there can't supply you, they usually know a producer who can. If they don't have omega-3- eggs, they may know who does/

Step 2: Do your research. Ask prospective suppliers about their feeds (lots of greens, alfalfa and fish by-products are desirable, as opposed to grains, animal fats and layer pellets) and certifications, if they have such. Also, ask if the producer allows client walkabouts, guided or otherwise; if the producer doesn't, it may be that the chickens are kept in unhealthy conditions or are not being fed what the producer claims.

Step 3: Be loyal and respect your source. If a producer purchases extra stock in order to supply your eggs, support that supplier. If the quality declines, warn the supplier that you will have to change sellers to get the same quality as you used to. If you need to leave and won't be purchasing for a few weeks, let the producer know so that he or she can sell the eggs elsewhere instead of keeping the eggs for too long. Either way, don't just jump ship. In particular, don't jump ship and then try to come back. Things talk their way around, and you might find yourself without any supplier at all.


How to get rid of raw onion smell while doing Gojju when forgotten to fry the onions I forgot to fry the onions before grinding it. Now I have added the ground raw onions with masala to make semi liquid sambar(gojju), how do I get rid of raw smell? Should I keep heating the Bindi gojju?

In my experience, a combination of acid (lemon juice/tomatoes/tamarind paste) and heat(temperature) is used to cut the taste of raw onions. You will need to continue frying the raw onion and masala mixture until it separates from the oil, which is a good indicator of the doneness of the onions as well as the spices.
If you follow this route of cooking the onions after pureeing them, you would also not want to roast the spices before grinding them, and instead fry them all together at this stage.


How do I make tempura turn out light? I've probably only made tempura 10 times in my life, with fairly inconsistent results. often it has been heavier than the best restaurant versions I've had. There seem to be many variables involved:

type(s) of flour
added pure starch (cornstarch, arrowroot, ...?)
use of seltzer
use of chemical leavening
overall thickness of batter
type of oil
temperature of oil

Which of these factors (and any others I've forgotten) are most important to getting a thin, light, non-greasy tempura shell?

Type of flour: rice
Liquid: soda (seltzer) water

Mix as little as possible. Lumps are okay. Dip quickly, drop into 350 veg/soy oil.


Convert cooking Shrimp and Vegetables in a foil-packet on a 400 degree grill for 25 - 30 minutes to an oven Recipe calls for cooking the shrimp and vegetables in a foil-packet on the grill at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. I do not have a grill in the city; therefore, I need to use my oven so I'd like to know at what temp and for how long would I bake the foil-packet in my oven.

Thank you.

400 degrees on the grill = 400 degrees in the oven. No need to make any adjustment.


Where can I buy a pipe for a Weckmann in the US? I want to bake a Weckmann or Stutenkerl. Traditionally, these have a clay pipe for decoration. Where can I buy such pipes in the US?

Doing a quick Google Search "clay pipes for Weckmann", the only shop that came up immediately is The Pipe Shoppe.com. They seem to import them in various sizes and they sell them individually. You can contact them by email if you want to buy several, presumably they may be able to give you a deal on shipping and maybe a better price if you need dozens of them... though they seem to only have 12 in stock right now in this smallest size.

The only other option I could think of is if you happen to know someone in Europe who could order them from Amazon and then ship them to you.


How do I make soft caramel for homemade Caramel Apples? I am making Caramel apples using, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and condensed milk. The caramel is coming out very thick and sticky to the extreme.  How can I make a nice caramel that is not hard to bite into?

Yield: Approximately 1½ cups

Ingredients

Making Caramel - Method 1 (Wet Method)

1 cups (200 grams) granulated sugar

¼ cup (60 ml) water

Making Caramel - Method 2 (Dry Method)

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

For the Caramel Sauce:

Caramel

¾ cup (178 ml) heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

½-1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean, seeds removed from the pod (optional)

2 tablespoons whiskey (optional)
**

**Instructions**

**

Making Caramel - Method 1 (Wet Method):

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and bring to a boil. Let the mixture caramelize and wait for it to turn dark amber in color. Do not stir, swirl pan as needed to promote even caramelization.

Making Caramel - Method 2 (Dry Method):

Sprinkle sugar evenly on the bottom of a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and caramelize, swirling as necessary to promote even caramelization. Do not stir.

To make the Caramel Sauce:

As soon as the caramel is dark amber in color, immediately remove it from the heat and slowly add the heavy cream while whisking constantly. Caramel will bubble violently.

Return mixture to medium heat and simmer until any clumps have dissolved and
mixture is smooth.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt. Add vanilla extract and if desired, vanilla bean and whiskey.


