How to peel hard boiled eggs easily? This is one of the most annoying duties in the kitchen, for me.

What are yours tips and tricks to peel hard boiled eggs easily?

Buy almost-late eggs.

The worst-case scenario of egg-shelling is a farm-fresh egg. That annoying film that sticks to both the shell and to the egg will detach, the older the egg gets. The bubble at the fat end, too, will get bigger as the egg ages, which also makes the bottom cap pop off more easily.

Obviously, we don't want rotten eggs. We want the almost expired but not expired ones.
Roll the egg against the countertop, cracking it along the "equator".

This will give you lots of starting points, and it will weaken the shell in enough directions that the rest of the peeling becomes easier. Usually, the top and bottom caps come off in large and clean pieces, so don't bother cracking that part unless it sticks.
Start from the fat end of the egg.

After much experimenting, I've determined that starting from the bottom of the egg (the fat end) is the best way to do it. Give the egg one good whack on the countertop, and the bottom caves in quite easily. This gives you a really nice starting point. Now peel out from there in a spiraling pattern down the rest of the egg. The top cap still comes off quite easily in one big chunk, if the egg is old enough.


Why are my cookies spreading too much? More flour? My chocolate chip cookie recipe spreads too much, even after I refrigerate the dough overnight. I have looked into the different answers on this site, but nothing seems to be working consistently. I'm wondering if the amount of four I'm using is too little? Should I add some baking powder? I know softened butter helps, but I like the taste of melted better...and I do chill the dough.

Here are the ingredients I use:

280g all-purpose flour
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 sticks butter (melted)
1 C brown sugar
.5 C granulated
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg, 1 yolk
1.5 C chocolate chips

Any tips are appreciated.

It looks to me like you could be using too much butter. My recipe for chocolate chip cookies has this:

2 c flour  (this is ~240g)
1 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp b soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 or 2 c chocolate chips

Melted butter is supposed to make the cookies chewier than using softened. I'd reduce the butter to 1 stick + 2 Tablespoons (or even just 1 stick) and see how that works.

I'm also using twice the salt and twice the baking soda.  If reducing the butter doesn't work then I'd try increasing the baking soda.

The only other thing I can see is maybe the vanilla, which is 3 times what my recipe uses, adds too much liquid, but given that you're using 1 egg + 1 egg yolk compared to my 2 eggs, I think it's unlikely.


What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet? I just purchased a new cast iron skillet. What's the best way to season it?

And if I need to re-season an old pan, is the process any different?

First, there is no difference between seasoning and re-seasoning, unless you need to do some extra work to remove rust (see instructions below). In fact, for new cast iron, scouring is also usually a good idea since you need to get off whatever wax or protective oil the manufacturer or seller may have put onto the cookware. (They don't use cooking oil for that sort of thing, believe me.)

If you need to remove rust: use a mixture of salt and oil and scrub that hard into the rust, then rinse thoroughly in hot water. Use steel wool if necessary.

Next, scour the pan completely under hot water. Do this for several minutes or until the water runs clean. I've heard varying things about whether soap or an SOS pad is OK at this step. My personal opinion is that it's OK, but you must wash the soap completely off before continuing with the seasoning so that your seasoning doesn't taste like soap!

Coat the cookware with grease or oil. (I do this with the whole pan, not just the cooking surface, to reduce the possibility of external rust.) Crisco, vegetable oil, and lard all work well. Don't pick something with a low smoking point, or too strong a flavor. Make sure it's a light coating... you shouldn't have pools of oil anywhere on your cookware.

Bake your skillet in a 250 - 350 °F (121 - 178 °C) oven for an hour. If you used liquid oil, you may want to put the cookware in upside down so excess oil drips off. But it's good to put a cookie sheet or something underneath the cookware to catch the drips if you do!

Let the cookware cool, and wipe off any excess oil.

For best results, do this two or three times, though a skillet can be satisfactory after a single treatment.

To keep the seasoning happy:

Don't let the cast iron sit too long without using it (you may notice a rancid smell or flavor if the seasoning turns bad; I'm not sure at what point this happens, but it's happened to me before).

Don't cook anything acidic (e.g. tomatoes) during the first or second use of your pan.

Don't use dishwashing liquid or soap on the pan (hot water and scrubbing only).

After cleaning the pan after each use, wipe it lightly with another bit of oil, using simple vegetable oil.

Another trick sometimes used to season Chinese woks: rub Chinese chives over the surface of the cookware when the oil is being heated (this works best on a stovetop, not in the oven). The juice of the chive has sulfur compounds that help remove remaining flavor from the previous coating of the cookware. Be aware that this technique really kicks up a lot of steam and smoke. I've never tried it on cast iron skillets, but I'd be curious if anyone out there has.


How to clean burnt food from an unglazed tagine We recently cooked a beef stew in our unglazed earthenware tagine.  The food at the bottom of the dish burned a bit, and we're now left with a rather crusty mess that we don't know how to remove.  Is there any trick to softening up the remains so that they're easier to scrape away?  Soaking in hot water hasn't really helped.  We know that you can't use dish soap in a tagine, but is there something else that we can try—baking soda, maybe?  And in terms of abrading tools, is detergent-free steel wool OK or should we stick to the usual brushes, plastic scrubbers, and coarse-grained salt?

You might try cooking it loose.  Heat it up with plain water inside, even to boiling, and the combination of heat and soaking should loosen everything and make it easier to scrub out - especially if you scrape the bottom and stir occasionally as it boils.

Baking soda might help, sure - you might try hot vinegar and baking soda, boil vinegar and water, add baking soda, and let soak for a few hours.  Or you might try a baking soda paste, leave on stubborn stains a while and try cleaning afterwards.  Both possibilities are used for cleaning burnt food on pots, but it should also work for a tagine - I found one example of simmering hot water and baking soda in the tagine, which is another option.

Steel wool should be fine, though if you are worried about wear on the bottom of your tagine you can plan to use it infrequently, only for serious messes.  Clay is pretty hard stuff, so it shouldn't actually be a problem (I use steel wool on my tagine, and the unglazed portions don't show any wear), but if you are worried just remember to scrub gently and let the abrasion slowly wear the residue away, instead of scrubbing hard.  Other brushes and scrubbers should also be fine, though you might want long handles or heat resistance if you're going to pair scrubbing with simmering the residue soft.

Also, from what I've read, unglazed tagines are supposed to be seasoned with oil - not quite like cast iron, it involves soaking thoroughly, coating with oil, and heating at a low heat so the evaporation of the water pulls the oil into the pores of the clay.  If your tagine was seasoned, it should be able to stand surface washing with soapy water - the danger is if the soap soaks into the pores of the clay, which an oil seasoning should prevent, especially if it's a brief wash not a prolonged soak and you rinse well.  Up to you if you want to risk it or not, but it might help.

As a side note, there's nothing wrong with soaking a tagine...seasoning one requires prolonged soaking, in fact, and many sites suggest it for stubborn cleaning.  I'm not sure what was said to GdD, but I've never heard anything against soaking.


Homemade chicken nuggets: How to keep the breadcrumbs from falling off I've tried several times to make chicken nuggets. Basically, I've tried coating a small piece of chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs (and various combinations). However, when I bake them, or the first time I turn them over, the breadcrumbs on the underside usually come off.

Is there a method of preventing this from happening?

Here's recipe/tips my husband, a nugget master, uses, may be of help. Good luck!!

First he soaks chicken strips in a shallow dish of milk in the fridge for 30+ minutes.
Lift up the strip, let excess milk drip off (but not too long, you want it still to be wet) then dip the strip in a beaten egg mix and drop in your crumb/breading mix.

He uses a store-bought mix (ie, Shake-N-Bake, both bags), but to that he adds a goodly amount of plain matzoh meal. This stretches the crumb mix, allowing a thicker coating and cuts the extreme saltiness of the packaged crumb mixes. You'll find boxes of matzoh meal in your store's kosher aisle. If you wait till after Passover (Easter time, more or less) it'll often be on clearance! (I picked up 3 boxes of the stuff for $0.50/box, last April, now we're set for the year!) If you can't find matzoh meal, you can use crushed up saltine (plain) crackers, just be sure they're unsalted.

For the baking, take a baking sheet, cover it with aluminum foil (for easy-peasy clean up after baking, as some crumbs and fat/juice will drip down onto the sheet!) Atop this, set a wire rack or grill, ideally the grid kind (we use the same rack normally used for cookie cooling-- it's wire feet set right on top of any kind of baking sheet, rim or no rim!), so that the raw chicken pieces won't slip thru. Lastly, spray the wire rack with a light coating of Pam or other aerosol cooking spray. This helps the chicken pieces stick less & release more easily after baking.
So, after coating, set each piece on the grill/baking sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 350 F (175 C) for 30 minutes. If you like your chicken super-crunchy and on the slightly "drier" side like we do, you can add 5 minutes more at the end with your oven turned to "broil" (high broil). Also, note, the smaller your chicken pieces, the more crunch they'll cook up, but you'll also use more crumb coating to make them (hence the matzoh crumbs!)
After baking, let the chicken cool on the wire rack without disturbing for 5-10 minutes. This is crucial as the meat will be mushy/flimsy until it's proteins have cooled and coagulated (firmed up). Once cooled a bit, they should pop right off the wire rack more or less intact!


What are good tips for an oven that is too hot at the bottom? I am cooking various food at home in a new oven that I am kind of stuck with. We're renting and this is the only oven we have at the moment. It has four gas stoves at the top.

The oven is fan assisted but it is a cheap fan and an old grill and oven. Daewoo Cooker DCG5050SI

Basically it burns all my baked dishes. Burns the bottom of the cakes. I always make brownies, cookies and various cakes and no matter what I have tried--the different shelf rack, placing an extra tin. Nothing helps. My cakes always burn at the bottom.
What are some tips to prevent this? I've even tried to cut the cake half way or at the end - and ended up with messy food.

I'm a person that goes on vacation and bakes bread. As such, I have met a few terrible ovens around the world, and temporarily improved most of them to work better...

Grab a roll of aluminum foil (heavy duty is nice if you have it, or if you don't have any are are buying a roll with this in mind.)

On the bottom oven shelf, come in a few wires from the sidewalls (to allow some air circulation) and crimp on one end of a long sheet of foil - this sheet will be shiny side down, hung below the shelf, and attached to the shelf again in a similar location on the far side of the oven. You'll probably need two sheets (one for the front, one for the back) and should leave a similar small gap at front and back for some circulation, while keeping the centers tight or overlapped.

You can get much of the effect (but not quite as well, or as "semi=permanently") by putting foil, shiny-side down, on the bottom of your baking pans. If either is is not enough by itself, do both. It should help a lot.


Does searing meat lock in moisture? I just saw a claim to this end in another thread, and it is perpetuated about the internet and in many cookbooks.

So: Is it true? Does making a nice crust (maillard reaction) on a roast seal in juice and yield a juicer end product?

No. As you noted, searing beef performs what's called the Maillard Process (or Reaction) which is a specific form of caramelization. Nothing is "sealed" into the meat because the meat isn't sealed by the process. It's still porous and will therefore leech moisture during cooking. You can retain moisture in cooked beef by buying quality beef and not cooking it beyond medium-rare to medium.


What's the best option for water for tea in the office? When making tea at home, I have all the equipment I need to make a fine cup of tea. In the office, however, my options are more limited. It seems my sources for hot water are:

Straight from the tap
From the "hot" dispenser on the water cooler
Microwave in styrofoam
A Keurig without a K-cup
A hot water/coffee dispenser (don't know how to describe this--looks a bit like the commercial milk dispensers you sometimes find in cafeterias)

My criteria for evaluating these sources would be:

Purity
Temperature
Dissolved Oxygen

Oh, and one of the pieces of equipment that I lack is a thermometer.

A couple of observations

Though there is no shortage of oxygen, the tap was right out for purity and temperature.
I tried using the water cooler's hot tap for a while, but, based on dead reckoning, it just doesn't seem hot enough.
I've heard that you're supposed to leave styrofoam out of the microwave, so I've skipped over that so far. Perhaps that is good material for a follow-up question. I suppose I could get it as hot as I want, and lose no more oxygen than would be expected at that temperature.
The Keurig is what I've been using most recently, which seems closer than the water cooler, but the machine itself claims to max out at 192 F, and I'd prefer something a bit hotter if possible. Additionally, the method the coffee maker uses to heat the water makes me wonder if any dissolved oxygen is driven off in the process.
Lastly the water/coffee dispenser. These are huge commercial coffee makers, essentially, and one of them simply doesn't get coffee grounds added. They've got to be at least five gallons each, and I doubt they're refilled until they're used up. I imagine a water line runs straight to the machine, but, clearly, there is a lot of speculation here. This is also the one method that I would have to pay for, which I'd be willing to do, but only if this source is better than the rest. It's also farthest from my desk.

So, what's the best option I have for a good cup of tea in the office?

Either buy a cheap electric kettle, or if you are really fussed about not re-boiling water then shell out a bit more for one of the single cup hot water dispensers like the Tefal Quick Cup or the Breville Hot Cup.

We have both a cheap kettle and a Breville Hot Cup in our office. The kettle is good for making cups for multiple people at the same time, the Hot Cup is good for a single person.


Frozen yogurt with inverted sugar I wanna make frozen yogurt from homemade yogurt. I heard that inverted sugar can help prevent crystallization so I want to add it to my yogurt, because I don't want rock-hard frozen yogurt and I just want to use purely just yogurt and sweeteners, no gelatin, alcohol, cream or anything else added. I have some questions:

Should I add inverted sugar at the beginning before incubation? Or after, when my yogurt is firm?
Is it ok if I use homemade inverted sugar (the version made with sugar, water and lemon juice)? Should I replace all the amount of sugar by inverted sugar? I doubt that inverted sugar is sweeter than normal sugar and corn syrup (what I can't find in the supermarket where I live unfortunately).

Thank you very much for your comments.

Yes, you’re right, invert sugar slows down the crystal formation and improves the texture of frozen products.

The way I use invert sugar in most frozen products is as a direct substitutue for the added sugar; for the frozen yogurt, it is no exception. You can just follow your recipe and replace the sugar with invert sugar by 80% to 100% of the weight of the original amount of the sugar.

Since the bonds between the glucose and fructose are broken, invert sugar is sweeter. It's of course a matter of taste, but I don’t think you'll notice a very big difference, even if you replace it 1:1.


What causes congealed bacon fat to have a wrinkly surface? Earlier this week I refrigerated some rendered bacon fat in a small metal prep bowl, for later use. Today, after making bacon again, I went to add more grease and saw a surprising texture on the surface of the congealed fat (click for full 2592x1456 resolution):

If it's not clear from the picture, the surface is very wrinkly, with the edges significantly raised---it looks like it expanded unevenly as it solidified, but this would seem to indicate the presence of water. Water and fat, of course, don't mix and it looks totally homogeneous.

I've stored bacon fat plenty of times before and it always had a smooth surface after solidifying---schmaltz tends to be a bit less smooth but still a flat surface. When I look at pictures online, such as in this blog post, I also see nothing but smooth, flat fat.

I don't think I did anything different this time. I've used these metal prep bowls and I've used glass bowls. Does the way it solidifies say something about the quality of the bacon, how the fat was rendered or how it was stored?

It has been in there for 3 or 4 days and we haven't had any earthquakes or step-dancing parties.

Here's the same 60 mL prep bowl with more fat from the same package of bacon added this morning, on top of the older fat, after sitting for ~30 minutes in the fridge---no longer wrinkly! This seems to rule out the particular batch of bacon as an influence.

Even though you strained your fat while it was hot there is still micro-particles of bacon proteins left in the fat.  These particles hold their heat longer than the rest of the fat as its cooling, and rise to the top, and as it solidifies create the texture and slight color change.


Little maggots on top of my home-made apple cider vinegar, is it bad? This was my first attempt at making apple-cider-vinegar at home. I did this all following a tutorial from YouTube. I simply cut a few apples and put them in a clean jar with sugar+water. I set the lid over the jar but did not tighten so as to allow some airflow. Then, I just kept it untouched for about two weeks.

Up until two days ago, there used to be messy white foam/scum on the surface. And the jar looked a little messy on the top due to that. Today I noticed it is all clean at the top, then when I looked closely I found these tiny maggots lurking all around the top of the jar.

Is this batch completely ruined? What must have I done wrong? Is it salvageable?

Am I right to think that some sort of tiny flies must have found a way inside the jar (since the lid was intentionally not tightened)? Also I don't see these guys below the surface.

I wouldn't even try to salvage this. It's not worth it.

The two main problems I see are:

You don't have enough liquid. There should be enough water and apple juice that apples can drown in it.
Even with a lid on, there should be a gauze under or over it. Like in the old pictures of a jar with anything sweet.