How long overnight oats are safe/ok to eat So I forgot my bowl of oats in the fridge and it has been 15 hours, I can either throw them away and make another bowl but I wanted to ask if it is safe to consume a bowl of oats that have been left in the fridge for 15 hours?

What would make them unsafe? Oats are shelf stable.  Milk is refrigerator stable for quite some time.


1/4 cup of shredded basil OR 1/4 cup of basil that is then shredded? I am thinking of making a Chicken Parmigiana that I found on the Lidia's Italy website - http://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/398. The recipe calls for "1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded."

I am trying to figure out whether this means that (a) I should shred the basil and then measure out 1/4 cup or (b) if I should be measuring a 1/4 cup of whole basil leaves and then shred that.

Is there a significant difference between the two options? What is normally intended?

Volume measurements of herbs are hopelessly imprecise to begin with; what you actually measure as 1/4 cup depends entirely on how tightly you pack them, how wet the leaves are, even the size/shape of your measuring cup or spoon.  When given a measurement like that, you should always treat it as a rough guideline; don't worry about being exact, it's not necessary in this recipe.

That said, what it actually means is that you should measure out the 1/4 cup and then shred them.  Another example of this type of language is when you see something like "4 tbsp of vegetable oil, divided" - that always means you measure out the 4 tbsp and then divide into two portions, not measure out two separate portions of 4 tbsp each.

So measure it first, then shred it.  If you were supposed to shred it first, it would say "1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves" instead.  There is an appreciable difference as to how much basil you'll end up with, but again, you've been given a very rough measurement to begin with, so treat it accordingly, and don't worry if you've got a little extra or a little less.  The most reliable way to know if you've got the right amount is to simply taste it.


Calories in alcohol-based sauce brought to boil (bourbon chicken) In the same spirit as this question, I came across a keto recipe for bourbon chicken. I don't usually trust the calorie-count of recipes like this from the blogosphere, I have no clue where/how they're crunching their numbers. So I usually put the recipes into Cronometer (awesome site, like MyFitnessPal on steroids).

Naturally, I would assume all the calories are burned off if you were to deglaze a pan, but seeing as the bourbon is brought to a boil with the chicken-stock, I don't think it's safe to assume all the calories are burned off... but then again I'm slowly learning how to cook, so I'm no expert.

Chronometer uses the best scientific-quality database, which is from the USDA's FoodData Central. You can find the same data at nutritiondata.self.com, which is easier to access from a desktop computer (in my opinion).

The data set for 80 proof spirits is here. For all of them, bourbon included, the calories from not-alcohol is 0. All the calories in bourbon come from alcohol; there are no carbs, proteins or fats.

The boiling point for alcohol in spirits is around 78 C (173 F). So if you get your food hot enough for long enough, you will eventually get rid of all the alcohol. Bourbon has highly concentrated alcohol, but since the recipe calls for a rolling boil and extended simmer, I would assume that you would remove all the alcohol through cooking, leaving zero calories behind in the sauce from the bourbon.


Best practices to minimize smoke when cooking meat using a cast iron skillet What are the recommendations to minimize the amount of smoke generated when cooking burgers, steaks or other meats in a cast-iron pan?

Do make sure you are using a high quality refined oil that is good for high temperature cooking, and has a high smoke point.  Grapeseed is nearly ideal, although it can be expensive.  I have heard good things about avacado oil, but haven't tried it personally.

You might wish to oil the meat rather than the pan, so that you are not getting smoke from oil away from the food you are cooking, but this unlikely to make a large difference.

Still, if you are searing at high temperatures, some smoke is inevitable.   Of course, lowering the temperature at which you cook can eliminate the smoke, but it also changes the result, sometimes for the worse.

In truth, for high temperature searing, you simply need to have good ventillation.

You might also want to temporarily take the battery out of the kitchen smoke detector—just remember to put it back in when you are done.


Is seeding peppers a must when making hot sauce I'm trying my hand at a homemade hot sauce using some habaneros and every recipe I've seen calls for unseeding them. I'm not particularly worried about making the sauce too hot, so I'm wondering if I can keep the seeds and whether that would change the texture of the sauce any. Curious if folks have any thoughts there?

The seeds of all peppers are bitter, you won't notice this when you are using a single pepper in a large dish of food, but if you make hot sauce without removing the seeds you will have a noticeable, and possibly unpleasant bitterness. Grinding the seeds will add more off flavors, so it is worth the effort to get rid of them.


have these avocados gone bad? Having googled it, it says that avocados with black spots have gone bad.  However I asked someone and they said that it fine and you can eat it - it’s like a banana which has gone slightly black on the outside.
Are they correct? Based on the pictures would you say it has gone bad and unless it’s bruising, any avocado with multiple black dots has gone bad?
Thanks

Your friend is right. The avocado is not spoiled or in any way dangerous, just changed during storage. You can eat it without any ill effects.
There are people who would throw food out for cosmetic reasons, you can do that too, if you prefer.