Because those maggots probably originated from fruit flies (or regular flies) that were lured with the sweet scent. And you won't see them under the surface as flies don't lay eggs in water.

The foam/scum would be natural as your mixture started to ferment.


Can I get drunk by evaporating steam of alcohol? If I boil a bit alcohol in a pot, can I get drunk by inhaling the evaporating mixture?

Does the steam of alcohol still include any alcohol?

Yes, you can. You can definitely become intoxicated, but this is not advised. When you drink alcohol, it is absorbed through the lining of your digestive system and passes through the bloodstream to reach your brain. This means that the alcohol will be buffered by the contents of your digestive system, getting you drunk more gradually. When inhaled, the alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the lungs, so intoxication will happen much more quickly, not giving you time to "back off" if you think you've had too much.


Can I just skip the hot sauce when making buffalo sauce? I've looked for the buffalo wings recipe, trying to find a way to make it from scratch, and came up with recipes revolving around this sort of ingredients:

3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt to taste
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
---
1 1/3 cup Frank's red hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

The recipes vary but about all include Frank's red hot sauce. I can't easily obtain it here so I checked its ingredients:

White vinegar
Cayenne Red Peppers
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Salt,
Canola Oil
Natural Butter Type Flavor
---
Water
Xanthan Gum

Compare to the list above. Butter substituted with butter-flavored canola oil. Xanthan gum. Water.

Essentially, this looks like the buffalo sauce could be made from ~3 cups of Frank's red hot sauce and half a teaspoon of Worcestershire. Or I could just skip the bought hot sauce and double the rest of ingredients, except Worcestershire. Maybe add a bit of xanthan gum to make the sauce stick to the wings better.

Is that it? The recipe first duplicating the sauce, then adding more of the sauce on top of it for no good reason? Or did I miss something?

The Frank's sauce is thickened (the xanthan gum) so your sauce might be runnier. That's easy to fix with a thickener of your choice. I'd probably use arrowroot or cornflour (corn starch to Americans) because I've got them in the cupboard.  Arrowroot gives a clearer sauce but you don't want to boil it or the thickening properies will be reduced.

The bought sauce is also likely to be cooked for longer, allowing the flavours to mix, while at least one of your links only heats the final sauce briefly.  That's also easy to fix by cooking a little longer.

Looking at the proportions, it seems like a slightly thinned Frank's sauce with extra butter rather than a sauce flavoured with Frank's.  That doesn't affect the conclusion that it's possible to make your own.


What does it mean to 'salt' a steak prior to frying? I see some references on this site to 'salting' a steak before frying it. What does this mean? Should I coat the steak in salt? I can imagine that would result in a very salty steak!

Yes that's exactly what it means, apply salt to the steak. You shouldn't coat it, but you should apply salt very liberally. It's actually hard to over-salt a steak; many inexperienced cooks actually underseason the steak.

I suggest about 1 tsp per side for a good ribeye. Salt it about 10-15 minutes prior.


Himalayan salt in place of table salt I know you can use pink Himalayan salt for cooking, but I'm wondering if you can use it directly on food after it has been cooked, can you put it on steak or fries after they're cooked, as you would normal table salt?

Yes, you can, and this the way you are most likely to exsperience the textural difference of this type of salt; most people cannot detect any flavor difference for various mineralized or natural salts under test conditions, but this is the manner it is most likely to make a perceptible difference in flavor.


Can I substitute bread flour with all purpose for hot water crusts? Many recipe for a hot water crust I have seen calls for something like 15%-20% of the flour to be bread flour? Is going AP flour fine, or do I need to do more/something else to make the substitute?

The hot water method is all about making gluten (flour strength) ineffective, so using bread flour has very doubtful merit. A recipe insisting on its use might have other problems (baking too hot or too long, having too high or too uneven thickness (use a rolling pin, period), or using too little fat) that it tries to compensate by using strong flour. Note that fat content is essential - medieval style hot water crusts that used little or no fat were intended as a food preserving shell, not as an edible part of the dish.


Frothing Milk: Variations by Milk Type? I froth my milk using the steam wand on my espresso machine.  With a national-brand organic whole milk, I am able to get a perfect micro foam nearly 100% of the time.  However, when I instead use a local, grass-fed, organic whole milk (whose flavor I prefer to the national brand), I am only able to produce a perfect micro foam about 20% of the time.  What could be causing this?  Could it be differences in the fat content?  (They are both labeled "whole".)  Does it have something to do with the fact that the national brand was likely from grain/corn-fed cows, whereas the local brand is grass-fed?

Update: The local milk is homogenized and pasteurized.  It does not say anything about ultra-pasteurization (i.e., HTST vs. ESL).  The "national brand" milk is homogenized and apparently comes in both "pasteurized" and "ultra-pasteurized" forms.  I'm not sure which one I usually get, but if I had to guess I'd say it's ultra-pasteurized (i.e., ultra-heat treated) because the national brand usually has a sell-by date at least a week after the local milk's expiration. According to their nutrition labels, both have the exact same nutritional content except:

Sugar (per cup)National: 11gLocal: 12g
Cholesterol (per cup)National: 30mgLocal: 35mg
Vitamin C (% of Daily Value per cup)National: 0%Local: 4%
Vitamin A (% of Daily Value per cup)National: 4%Local: 6%

Protein content is reported as identical.

Update #2: As I mentioned in a comment to TFD's answer, I let the local milk age for several days and now I seem to be getting better results (although I am now at the cusp of its sell-by date).  Perhaps there is some psychological effect going on and I am paying more attention to my technique now, though.  If in fact this success is due to the aging, can anyone explain why? What happens over time that allows the milk to froth better?

Check how much protein your milk contains, that makes the main difference in the behaviour of the milk during frothing. See CoffeeGeek for a more detailed explanation.


Fresh or smoked sausage in Jambalaya? Jambalaya calls for either Andouille or Chorizo sausage.

Is this sausage meant to be fresh or smoked?

Fresh ... needs to take on the flavor of the sausage


active dry yeast vs instant yeast This Mediterranean breakfast bun recipe calls for active dry yeast which is dissolved in tepid milk. What should I change if I use instant yeast instead?

  Mediterranean Style Breakfast Buns (Yield: 12)

  1 3/4 oz. (50 g) fresh yeast
     1 cup + 1 tablespoon (250 ml) tepid milk
  1/4 cup (60 g) regular sugar
  1/4 cup (50 ml) sunflower oil
  3 1/2 oz. (100 g) feta cheese , crumbled
  1 medium boiled potato,
  grated   2 1/2 cup (315 g) all-purpose flour
  1 teaspoon salt

Active dry yeast and instant yeast are pretty much interchangeable in recipes (although instant may have somewhat more activity that an equal amount of active dry)

However, your recipe calls for fresh yeast.  The general rule of thumb (referenced here) is to divide the amount of fresh yeast by 3 to convert to active dry or instant yeast.  Your recipe would therefore call for a little more than 1/2 oz of dry.  That would be about 2 packets (or 4 1/2 teaspoons) of active dry or instant.


What is blind baking? I am making a quiche. The recipe tells me to "blind bake" the crust at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. What is "blind baking"? Is it anything more complicated than baking something partially?

To avoid making this a general reference question: why is it necessary to blind bake things? And, why is it called "blind" baking?

Blind baking is indeed just baking without a filling — it can be fully or partially.  Typically you do this because your filling will either need to bake for a shorter time than your crust (a quiche for example) or not at all (a pie filled with some kind of pre cooked/set custard).  It can also be done to help 'set' a crust against a filling that will make it rather soggy.

Oftentimes you will want something neutral in the shell to keep it from becoming a big bubbly, puffed up crust. This may be in the form of formal 'pie weights' or just a piece of parchment paper and some dry beans will suffice.

I have no idea why it's called blind baking, but the English.SE site is notoriously good at word origins.


How to preserve eggplants/brinjals? How can eggplant be preserved? I would like to preserve it for a month or more, if possible.

There's a Sicilian preservation of eggplant called Melanzane Sott’Olio.  It's similar to giardiniera, but after pickling, you pack it in oil.

Because of the botulism risk of putting garlic in oil, it's considered risky for long-term storage (more than a week, and that's refrigerated), even though it was used in Sicily for generations.  You might be able to replace the garlic with something safer, or omit it entirely.


Two identical dishes - how do I adjust temp and time for two 9x13 pans instead of just one? Two identical dishes - how do I adjust temp and time for two 9x13 pans instead of just one? It calls for one being baked at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Likely no adjustment is necessary if they fit in your oven with good circulation.  If it is a tight fit, you might want to add a few minutes, and/or rotate them halfway through the cooking.  Your best approach is to simply measure the temperature of your product around the 45 minute mark and adjust from there.