How to light this type of basic, old fashioned gas-cylinder-powered gas oven? My rented apartment has an old rickety gas stove, fuelled by a hose connected to a gas cylinder. No electricity is used at all in any way. This is fine because in this part of West Africa we get constant electricity outages, but I can't figure out how to light the oven part.

Every guide I can find online assumes I'm trying to light a sophisticated gas cooker with a fancy feature like:

A pilot light, or some obvious recess to light first
A self-lighting spark when you push the oven dial
Some kind of electric indicator light or control system

This seems to have none of these things. It's basically just a tin box connected to a gas cylinder.

I can smell a little gas after having the gas on for a while, but no amount of using a plastic lighter near the obvious holes inside the oven actually lights anything, and I can't see any clues as to where the gas is coming from. Obviously I don't want to mess around too much.

Brand is Westpoint, it looks like it might have been made in the 1960s or 1970s, no clue about model. Here's a photo:

Back when we had one of these, we used to turn on the gas, wait for a tiny while (I seem to remember 4-5 seconds), then drop a lit match into  the front center hole. That would light up the burners. I'd err on the side of too little gas until you're used to it, and it may take a few attempts

Mom was pretty good at it, but that might have been through years of practice.

This video goes through the whole process, though I could have sworn you didn't need to push down the knob


What types of meat should I pound and why? I know people sometimes pound their meat. I never do, and I am interested in what I am missing out on. Basically it comes down to a three part question:

Why is meat pounded, what is the result that one wants? I'd be happy to learn both the gastronomical purpose, and what really happens do the meat (fibres etc)
What types of meat should I pound? What types would possibly be a bad idea to pound?
What should I think of when pounding to get a good result?

Meat is pounded as a mechanical means of tenderizing by damaging the connective tissues. It also makes the meat thinner and flatter, which helps the meat cook faster and more evenly.
Pound tougher meats (cheaper steaks), and meats of uneven thickness (chicken breasts). Avoid pounding the bones in the meat. You don't want little pieces of bone chipping off into meal. Don't pound already tender pieces (premium cuts, dry aged steaks).
Think tenderize, not pulverize. You should not be making any holes in it.

If you're going to marinate, do that after pounding.
Wrapping the meat in wax paper first will help prevent a big mess.
Do both sides of the meat.


Bakers semi-sweet chocolate packaging In baking chocolate marshmallo logs, the recipe calls for 3 sq of semisweet chocolate.  In the  new packaging box, how many  squares do I now use?

Squares of classic Baker’s chocolate were usually 1 oz each so, regardless of the brand, if the recipe calls for three squares, you should use three ounces of chocolate.

You can see in the image above that there are eight individually-wrapped one-ounce squares in the box.

The box should indicate the weight for each square or rectangle. If it doesn’t, check for the total weight of the box in ounces and divide by the number of squares. So, as an example, if you have a four-ounce bar divided into eight squares, each square is 1/2 ounce. To have three ounces, you need six squares.

Since you don’t state what your box has, I can’t tell you specifically but this should get you to the answer.


Why would rasagullas break while cooking? My latest batch of rasagullas were a disaster. As soon as I dropped them into the cooker, they started disintegrating. I realized the entire affair will turn out to be a super waste of effort and time.

I did cut some corners last time:
1. Did I not dry the curd enough?
2. Did I not knead the curd enough?
3. Was the sugar syrup used for boiling not saturated enough?

Any clues?

I think the water content of the rasgullas cause it to break.

To make sure that they're ready, after you drain the water from the paneer, take a bit of paneer on your palm and knead it with your thumb for about 40 seconds. You should be able to roll out a firm yet smooth ball off it. If you can't form balls, it means you will have to squeeze out more water from the paneer. In the end you should have something like a soft dough.

It takes a while to get it just right. If you can't make perfect balls in your first few shots at it, you can make rasmalai/ kheer/paneer pedas out of it, so it won't be a wasteful disaster after-all.

Refer to these articles/videos:
Sources :
1, 2, 3, 4


I want a burrito, but I have no avocado I am thinking of making a rice, salmon, and (chili) bean burrito, but I don't have any avocados.

After looking up some substitutes, I was thinking about peanut butter...but I am a little hesitant.

Has anyone tried to capture the texture of an avocado before?

refried beans, or just skip the avocado?


Roast Cooked all night I left two big pans of roast (about 20 lbs) in the oven at 350 over night - from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. Is this still safe to eat and serve.

It is safe to eat, but not safe to serve.