Can I really put frozen ramekins in a preheated oven? I found a make-ahead chocolate souffle recipe that calls for freezing prepared ramekins and then pulling them out (without thawing) and baking in a preheated 400F oven. Isn't that a bad idea, risking cracking the ramekins from the thermal stress?

The recipe is originally from America's Test Kitchen (paywalled, sorry), so I'd expect it to be pretty trustworthy, but this seems a bit scary!

I wouldn't worry about it too much -- those cold ramekins are still going to heat up relatively slowly over minutes.

Dunking super hot ramekins into cold water, on the other hand, will cool them down in a matter of seconds which is where you're more likely to experience catastrophic thermal shock.


Will collagen, gelatine and mineral nutrients be lost when fat is removed from broth? For nutritional reasons, i am making a large amount of chicken & bone broth. I use a whole chicken, and simmer it in a large pot for about 24 hours.

Currently however, i do not wish to ingest as much fat. I learned that chicken broth will contain approximately 10-15% fat.

I could easily remove/separate the fat from the broth, but i am concerned as to whether i would then also lose the collagen, gelatine, mineral and other nutrients.

The question is therefore: are these contained in the fat? Or are they to be found in the liquid itself?

Most of what you're interested is in the water/broth, not the fat.

This is especially obvious for the gelatin; the whole reason that broth has that nice mouthfeel and thickens or gels when chilled is that it's full of gelatin. The other proteins and nutrients are just as water-soluble.

You may end up with some particles mixed into the fat, so it might not be pure fat, but it's pretty close.


Can I substitute condensed milk for evaporated milk in icing? My icing recipe for German chocolate cake pecan icing calls for evaporated milk, but I only have condensed milk. Can I use the condensed milk instead?

If so, do I need to make any adjustments to it?

Yes you can.

If you have unsweetened condensed milk, that is another name for evaporated milk and they are interchangeable.

If you have sweetened condensed milk, you can use one 14 oz can to replace one cup of evaporated milk and one cup of granulated sugar.


Is there a way to safely can pesto sauce? I grow basil and I have enough that I would like to can some pesto sauce.

I have tried to find a way to can it but I keep hitting a wall.

I would like to give a few cans of pesto to people for Christmas.

Can anyone help me?

I've never seen canned pesto, nor do I know if there is a way to do it safely. I will propose an alternate solution. Have you thought about freezing it? I've had pesto given to me as a gift before, but it was made as normal then frozen in a canning jar. It worked great.

Did some more digging and eventually came across this, from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. In summary, the oil and herb mixture is too low of an acid to prevent development of nasty bacteria.

See similar questions regarding storing/canning stuff in oil for more about why it might be dangerous:
 - Garlic Infused Oil
 - Peppers and Oil


Deep frying corn kernels starts busting/exploding in oil I tried to prepare a recipe of crispy fried corn. I coated the corn kernels with corn starch, but the starch didn't stick to the corn kernels properly, so when I deep-fried them in hot oil they started popping, bursting.

It sounds to me like you are accidentally making popcorn, which is a result of hot gasses building up inside the hull of the kernel. Fresh kernels typically have a tougher hull than frozen or canned, both of which use methods that weaken the hull. Freezing the corn causes growing ice crystals to damage cells. Canned corn is boiled, which both seals the can and cooks the corn, softening it.
Here's some things you can do to fix your problems:
Boil the corn
Boiling would solve your popping problem, as the pre-cooked corn's hull would be soft, enough to release the moisture from inside, or only just split rather than have the entire kernel pop. It would also fix the issue with the cornstarch not adhering to the kernels, as the softer (and now wet) corn would be more prone to releasing it's inner moisture.

Boil the fresh corn for 3 - 4 minutes or until soft
Transfer corn into a colander or a sieve to remove excess water. Excess water might cause the cornstarch to clump together.

Freeze the corn
Freezing the corn beforehand would also soften it, just make sure to fully defrost and drain the corn (see above).
Fry the corn on a lower temperature
Your oil might just be too hot, causing the higher moisture inside to cook and expand faster than the husk, which could cause popping.


Why do my salmon fish cakes break up in frying? We make salmon fish cakes from a mix of canned fish, cooked potatoes and eggs mixed in a food processor. They are then deep fried. We find that the first batch are fine. The second batch comes out much looser and parts can even break off in the frying. Why is this and what can be done to stop it?

In order to get fried cakes to stick together, they want to be cold when they go in to the oil. This allows them to congeal so that they are more solid. If you are leaving your ingredients out while frying or if there are warm ingredients giving off steam, this could explain the slow degradation with each batch. Once they're done in the food processor, put them in the fridge (or freezer) to cool them. Pull out just enough for a single batch at any one time.


Scalloped potatoes and oven fried pork copsihave scl I have scalloped potatoes that need to cook at 450 for 25 minutes and ocean fried pork chops that need to cook at 425 for 25 minutes.  How much longer will scalloped potatoes need to cook at 425?

Potatoes are forgiving; they can bake longer.

the temperature difference between 425 and 450 is not big, i would expect them to take about the same time.

To be on the safe side, I would put the potatoes 15 minutes before the pork and bake them up nicely and take them out when they are ready.

curious what is "ocean fried pork chops" ? I assume it's a typo for "oven fried pork chops" ?


How does sunlight degrade cooking oil? Why exactly is it recommended to store cooking oil away from sunlight? How does sunlight accelerate spoilage?

The main enemy of oil is oxidation, which is the reaction of the constituent molecules with oxygen. How fast oxidation occurs will depend on the type of oil you consider. For example, unsaturated fat oxidizes faster than saturated. Therefore oils with higher content of unsaturated fat tend to oxide faster.

Since oxidation is a reaction, it changes the chemical content of the oil. Oxidation is measured in the industry by looking at the molecules that were not there originally. More specifically, they differentiate primary, secondary and tertiary oxidation, each associated with the presence of certain subproducts of oxidation, in increasing order of complexity.

The fact is that if you go to the lab and take two samples of the same oil, leave it in the same room for the same time, one protected from sunlight and the other exposed, and after you measure oxidation according to the criteria aforementioned, you will observe that the exposed oil will have a higher concentration of secondary oxidation chemicals than the protected one.

Oxided oil might not be completely spoiled, but it definitively changes some of its 'nice' properties.

The crude underlying reason is the photoelectric effect: light can excite electrons and make molecules more reactive. If you are interested in more chemistry details I would recommend reading this paper or this simpler one, that explain also the role of other factors such as humidity, temperature, etc.


Balance overly sweet liqueurs When dealing with particularly sweet liqueurs, in particular Midori (a very sweet melon flavored liqueur), I tend to find their sugary nature overpowering the rest of the drink. What is the best way to balance this out, while still retaining the flavor components of the liqueur?

The options I've considered:

Use less of the offending liqueur. This tends to be the simplest option, but I also lose out in the addition of flavor to my drink.
Saltiness. Rimming the glass with salt works great with tropical style drinks such as Margaritas, but seems a bit out of place for more urban cocktails.
Tartness. This seems like the best option, but which direction to take? Lemon or cranberry juice are my first impressions, especially when working on top of a base liquor.

The first thing you have to remember is that you're never going to make an extremely sweet liqueur with a delicate flavor, like an amaretto or melon liqueur, into something it's not. You can complement or supplement, but you'll never mix a Midori drink that loses the sugar while keeping the melon flavor in the forefront; you'll either have to live with the sweet note or you'll cover the melon if not blow it away completely.

The recipe I always use when experimenting with cocktails is "two parts strong, one part sweet, one part sour". You pick a mother liquor (your 80- to 150-proof "base"), add a sweet note, usually a sweet liqueur like a curacao or amaretto, or a syrup like grenadine, then balance it with a sour note like citrus juice, pomegranate juice, or sour liqueurs like limoncello, sour apple, sour cherry, etc). This usually, if you choose em right, gives you something close to the flavor palate you were after when you chose the three parts; then you can tweak the proportions to balance the individual ingrediants' strengths and weaknesses.

For instance, tequila, triple sec and lime juice in these proportions makes a decent "up" margarita, but many will find it too strong and a bit sour; the traditional mix is 7-4-3, which compared to the 8-4-4 (2-1-1) experimental mix brings out the sweet but also-citrusy triple sec a bit more.