Elaboration: Depending on your general cleanliness, there shouldn't be enormous amount of bacteria in the roasts: anything above 100°C (200°F) for an hour is sterilised and if you keep your pans and oven clean (with pyrolysing ovens: easy to do nowadays) it is perfectly safe for you, the dogs, the cat, and any other carnivores generally around the house.

However, it's going to be very dry and not very tasty, so I wouldn't actually serve it to any of my guests.  What I would do is grind it up, throw it in your biggest pot, cover it in white wine with some nice herbs, put a lid on top and turn a towel around it (so no moisture escapes) and boil it on very low heat until it soaks up a ton of the wine, then add tomato juice until it becomes tender again.  Freeze it in small batches so you can re-use it as pasta sauce...


Are egg whites generally available at the store? Can you buy egg whites at the store, or must I take the yolk out my own? I assume if so they would be sold in some sort of carton.

My plan is to just use them for scrambled egg whites in the morning.  It just helps speed up the process this way for work days.

Many stores sell egg whites.  Organic Valley Liquid Egg Whites as an example.

They can be both pasteurized (useful if you want to use the whites in a non-cooked application) and non-pasteurized.

In my US grocery stores, I find egg whites in the refrigerated section, near the eggs in cardboard cartons, similar to those that cream comes in.

Depending on your application, beware of egg substitutes; these aren't quite the same thing.


Adding baking powder as a final step Being someone that bakes infrequently I prefer to have plain flour on hand and add baking powder rather than purchase self-raising flour. Something I've noticed recently by experimentation and further research is that the faster I work the more success I've have with the rising process. The following question and answer explains that perfectly because I've confirmed my baking powder is double-acting:

Will double-action baking powder lose potency if not baked immediately?

Most baking recipes seem to specify preparing the dry and wet ingredients seperately and combining as the final step. I wondered in cases where that is somewhat time consuming or I am preparing other dishes in parallel if there would be any merit in mixing through the baking powder last? It seems like a reasonable approach to me but I've seen reputable recipes that recommend the wet / dry approach even when baking power is listed as a seperate ingredient.

The main problem with adding the baking powder last would be getting it evenly incorporated throughout the dough or batter.

In the traditional methods where it is in the dry ingredients, it can be sifted or whisked evenly throughout the dry mixture which facilitates having it evenly distributed in the final batter.

If you tried adding the powder to a batter that was prepared except for it, even sprinkling it across the surface, it would be more difficult to evenly distribute throughout the entire batter.  Also, you would then have to mix or beat the batter again to distribute the baking powder, which would develop additional gluten and lead to a tougher end product.

Remember, baking powder requires liquid in order to react (in dry form, the acid and sodium bicarbonate don't interact with each other).  When you think about it, in the major baking methods where baking powder is used, the baking powder is activated as late as possible right before baking—the wet and dry parts of the batter don't meet up until the last step:

Muffin method.  The wet and dry ingredients are mixed separately, and can be held.   They are combined, mixed gently, then portioned into molds or pans and baked immediately.
Creaming method, common for cakes.   Typically, the ingredients will be divided into the three groups:  an emulsification of creamed butter and sugar, eggs, and perhaps vanilla; a liquid ingredient or mixture (such as sour cream or milk), and the dry flour mixture.  Each of these stages again can be set up in advance.  They are combined (usually alternating the liquid and dry in two or three stages to maintain the butter/liquid emulsion and to minimize lumping) as the last step in developing the batter.

So even if you need to try to fit baking in with other preparations, you can stage your prep, up to the final combination at your leisure.

If I want muffins for a brunch party (or cornbread on Thanksgiving, when my oven is scheduled down to the minute), I prepare a wet mix and a dry mix the night before (remember, wet mix in the fridge for safety).  When I am ready to bake, I just mix the two together, scoop into the muffin tins, and bake.


How much cayenne powder contributes the same spiciness as one minced habanero? I recently made a curry with 4 habaneros and 2 Tbsp (approx. 30 mL) of ground cayenne powder.

It was extremely spicy so I'd like to reduce the heat next time and am wondering what the relative contribution of each ingredient was.

Notwithstanding the two current answers - that it's really hard to guess - there's an additional concern.

In terms of actual flavour rather than simple heat, you can taste (& smell) habanero in pretty much anything, even at low concentrations. It's a fabulous aromatic.  Cayenne, on the other hand, is really almost flavourless in comparison.

So, as well as re-balancing your heat, you need to work on how much of that habanero flavour you want in the final product.