Back to the case in point; Midori is your "sweet", and it definitely is so. It's also on the fruity side, so you can either complement it with herbs or cream, or supplement it with more fruit, but don't try to make Midori something it isn't with something like smoke or earth (translated; stay away from whisky unless you're willing to drink your mistakes). Lemon/lime juice is usually a winner as a strong fruity sour note. Pomegranate juice is less powerfully acid, but also less citrusy, so if you don't want it to taste like a lemon lollipop you can give it a try. The problem is that mixing red and green gives you brown, so it won't be particularly attractive. I've used vinegar-based liquids as a sour before (try vodka, vermouth and pickle juice sometime) but it's not the right note for Midori. Chambord (black raspberry; generally more tart than sweet) could be promising; never tried it. Chambord is 33 proof and Midori is 46; those are different enough in specific gravity (as a rule, higher proofs are lighter and sugar is heavier) that if you're careful, you can layer them Midori over Chambord, which makes a Christmas Shot (red and green).

Bitter can also counter sweet, but you have to be REAL careful; forget the 2-1-1 mix and just put your strong and sweet together, then add a dash of bitter at a time until it balances. Campari is an option (the "Sloppy P***y", if you dare to Google that term, has Midori battling Campari and gin among other things), but I've never cared for it as a mixer and don't keep it in my personal cabinet. Anise-flavored drinks, such as Galliano, ouzo or absynthe, have a bitter note as well as some colors and other properties that could make an interesting looking drink. Most people forget that chocolate is actually a bitter flavor, and it's only candy because chocolatiers slurry up the cocoa in a heap of sugar, cream and butter. You can try a dark chocolate liqueur like Mozart, Sabra or Godiva Dark, mixed with Midori and/or a base like white rum or vodka (again, try layering them when you see a difference more than about 10 proof; you're playing with a nice vivid green here, so let it show).

There's nothing wrong with keeping it on the sweet side, either. Cream can complement sweet nicely without adding more sweet or trying to take it away. Bailey's does add more sugar, so be careful with that one. Milk/cream, vanilla ice cream etc are all good avenues to add a cream note while keeping Midori's melon flavor and not making it sickeningly sugary. The Green Russian is a take on the White Russian (vodka, Kahlua, milk) substituting Midori for Kahlua. Bols Parfait d'Amour (they start with blue curacao and add vanilla, almond and rosehips which make it purple) is 54 proof, so it'll layer on top of Midori, making a Mardi Gras.

Sodas will add a little acid, a little bitter and a little sweet, and are good to water down the syrupy consistency of Midori. Midori and ginger ale and an M7 (Midori and 7-Up) are obvious choices; I'd stay away from cola as you'll descent back into syrupy sweet land again. Try adding Midori to a vodka spritzer (club soda or tonic water) to sweeten it a bit.

Stay away from other syrupy-sweet ingredients. Grenadine is a no-no unless you're layering a shot and need a heavy red. Midori and amaretto generally have the same place in the profile, so one is typically used instead of the other to change up a drink.

Despite anything I say to do or not do, you'll find an example of something that works if you look hard enough. For instance, there is a Scotch and Midori drink called a Wicked Sky, and a generic whiskey/Midory cocktail called a Midtown Muse, both of which mix pit whisky against Midori which I recommended against. The Quick F**k is a layered shot of Baileys, Kahlua and Midori, mixing the sweet fruit of Midori with extra sweet and cream in the Bailey's against earthy Kahlua coffee tones.


What is the difference between Yoghurt and Curd They taste almost same. Are they different?

A curd is a transitional element obtained, once milk starts to coagulate, the other being a water substance called whey. These are separated and cheese can later be made from the curd, via the addition of other ingredients, such as rennet. Or in the case of cottage cheese and paneer, an acid.

Yoghurt is a finished product, produced by by heating milk, then adding a live 'starter' culture. It's then kept at a stable warm temperature for a number of hours, followed by cooling.


Will botulism growing in my home-canned vegetables pop the lid? I remember that in my biology class in high school the teacher told showed us a puffed up can of pineapples which he claimed had botulism in it.

Is that remotely true? and if so, can I tell if my canned ketchup has botulism in it through the same "method"? and if so how long might that take?

One reason botulism is so scary is that you can's see, smell, or taste the bacteria growing in there. The only way to know for sure if botulism is growing in food is to have it tested by a laboratory.

Fortunately, though, you can see its evidence.

Yes, a puffed-up can or a jar w/ the lid popped up means something's growing in there. Discard the material; do not consume it.

Discard a metal can if there's any visible opening, no matter how small, if the ends are bulging, if the seam doesn't look intact, or if there's a leak.

Discard a jar if the jar appears cracked at all, if the pop-top doesn't pop when opened (meaning there's no longer a vacuum inside), or if the seal appears damaged.

As for how long it takes for a problem to arise, I'm not sure; I've had the same question.


How to develop a butterscotch flavor in a savory sauce There's a restaurant near my house that serves a thin sauce with their steaks that tastes almost like a spicy, savory butterscotch sauce.  The chef won't tell me anything about what's in his secret sauce.

Has anyone else had a savory dish that includes butterscotch flavors?  And does anyone know what ingredients and/or techniques can be used to develop these flavors?

Most likely, brown sugar and butter is the base. Salted butterscotch is quite nice as a dessert; you could easily add spices as it cools, and potentially dilute it with oil, cream or wine; it doesn't tend to taste very sweet when salted, anyway, if the brown sugar is sufficiently caramelized.

Alternatively, you might just be encountering a brown butter, which is butter cooked until the milk solids slightly brown. Usually this is strained with a fine mesh to separate some of the solids, but not always. Salt and pepper can be added for flavor, not to mention other possibilities. I've often made brown butter by cooking it with fresh sage until the sage crisps, then removing the herbs as the butter finishes browning.


Making (or substitute for) ricotta cheese? Some of my favorite dishes call for ricotta cheese, be it anything from a lasagna to cannoli. Arguably, this is a very easy thing to find in the States (and presumably elsewhere), so I'd never thought about it. But, living in Japan, I have yet to find it anywhere - supermarkets, import shops, or cheese shops. (Mind you, cheese is a pretty rare thing here, and a delicacy at that.)

So, being unable to buy it anywhere, what are my options? Is there a substitution I can try, or is it something I can make at home?

Joe mentioned tofu as a ricotta substitute when making cannoli; I recommend it for lasagna as well.

I love my mom's lasagna, and I only found out as an adult that she uses soft tofu instead of ricotta. Now, I do the same.


can you make marmalade using sous vide? Since making marmalade involves cooking fruit and pectin and juices at a particular temperature for a specified amount of time, can you use sous vide to mimic this process and make and can marmalade in this way?

It depends on what you are planning to do.

If you want to get shelf-stable marmalade without a strict canning process, the answer is absolutely no. This kind of marmalade means that you're basically cooking a concentrated sugar syrup, and you have to keep it at the boiling point in an open vessel for a sufficient time for the water to evaporate.

If you want to use a modern marmalade recipe for canning, the answer is also practically no. Canning recipes have to be tested for safety, and are only safe if prepared exactly as prescribed. If it is made for stovetop, you can't guarantee that all relevant parameters will stay the same. Theoretically, it's conceivable that some experts will design a recipe specifically for sous vide and will test it properly before publishing it. If you have found such a recipe and trust it, then you could follow it. But I think they are very unlikely to exist, given the cost/benefit ratio of both the design process and of making the marmalade itself.

If shelf stability is not needed, then the answer becomes yes. You can experiment away with cooking a marmalade in a sous vide machine, either starting from a traditional stovetop recipe, or designing your own. From the viewpoint of food safety, the result will have to be kept in the fridge and eaten within 5 days.


A different name for Manitoba flour? I'm currently in Greece, I'm trying to find some Manitoba flour but it seems nobody here have ever even heard the name. And I asked in bakeries and restaurants, too, just to be sure to find it.

What a different "term" for Manitoba could be? I already checked for the translation and even the Greek term is widely unknown; on the other hand I've had people telling me about flour 75%, flour 50%, and so on. So, maybe they just use a different term at all for the Manitoba flour? (I seriously doubt it, but...I can't come up with anything better)

You need what Anglo-Saxon countries call "bread flour". The wheat for bread flour is not cultivated in Europe, so European bakers tended to import small amounts from Canada and call it "Manitoba flour". The term is falling out of use nowadays, at least I have not seen it much in the newer literature.

If you can buy bread flour somewhere, that's good, but chances are that it is not available at all. Else you can 1) add gluten, or 2) make the recipe nevertheless and live with the fact that it is slightly different, or 3) choose a different recipe. All the countries which don't use bread flours still have enjoyable breads and pizzas, so it is doable.


Other Wagyu cuts beyond steaks I recently had the pleasure of a Wagyu sirloin steak and was blown away by the flavour and texture. At the cost it's not exactly the type of food you could have every week but what I wanted to know is are the cheaper cuts of Wagyu as different in flavour and texture as the prime cuts like sirloin and ribeye.

Is it worth trying to source Wagyu shin or brisket or are they similar to other good quality beefs?

In my opinion the other cuts of Wagyu beef are equally more tasty than its domestic counterpart. So if you are comparing a USDA triple A piece of brisket with a Wagyu brisket the taste difference will be the same as the Wagyu sirloin compared to the USDA triple A sirloin. Whether it is worth the money or not is debatable, but if money is not an issue why not try sourcing the cheaper meats if such a description could be applied to a Wagyu beef cut.

I would consider the recipe you are planning to use these cheaper cuts for though; my point in this is if you are gettings shins for a stew are you really going to preserve the flavor of the meat enough to make it worth the price.

I could see smoking a nice Wagyu brisket though. If you decide to experiment I would love to hear your opinion.

I have had the sirloin, ribeye, and a brisket not smoked :/ and they have all been better comparatively to their domestic counterparts. I have not had all cuts of Wagyu beef, so my opinion is limited to what I have experienced.


What to order at a Japanese restaurant? We would be visiting a Japanese restaurant this weekend. However we are completely clueless what should we order this being our first time. Could you suggest something for beginners?  Normally we prefer Indian cuisine and sometimes Chinese as well. To change our monotonous eating habits we decided to visit this place. Any suggestions?

Most restaurants, especially if they offer a particular cuisine, will welcome you with open arms if you simply admit that this is your first time for trying this particular food.

There are many kinds of Japanese restaurants. It is not possible to recommend what to order, because depending on the type of restaurant they may not have it on the menu.

But if you explain to the wait staff that you do not have any previous experience with this establishment and would like some advice on what might be a good choice, I'm sure that any restaurant will be happy to make recommendations. They should ask you if you prefer meat or fish or if you like your food spicy or mild. Then they should point out suitable items on the menu for you to consider.


How can I make my cheese sauce creamier? I made my cheese sauce with pre-shredded cheese (first problem I know), milk and butter. I tried to make a roux but without the flour I think I made it fail.

To make the cheese sauce, I put milk and butter in a pot and brought it to a boil. When it frothed, I mixed in the cheese, then stirred it every so often.

When I took it off the heat, the cheese was separated, with a milk and butter mix at the top. I strained it over my pasta and it was in chunks. (I'm keeping the milk and butter mix for my next cooking adventure, but I'm not sure what yet.)

Where did I go wrong, and what can I do for next time? I'm trying to keep it relatively cheap. I thought doing homemade would be more cost-effective than buying Velveeta or a million boxes of macaroni and cheese.

I know it seems that mac 'n cheese should be a simple thing for a beginner cook to make. It isn't. Without a solid recipe, even experienced cooks can royally screw up mac 'n cheese. Generally it starts with a bechamel, also known as a white sauce. You're right, that starts with a roux which requires flour, or at least some kind of starch. Once you've got a good white sauce, then you add the shredded cheese. You're right again, pre-shredded cheese is not a good idea. Pre-shredded cheese is covered with cellulose so it doesn't clump up in the bag. That doesn't make for smooth melting.

Alton Brown's stovetop recipe is about as simple as homemade mac 'n cheese gets. I would recommend mastering this then moving on to (written and highly rated) recipes that start with a bechamel. And grate your own cheese. AB's Stovetop Mac 'n Cheese.

One more thing - Cheese sauce for mac 'n cheese is one application for which high quality (read that "expensive") cheese may not be your best choice. High quality, expensive cheeses tend to be aged, making them melt with a texture you might consider grainy. Some people go so far as to use (gasp) American cheese or even (double gasp) Velveeta for smooth melting. I'm not sure that I'd recommend going that far except for pre-teen palates. For me a happy medium (so to speak) is store-brand medium cheddar. AB's recipe calls for sharp cheddar, but he has other ingredients that ameliorate potential graininess.


Pasteurized milk that has gone sour I have 1/2 gallon of milk (not raw) that turned sour in fridge (not curdled). Hate to throw it away. Can I safely use it to make cottage cheese or put into a chocolate cake?

Is half a gallon of milk that you may not need to throw out worth getting food poisoning over? If I had to choose between possible bloody diarrhea, vomiting, severe pain, seizures and possibly even death and spending a few more dollars, I certainly would spend a few more dollars.

Throw the stuff away. If it's gone sour, you have a lively colony of bacteria in there.

They may or may not be harmful, but I cannot stress enough that it's simply too dangerous to try.


Tsukemen ramen broth/soup I have tried the Tsukemen type ramen a few times and I find it fascinating. I want to be able to make it myself.

My questions is: How exactly is it made? Is it made by simply reducing other ramen soups or is there a specific technique involved?

Also, what is the name of the thick noodles that are traditionally served with the Tsukemen soup?

Tsukeman ramen basically means "Dipping Ramen" which consists of a bowl of ramen noodles and a bowl of broth (dipping sauce) and other edibles such are meat and vegetables.

I have been using David Changs' Momofuku book to create ramen broth, tare, and pork. He has a recipe to make the ramen noodles in there but suggests if you don't have the time just to go buy them. I also store all of this in the freeze until it's time to make ramen dishes.


How do I make dried blueberries? How do you make dried blueberries?  Can I use an oven?  Is there a proper technique or do I just bake them on low for a few hours?

While you could probably do dried blueberries in a VERY low oven (150F), you'll most likely need to prop the door open slightly to allow moisture to escape.  You'd be best to do them in an actual food dehydrator which will have a fan to expell the moisture being released from the food.

Keep in mind however that if dried as they are, they will shrivel up into fairly hard little bits.  If your goal is something similar to the dried blueberries that you can buy in retail stores, they will have to be treated in a sugar syrup to maintain the chewy texture and keep them from totally drying out.  I'm not sure if the commercial producers are first drying and then soaking in a sugar solution and perhaps drying again so that the sugar is drawn into the cells of the berry.  Whatever the case...commercial dried cranberries and blueberries maintain the chewy texture due to being treated with a sugar solution at some point.

If you are looking for ways to handle a bumper crop or bulk buy on blueberries, I would recommend freezing them and stick to buying commercially processed dried berries for the best results, least effort, and greatest bang for your buck.


What is a Tin of Tomatoes? My recipe calls for a small tin of tomatoes plus another tin of tomatoes.
Is a small tin of tomatoes equal to a 14 1/2 oz size can of tomatoes and the tin of tomatoes equal to the 28 oz size can or is the tin of tomatoes equal to a 14 1/2 oz can size and the small tin equal to something along the size of a tomato sauce can?

If it says "tomatoes", I would think that your first guess is correct. I have not seen or heard "tomatoes" being sold in cans smaller than 14 oz, at least in US. The only tomato products in smaller cans are tomato sauce/paste.


How to determine perfect pan temperature for steak? I have an electric stove that makes it hard to adjust temperature rapidly. I normally cook steaks in cast iron pan which I put on the biggest stove circle, with the highest setting of 12. I noticed steaks get really burned if I cook it there, but everyone says it should be the highest possible temperature. I even put it on half (6) and got some good results.

Is there a general advice how to determine the pan temperature and how to know what's right for the steak?

UPDATE:

I cooked 1.2 inch, T-bone steak last time on 5.8. It was on room temp for 1 hour. 3 minutes each side. Nearly perfect. I still got a bit too much char on the outside, it was medium-well on the edge of the steak, and medium-rare/rare at the bone. It was delicious though, very soft and juicy.

Doe this sound about right?

I don't think there is any single answer to this question, because it would depend on:

The type and thickness of the steak
The starting temperature of the steak
How well you like it done (because the goal is to get enough browning and crust development on the outside, without crossing over into burning, while still cooking the steak through)
The peculiarities of your own equipment, including both your element and your pan (a thick heat retaining pan will have less temperature drop than a thin one, and so require less ongoing source of heat)

Even if we could give you a single answer, it would probably be in terms of the surface temperature of the pan before you put a steak into it, and unless you have an infrared thermometer (which have only become reasonably available in the last 10 years or so, and are not typical kitchen equipment), that answer would not be actionable to you.

So we fall back on less precise methods, saying things like the oil should just be smoking, or that it should be shimmering, or that a bread cube should brown in about 5 seconds.