I'd start by dropping your entire chilli content to just one or two habaneros, no cayenne. Taste halfway through the simmer. You can add more of either habanero or cayenne at any time, the flavour of chilli doesn't really change too much over the cooking time that you can't just slip a bit more in if it's too mild.
Work towards 'just enough habanero flavour' & if it's too mild, work in some cayenne nearer the end.


Removing sugar from condensed milk? Is it possible to remove sugar from condensed milk?
I got by accident instead of evaporated milk.

Unfortunately, no, at least not if you want to use the end product as milk.

As this answer to a previous question of yours suggests, once the sugar is dissolved in a liquid or purée, there is no way to get it out. You can technically separate the sugar from the liquid (See this question and its answers on the Chemistry stack exchange) but I don't believe any of the suggested methods (such as evaporating off the liquid, or fermenting out the sugars) will work for you here.


Garlic substitution beef stew My recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic, peeled, that are then to be removed at end of simmer (1-1/2 hours) before veggies are added. All I have is minced garlic or garlic powder. Should I add either of these since I won’t be able to remove, or just skip the garlic?

The purpose of garlic seems to be add some garlic flavor in your stew sauce. So I think without garlic cloves should be OK, or adding minced garlic or garlic powder is also fine(but caution on the amount not to let garlic flavor too overwhelming.).
Or you can substitute with shallot is also fine if you have it, their flavors are similar in some ways.


Why do scrambled/fried eggs stick less when cooked with butter instead of oil? Whenever I'm doing scrambled or fried eggs, I use butter and a regular frying pan (aluminium I think) without any special non-stick coating. They never stick to the pan, it's as if they're floating on top of the butter within the pan.

My wife usually uses oil, and whatever she does, the eggs always stick in the pan, and it's a pain to get them out, and fried eggs usually become a broken mess.

So, why would cooking eggs with oil make them stick to the pan, and doing it with butter wouldn't?

Technique is the key here. If she is using oil expect she is adding the eggs before the oil is hot, she is probably also rushing her attempt to turn/flip/scramble/move them. One of the hardest things to learn when frying eggs is to walk away immediately after adding the eggs to the hot pan.
I notice you are in Germany, I don't know what your access to the USA's "Food Network" is but this episode of a Alton Brown's "Good Eats" can show your wife "eggsellent" technique.
(pardon the pun, couldn't resist...)
New Links:
Good Eats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8up7UJv2s
Alton Brown on CBS Morning Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD3QeyK4bJY


Roti Canai cooking tips? I am in love with Roti Canai, but I recently moved to a small island.

My local buddy at the farmers market sells Malaysian food, but she has been unable to make Roti Canai, so, what's the secret? Can anyone post a recipe or tips for getting it thin, nearly see-through, and crispy and soft when cooked?

A step by step guide from the wikipedia page:

http://chefinyou.com/2009/11/roti-canai-recipe/

reproduced here in case wikipedia changes.


When to carve a goose - hot or cold I have roasted a goose ready for tomorrow. Would the flavour and/or texture be better if I carved it tonight when it is warm, or wait until tomorrow when it is cold from the fridge.

Since you are going to serve it as left overs either way, for flavor whether you carve it hot or cold does not matter very much at all.

On the other hand, when the meat is cold it sets much firmer, so it is actually much easier to carve when it is still warm.


What to do with unused scallops' roe? I just prepared my first scallop dish. The recipe instructed to remove roe (the orange part) before searing, as it cooks much faster than the rest of a scallop. As this was my first try, I ended up not using it for the dish.

Afterwards, I read a bit about scallop roe and it seems that many cooks actually sear it together with the rest of the scallop. Also it's a delicacy in China. Some instructions indicated that I should dry roe in oven, powder it and use it later to give extra taste to broths etc.

What is the best way to use it? If I dry and powder it, how should I store it and in which kind of dishes should I use it?

This doesn't particularly answer the question, but the use of roe seems to fade in and out of fashion every so often. I remember 10 years ago (and back in the UK) scallops were always served with the roe, and cooked with them. Now it I haven't seen a roe anywhere near the scallops. Certainly, the more sea-food and authentic the restaurant, the more likely you are to find the roe still attached, in my experience.

Personally, I would just leave them together, and cook them still attached. The flavour is a nice contrast to the white, and it can pretty up the plate.

Doesn't directly answer your question though, I'm afraid.


Pork tenderloin was put into hot oven which was accidentally turned off for 1 and 1/2 hours. Was it safe to finish cooking? I had a partially frozen pork tenderloin that I browned on all sides, then put into a hot oven at 365 degrees.  At some point the oven was accidentally turned off.  An hour and a half later I discovered the oven was warm, but off.  The internal temp of the pork at this point was 120 degrees.  I then turned the oven back on and finished cooking to an internal temp of 180 degrees. It was actually very tender.  Is it safe to eat?