Perhaps the best test also requires the most experience to apply.  Hold your hand, open, palm down, over the surface of the pan about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the surface for a few seconds.  The length of time it takes for it to become uncomfortable tells you hot how the pan is.   It should be about 3-4 seconds, but again, requires experience to use this method, and everyone's perception varies.

In any case, you are going to have to employ trial and error as you learn the idiosncracies of your own burner, and your own taste in steak.

That said, there are a couple of methods that are more forgiving.  Possibly the best is cooking sous-vide, and only searing for browning afterwards in the pan, but not everyone has the equipment and wherewithal of that method.

A technique that anyone can do is to put the steak in a slow oven (about 250 F 120 C) until it is cooked through about 5 degrees F (2-3 C) below the doneness you like, as tested with an instant read thermometer.  IT will be wan and pale looking but this is okay.  You then sear it in a quite hot pan, until it is brown and delicious.  This should only take a couple of minutes, since the steak is cooked through; you are just developing the crust.  This shorter time should be much less likely to burn.

Note:  within limits, a thicker steak requires a lower temperature, but this is very limited.

Thick steaks truly require a two-stage cooking method, such as the ones outlined above, or traditional pan roasting (searing in the frying pan, then transferring to the oven).

In the end, though you will always have to come back to experience with your equipment, and your preferences on how you do your steaks.


What are the advantages of seasoned cast iron vs enameled cast iron? I have a 10" Lodge skillet that I enjoy using, but would like a larger (~15") version for using stove top, on my BBQ (gas weber and big green egg), and in the oven as a large roasting pan.
I'm looking for the widest that will work in all these places, and I have made a list of ones that might work. Lodge has a 17" pan which that would be great, but is too big for my oven. There seem to be two options that will work, one which is raw/seasoned cast iron (Smithey 14") and enameled cast iron paella pans from Staub and Le Creuset (about 15").
I have a Le Creuset dutch oven, but I seldom think of being similar to the seasoned Lodge cast iron. Seeing two similar pans, one enameled, one not, I'm trying to figure out if both would work for me. What are the advantages of seasoned cast iron vs enameled cast iron and vice versa?

Enameled and seasoned cast-iron cookware share a number of properties; they're very heavy, not terribly conductive of heat (leading to hot-spots when over a high flame), and capable of storing an enormous amount of heat energy. Cast iron itself is very reactive and tends to rust easily, which is why it is seasoned or enameled to protect the metal with a coating of either polymerised fat or fused glass, and these two processes lead to a number of differences:
Non-stick properties
Properly seasoned cast iron has a quite good non-stick finish - it won't be as smooth as a Teflon pan, but at the same time, the seasoning is much harder to scratch off and can be safely brought to searing temperatures that would cause the Teflon to begin breaking down and releasing toxic compounds. Enameled cookware, on the other hand, is about as non-stick as stainless steel, i.e. not at all non-stick. This means that many frying applications prefer seasoned cast iron over enameled, where getting a smooth release from the pan is important to the dish. For example, I'd much rather fry eggs in seasoned cast iron than enameled.
Setup & initial seasoning
Enameled cast iron is ready to go right out of the box; give it a rinse to remove the dust of storage and travel beforehand, but otherwise it's usable as is. For bare cast iron, and even the pre-seasoned stuff you often find nowadays, it's wise to put a couple layers of your own seasoning on it before cooking anything. This process has been described in many other places, so I won't repeat it here, but it involves washing off any protective coating from the factory before spreading a very thin layer of fat or oil over the entire surface of the pan before bringing it up to a high temperature on the stove or, for evenness, in the oven. Some people recommend flaxseed oil, but I would steer you away from it; the resultant seasoning has a tendency to flake off. Any fat with a high smoke point should do: vegetable, peanut, canola, coconut, even (relatively pure) lard.
Washing & storage
Seasoned cast iron has a reputation for fussy maintenance, and while it does take more respect and diligence than most pan materials and coatings, it's not as bad as it's sometimes made out to be. Maintaining seasoned cast iron involves not letting it stay wet after washing, avoiding particularly harsh detergents or abrasives in the washing process and, if it's not getting enough incidental seasoning from regular use, periodic manual re-seasoning. Meanwhile, enameled cast iron is coated in a layer of what is effectively glass, and it could not care less about your detergents or being allowed to air-dry. Scrubbing with literal steel wool might be a bit much, but anything you'd do to anything made of glass in the sink should be safe for enamel.
Reactivity
Some folks warn against using seasoned cast iron for acidic foods for the same reason they warn against aluminium; the acid in, say a tomato sauce, or Filipino adobo, can leach metal out of the pan and into the sauce. In iron, at least, this can be either good or bad for you, depending on your iron levels otherwise - nutrition isn't on topic here, so speak to a doctor if you're concerned. A heavier layer of seasoning, less liquid foods, and less acidic foods are all ways to minimise this effect. Enameled cookware, meanwhile, is still covered in a layer of nonreactive glass, and won't exchange anything but heat with the food you're cooking.
High heat
Cast iron is often held to be an ideal material for searing food in; its respectable specific heat capacity and very high mass give it an enormous amount of thermal mass, meaning the temperature of the pan won't drop too sharply when food is added, and giving it time to pre-heat for searing can even out the hot-spots caused by its middling-to-poor conductivity. Of the two varieties of cast iron in this question, seasoned can take a somewhat higher temperature that enameled; while it is possible to burn off the seasoning layer, it takes a higher heat than damaging the finish on an enameled pan. This isn't a huge difference, but it does exist. One thing to note is that if your pan or pot has plastic or other non-heat-proof handles, removing these can leave you with a pan usable in a much hotter oven. Indeed, some companies manufacture and sell heat-proof knobs and handles for their products to replace the default ones.
Overall, while both varieties can be used quite well for both frying and stewing operations, the properties of seasoned cast iron lean it towards those frying and searing applications, while enamel is geared towards stewing and braising. This is why it's so much more common to find a seasoned cast iron skillet and an enameled dutch oven than the reverse; the opposites do exist, but they're much less common.
Incidentally, I'd be somewhat skeptical of a cast iron pan sold as a paella pan; my understanding of paella pans is that they're typically thin, light, and made of stainless steel. It's entirely possible that what they're selling as a paella pan is a perfectly reasonably cooking vessel, but I don't know that it's what you'd want to make paella in.


Do split beans need to be thrown away? I understand that the primary goal of sorting through dry beans is to remove things like pebbles. I very rarely find any of those, but there are often clean halves of beans. Do they they need to be thrown away too?

Nope, it's fine to leave split beans in to cook with the rest of the beans. Split beans are common, and I've never heard of anyone removing them.

They will probably overcook while the rest of the beans get just cooked, but it won't be noticeable.


Is it safe to use a propane torch bought at a Hardware store? I've come across recipes that involve the use of a Butane or Propane torch.  Is it safe to use a propane torch bought at the Hardware store, or is there something different about the torches and/or fuel that is sold at a culinary store?

Propane and butane are pure alkanes. They don't produce anything nasty when burned. The worst you could possibly get should be carbon monoxide (and I am not even sure it can be produced in a torch, the dioxide ifs much more likely), but it being a gas, it won't stick to your food. The complex molecules you get from heating the food itself have more potential for being harmful than the combustion products of a propane butane torch. Ago yes, it is food safe.

Another matter of safety is that it is easier to cause a fire with a hardware store torch, because it has more power than the kitchen ones. But a sensible adult should be able to handle the thing safely.


How can I smoothly sugar the rim? Sometimes I end up with a nice even coating of sugar on my lemon drop's rim (it's served in a martini glass). But most of the time the sugar is clumpy and uneven. What can I do to encourage a nice smooth professional coating of sugar on my glass rim?

The clumps come from too much liquid on the glass when applying the sugar.

The way I learned to salt a glass was to dip the glass upside-down in a shallow plate or bowl of water, let it drip for 5-10 seconds, then dip it into an evenly layered plate of salt.  I think this should work for sugaring a glass.


Are "non-fat" condiments as effective as full-fat versions at reducing spiciness? Nice creamy condiments are known to reduce the effect of spicy foods, such as sour cream on Tex-Mex food. I have a pretty low tolerance for spiciness, so I often need to put a glop or two of sour cream on what I'm eating. Would switching to low-fat sour cream (to reducing fats) still have the same spice-reducing effect?

It's the fat that actually cuts the spiciness - see my answer on making a sauce less spicy/hot. When you're dealing with the type of spiciness that's reduced by cream (generally capsaicin), it's pretty safe to assume that it's fat-soluble, and the same principles apply when you're using the "reducer" as a condiment vs. including it in the recipe.