I don't think anyone will want to tell you that your meat is definitely safe, but there are a couple of factors that lead me to believe you're just fine.

It's generally recommended that pork be cooked to 145°F. However, that doesn't mean that at 145° suddenly all the bacteria die at once. It's actually more of a curve, so the longer the meat is at a particular temperature the more bacteria will be killed. You can sous vide pork for at least an hour at 130° and it will be safe to eat.
Because you cooked it to 180° (well above the necessary temp to kill bacteria), you surely killed off everything and its brother. The risk factor is going to be instead any toxins created by the bacteria during the time it was in the "danger zone" of 40°-140°F, which in your case probably wasn't very long.

Other factors that will come into play is how the meat was handled and stored before cooking. Was it flash frozen by the butcher? Did it ever thaw and then refreeze? Was was the health of the animal before it was slaughtered? Also very important: you say it was partially thawed. Do you buy it frozen and then partially thaw it in the fridge or on the counter (you should thaw in the fridge)?


How should i supposed to bake cookies in gas oven? How should i supposed to bake cookies in gas oven? Like my gas oven burner burns from one side at a time either from bottom or top. Should i bake cookies from bottom and top equally or how should i suppose to bake it because I'm a learner.

For baking the gas burners should be at the bottom.  You should not be able to see them.  There should be a piece of metal over them.

For broiling the gas is at the top.  You can see the flames.  Broiling is for things like meat or toasting cheese where you put them close under the flames.

Your oven should have a dial that says Bake Broil Clean and maybe other things.  Possibly it just has numbers which means degrees of Bake until you get to Broil at which point it turns on the top one.

Use the bottom burner and make cookies on middle rack.

I would be interested in seeing a photo of the dial of your oven.  You can take it with your phone and add it to the question.


Raw pork and raw chicken touching each other I bought a huge bag of pork bones, pork spare ribs and chicken bones.
To save time and space I combined them all and separated them into 4 bags and chucked them in the freezer. Now i'm not so sure about having the raw pork and raw chicken touching each other in the bags and when I defrost them in the fridge, they would be touching each other for another 10 hours in a less-than-freezing temperature.

Is this safe?

(I am planning to use each bag at a time for making bone broth- boiled for up to 4 hours)

Yes, that's fine. You're going to cook everything to a much higher temp than the minimum safe temperature for the meat that requires the highest temperature. That's the key, and your plans are far beyond what is minimally required for safety.


How do I concentrate the flavor in orange juice? I poured squeezed orange juice over my meatballs and I thought how well it complements them, but that it's too watery to enjoy with meat. I proceeded to reduce squeezed orange juice on the stove with and without starch and it just did not work - it's either too watery, or when reduced to a proper texture it's like sugar paste with orange flavoring.

How can I enjoy the flavor of orange juice on meat as a condiment while reducing it's wateriness?

How about using orange zest instead of the juice? That way you'll get a lot of the aroma and flavor we think of as "orange" without really changing the sweetness or acidity.


Hardening Homemade Butterscotch into the Consistency of Butterscotch Chips I've been considering making butterscotch chip cookies with homemade butterscotch chips for a while now, but every time I look for recipes I find only butterscotch sauce recipes or recipes that use butterscotch chips.

So, assuming I've made butterscotch sauce, how would I go about properly hardening it to make chips or chunks out of it?

This page suggests mixing the butterscotch sauce in to white chocolate, which makes sense to me. You need something that will be solid at room temperature.


Is there a significant difference between pizza ovens and conventional ovens with pizza functionality? I have a small pizza oven (the round ones, with stone), with whom I make an adequate pizza; according to the manuals, temperatures go from 190 to 400 °C, so I guess I'm baking it between 300 and 350 °C.

Since I have to buy a new oven, I've seen that some ovens have a pizza specific functionality (I guess it's more of a "crisp" one), with whom one bakes the pizza at 275 °C in the lowest rack; I guess I could use a stone for better results.

I was wondering - is there a significant difference, when making pizza, between the two?
More in general, is there a significant difference between 275/300/350 °C when baking pizza?

The linked question in comments makes some general points about dedicated pizza ovens.

However, to address the final question about temperature differences, the general answer is that it depends on the style of pizza you'd prefer to make and the dough/topping characteristics.  Some doughs and pizza styles are designed to be cooked at lower temperatures for longer times.  If you like thick-crust or "deep dish" style pizzas, an oven that is too hot can burn the crust and/or toppings before the pizza is fully baked.

Assuming that you intend to bake thin-crust pizza, generally the hotter the oven, the better the results.  Traditional Neapolitan pizza has official regulations requiring a minimum cooking surface temperature of 430°C, with an oven temperature at a minimum of 485°C.  (Note the Fahrenheit conversion temps are swapped in the document from what they should be.)  They are also required to have a bake time less than 90 seconds.

It's doubtful that one could achieve that in a traditional home oven or even most dedicated pizza ovens for home use.  There are lots of minor changes that happen with such fast cooking, such as the slight charring patterns on the bottom of the crust and on the edges, more significant oven spring, more rapid drying of the dough which alters the texture, etc.  However, by varying the dough composition (type of flour, other added ingredients besides yeast, salt, and water, such as oil/fat or sugar), one can create other styles of pizza that have some characteristics baked at lower temperatures.  Some people, for example, like to put a little sugar and oil into their crusts to change texture and flavor -- baking those pizzas at 500°C would likely produce excessive browning and charring.

A final thing to note is that temperature is often not as important as heat transfer rate in achieving pizza results.  Many people recommend making pizza on a preheated stone to increase the heat transfer rate.  However, in a home oven with a maximum temperature of 250-285°C or so, there's only so much you can do to raise the temperature of your cooking surface.

On the other hand, you can increase the rate of heat transfer into your pizza by doing things like (1) using a large thick hunk of steel to bake your pizza on (which can transfer heat much more quickly than a stone) and (2) turning on the broiler after the oven has hit its maximum temperature, which will increase radiant heat transferred into the top of the pizza (beyond that conveyed from the air in the oven).  The combination of maximized heat transfer on the top and the bottom of a pizza can bake the pizza a lot more quickly and achieve results that would normally require a much hotter oven.  It won't quite get you to Neapolitan-style pizza in a home oven, but it can get significantly closer.

(I can bake a pizza in roughly 3 to 4 minutes in my home oven using these techniques, a lot longer than 90 seconds, but significantly less than the 8-10 minutes or longer most people take with standard stones.  But the major noticeable differences aren't the cook time -- but rather significantly increased oven spring, better texture, and better browning.)


How do I cook scallops? I like my scallops caramelized a bit, but every time I fry them I make an enormous mess.  Oil splatters everywhere.  Any tips?  Should I grill them?  Can I use the oven?  (I try to use scallops without any sodium tripolyphosphate).

Most people I know who cook scallops actually overcook them. I always buy sushi-grade diver's scallops from my fishmonger. These can be eaten raw, and are most delicious when done so. However if you want to add a little extra flavor, and liven up the appearance of these then sear these briefly on a high heat. If you can get these from a quality source (probably not a supermarket) and you're not hung up on eating raw/rare seafood you'll never look back.

Unless your scallops have been soaked in a brine, and you're buying the quality scallops I recommend you don't need to rinse them. Otherwise, rinse them thoroughly and pat dry with a paper towel.

To sear these properly I simply melt a Tbsp or two of butter in a non-stick pan. I use as high a heat as possible (med-high to high) you want to put the scallops in just as the butter begins to barely smoke. I've often seen people suggest using clarified butter, but I'm too lazy to try. Place your scallops in the pan and cook them for 30-60 seconds per side. Don't move them around in the pan, otherwise they won't sear as nicely. This is for scallops that are the size of a small childs fist. If you have smaller ones you might need to cook them less.

Just a brief update because I feel I didn't stress this enough. Fresh, quality scallops are absolutely not intended to be cooked well done. They will be chewy, period. If you are used to them this way, well you're really missing out.


Composition/safety of cherry pits I'd like to prepare cherry preserves (/marmalade), but I'd like to save on the time it takes to remove the pits. I'm considering cooking them whole, with gentle mashing, then removing the pits once at the end.
The only problem is the analogy with apple seeds. Apple seeds contain a small amount of "amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside composed of cyanide and sugar" (reference) that makes them dangerous for humans (and also for dogs) when eaten in large quantities.
Is it safe to cook cherries with the pits? Ideally I'd like a reference to be sure. Is there any harmful substance? Do factories remove pits beforehand?

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/foods-that-can-kill-you Which I think may be overstating the danger, but, their claim is:

After some quick Googling, we found that hydrogen cyanide is lethal at about 1.52 milligrams per kilogram, meaning that it takes little more than 0.1 grams (a dime weighs about one gram) of the toxin to dispatch a 150-pound human. A single cherry yields roughly 0.17 grams of lethal cyanide per gram of seed, so depending on the size of the kernel, ingesting just one or two freshly crushed pits can lead to death.

Again, I think that may be overstated, but should still give you cause to avoid the risk.  The pits do not actually contain cyanide, but do contain a related compound that digests in the body into cyanide.  Incidental swallowing of a pit is not an issue. It is the kernel that has the compounds.
The earlier comment regarding flavor:  These chemicals tend to be a very bitter flavor, one that people tend to dislike.  This tends to act as a warning "not good" causing us not to eat such things because we do not like the flavor and thus not poisoning ourselves.  Not foolproof, but it helps.  A few in a batch may not actually hurt you unless you ate entire jars in one sitting, but that does not mean it will be good for you, and the bitterness may well affect the flavor.  My experience, though anecdotal, with stone fruits is that more pits will split and crack after heating than before so the risks of off flavor or even tainting may increase.
If this is something you wish to make in quantity or more than once, I would look into investing in of of the small pitters available for home use.


What's the best way to reheat frozen boiled potatoes? We got some imported Papa Amarilla frozen precooked (boiled) potatoes. Probably not many people know about this specific kind of potato, but I was wondering if someone knows how to best reheat any kind of potato that was first boiled, then frozen. Is heating them in a pot with water best? What about using a steamer? The microwave?

When I have left-over boiled potatoes, I always freeze them and when I have enough frozen potatoes, I pour them (still frozen) into an oven-proof dish, spray some olive oil over them, throw in a branch or 2 of fresh rosemary and put them into the cold oven and then set it to 150°C and let them heat up that way.  (until the tip of a fork pushed into the middle of the largest potato comes out hot.)
Then you'll have perfect par-boiled baked potatoes!
Boiling or microwaving them makes them too soggy for my taste...


Estimating sugar & cream for a coffee service I'm helping to organize a workshop, and we're planning on providing coffee ... but not being in the catering business (nor a coffee drinker), I really have no idea how to estimate these things.

I found on Giant Food's catering tips page, the following recommendations:

Plan on guests consuming a cup of coffee every 1.3 hours (3 drinks over 4 hours).
Coffee consumption peaks in the morning, late afternoons and after meals; coffee drinkers will usually consume 1½ cups each.
Don't forget cream and sugar and sugar substitutes!

I've also found an estimate of breakdown of caff/decaf/tea if male or female groups, and I've misplaced the link, but I had previously found a site talking about how the length of the breaks can affect how much coffee people consume (if they have 30 min, they have time to drink & get a refill).

... but I've been unable to find any recommendations on how much cream & sugar to plan for ... obviously, it's going to vary depending on how many people are watching their weight and possibly regional, but do any of you have rough guidelines?  (or better advice for the coffee estimates in general?)

My company runs several coffee events per month. Here are some of my formulations that are a result of doing coffee tastings and events around Seattle:

3-oz of coffee by weight, brewed with 62oz water will yield and aiprot or a standard 12-cup pot of coffee (60-oz brewed coffee or 7 servings if you are using 8-oz hot cups). For coffee gigs I bring 1-pound of regular and 3-oz of decaf coffee per 25 guests. So for 50 guests you will need 2-pounds of regular and decaf is never more than 20% (even after dinner). So for 50 guests you will only need a half pound of decaf. And will probably not use more that one pot of decaf coffee.

Cream: 1-pint half & half per 25 guests. We just put the carton of half & half in a small bowl of ice. We use Organic Valley half & half with the little plastic cap/spout. It works well and is one less thing to clean up after the gig.

Sugar: 5 packets per 25 guests.

If you are worried about getting hit hard with coffee drinkers just double all of the above.


What causes air pockets in crepes? I am cooking crêpes using the basic recipe: 1 egg, 250 ml (8.5 oz) full-fat milk, 250 ml (8.5oz) water, 200 g (1.4 cup) regular wheat flour, a pinch of salt. I let it sit for an hour+ in the fridge before I start baking.
The taste is fine, but the texture is not consistent. Sometimes I get “lace” crêpes with small holes (1 mm), which is what I want. Sometimes I get crêpes with large air pockets, maybe 2-3 cm / 1" in diameter, 1 cm / 0.5" thick.
What am I doing wrong?

To me it looks like the crepe batter is sticking unevenly to the cooking surface. As the crepe cooks, steam is released from the bottom. In some areas the crepe sticks to the pan and prevents the steam from escaping; it gathers into bubbles. (As the crepe continues to cook, the surface dehydrates and proteins contract, releasing the crepe, so this doesn't necessarily lead to sticking when you attempt to flip the crepe.)
It's hard to tell from your photos, but I guess you're cooking on a cast iron skillet? Before you start cooking crepes, oil it and bring it to smoking temperature, then wipe with a dry paper towel and allow to cool to cooking temperature. Re-oil immediately before you start cooking the crepe. If there's any significant rough carbon deposits, try reseasoning.
Finally, if you like lacy crepes, try whisking the batter just before pouring it. The small bubbles are what cause the laciness, and they'll also act to release the pressure that would otherwise develop into large bubbles.