There's certainly a possibility that certain non-fat/low-fat substitutes will work, but it's going to be luck of the draw; it depends on how they're made. Alcohol in general is almost as good as fat at cutting spice (sometimes better), but that's not going to be a common ingredient in these products. Generally they'll have a bunch of emulsifiers and other E-numbers to maintain their consistency, not many of which (possibly none) have any documented relationship with capsaicin or its like.

Low fat (as opposed to non-fat) might be fine because it still contains some fat. "Light" sour cream is typically still 5-10% fat and would probably still work pretty well, if not quite as well as full-fat. But don't expect any miracles from non-fat products.


Why is my mango not ripening correctly? I have always been good at being able to tell when a mango is ripe based on the firmness and smell. For the last several batches I have purchased, however, almost every one I cut open is simply not good, with taste nor color. Rather than the deep orange color, I keep getting a yellow hue with browning around the seed:

It seems as though they go bad even though they never quite ripen. Based on  this question, as well as other online content, I have tried to wrap them in newspapers, put them in a bag with a banana, or just let them sit at room temperature for several days. Nothing has seemed to work lately. I don't know if there is a correlation, but it seems like they ripen better in the summer rather than the winter (we are in New Mexico). We keep our house at around 72 F.

Do I keep getting a bad batch, or am I doing something wrong? I would love any advice anyone might have.

This happened to me a few weeks ago. Two mangoes just plain would not ripen.  I tried the window sill and paper bags. I bought two later and they ripened fine. So I took the first two back. The manager of the fruit department said the pallet is treated with ethylene to ripen the fruit, and sometimes the ethylene does not get to some spots.


Is it safe my leftovers in freezer are not frozen yet? I put some leftovers in the freezer last night (it was food that was in the fridge that I portioned out into baggies) and stacked on top of each other.The baggies in the middle still aren't completely frozen yet. Are they safe?

You say they started in the fridge, then you put them in the freezer, which is colder. If it would have been safe in the fridge, it will be safe in the freezer. So unless they had been hanging around in the fridge for a long time, they will be fine. Only you know what these bags of food were, and how long they'd been in the fridge, but most leftovers keep for several days in the fridge (rice is an exception according to some guidelines). Bought foods should have a use by date, and this is increasingly being described as use or freeze by (with the assumption that they'll be eaten just after defrosting.

In the future, try to disperse the food to be frozen. Your freezer may have a fast freeze button and shelf, which you can use in this case.


Can I cook duck breast a day before? I have to serve a 'carpaccio' of roasted duck breast tomorrow, but I'd like to prepare it today. I want to serve the duck breast on room temperature, after cooking it medium rare or medium.

Can I cook the duck breast today, store it in the fridge overnight and let it come to room temperature tomorrow?

(I know that technically this isn't carpaccio, as it isn't raw.)

UPDATE

It all worked out really well. Thanks for the advice. ;)

Yes, you can do that. Simply make sure that the duck isn't at room temperature for too long. 2 hours is the strict limit: you may wish to be more... sensible about it.

I'd suggest slicing straight from the fridge, as it will not only be easier to get thin slices when the meat is firmer, but it will also de-chill quicker.


When roasting or sauteeing vegetables, does it matter if it was fresh, canned or frozen? I am duplicating a recipe I used from Homechef, using store bought ingredients.

One thing I often see is that canned or frozen vegetables (sometimes in streamable bags) are cheaper then fresh, but when originally cooking them they are always fresh.

Would it be possible to use frozen or canned products instead of fresh when roasting or sauteeing them. Would there be any significant change in taste or anything?

What would change would be the taste & texture.

Pulses [bean/chickpeas etc] are virtually the same canned as cooked from dried. These are the usual two methods. Fresh isn't really an option to most people, so dried or canned are the accepted sources.
Tomatoes are used canned so often they have become almost a "food type" of their own. To many people, Italian food almost depends on the canned tomato.
Almost nothing else I can think of off the top of my head can be canned without totally changing the flavour & texture for the worse. Canned food is already cooked, so sautéing won't really be necessary.

Frozen has an even smaller window. Peas will freeze & be as good if not better than fresh. Crushed garlic is OK. Almost nothing else works. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes & the like are all revolting ...ermm...  inedible ...err... not as good as fresh.

Really, if you want the full experience, as designed by the recipe author, there is no substitute for fresh vegetables.
Supermarkets will often do small bags of fresh, ready-prepared vegetables, single variety or useful mixes. Though pound for pound they are more expensive than peeling & chopping yourself, they can sometimes prove more economical as you simply don't have to buy a full quantity of items you really only need one each of.


Can I season cast iron *without* using an oven? I recently got a Lodge cast iron pan. I've never worked with cast iron before, and I've read that it needs seasoning before use. However, the Lodge one says it's already seasoned and ready for use. Does that mean I can skip the seasoning part?

Which brings me to my main question. Most seasoning methods require the use of an oven, which unfortunately is not an option right now for me. So how can I season this without using an oven?

Lodge claims their pans are pre-seasoned. It's a great company, but don't believe that pre-seasoned malarcky. Yes, they do treat the surface with oil, but not nearly enough. No worries though, you really only need a good seasoning layer on the bottom, cooking surface.

Scour the cooking surface of the pan thoroughly, then add a film of oil to the bottom of the pan and heat it on a burner. Move it around frequently to minimize hot spots. Let it get to smoking, allow to cool enough to touch, wipe it out, and then a add a bit more oil and smear it with a paper towel. Repeat 3 or 4 more times. Ignore the walls and handle of the pan for now, just thoroughly re-season the whole thing when you have access to an oven.

Opinions vary as to the best oil to use. My personal favorite is lard, flax seed is often highly recommended.

Read this question and answers for more info: What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet?

Congrats on your new pan. Cast iron is lovely, I have a set of skillets that belonged to my grandmother, my mother and now me. Cast iron takes some "getting to know" but once you know your pan you'll love it. BTW, except for the first time scouring, ideally your pan should never see soap or detergent. There is a lot of good info here about cast iron, just use the search engine to learn more.

EDIT: One more thing. All new cast iron pans are treated in some way before they are sold to prevent rust. In the case of Lodge, that treatment is a light seasoning with food grade oil. There is nothing that needs to be removed before first use. In fact the seasoning step I recommend here in not technically necessary, it just gets you to that black, old, almost-as-slick-as-teflon surface faster than repeated use alone. I only recommend scouring the cooking surface before you season the first time to give the factory surface a tiny bit of "roughening up", giving your first seasoning layer a bit of something to grip on to. So don't scour the whole pan, just the cooking surface. By the time you have access to an oven, the factory surface on the rest of the pan will already have developed some patina just from use, so you don't need to scour to season the rest of the pan, just oil the whole pan.

Some cast iron pans from other companies are not preseasoned, they're coated with wax or some other thing you don't want in your food See: Do all new cast iron pans and skillets have a protective coating on them, which must be removed? Those pans have to be scoured all over before first use. Ideally, then they would be seasoned in an oven before first use. If you had a pan like that, but no access to an oven, my advice to you would be the same accept that you would need to scour the whole pan, season the cooking surface and lightly oil the whole pan every time you heat it for the first several times, periodically thereafter.


Are there different styles of tahini? I've recently started frequenting a Middle Eastern restaurant. They provide a sauce with their shawarma that they swear is tahini, but I've never tasted any like this.

Most tahinis I've had are about the texture of natural peanut butter, are some shade of brown, and contain nothing but ground sesame seeds.

The tahini at this restaurant is a thin white sauce seasoned with garlic and some kind of spices. I politely asked a waiter if they weren't maybe confusing tahini with tzatziki, but they say no. It's a small family-owned place, and they will not share their recipe or even give a hint as to what's in this sauce.

I've googled tahini, but have not really found anything (either recipes or store-bought products) that resemble this. Is it some heretofore-unknown variety of tahini, and if so, what is it called?

"Tahini Sauce" and "Taratour Sauce", which are sauces based on tahini, are often simply called "tahini".  Generally the recipe is tahini, lemon juice, salt, and optionally herbs and/or garlic.

Example recipes:

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/dipsandsauces/r/tahinisauce.htm
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2009/11/simple_tahini_sauce.php


Why did my Chickpea water congeal? I cooked a bag of chickpeas in a slow cooker, just water and the peas.
Once the peas were soft I ate them with the water they were cooked in, like a bean soup.
Once that cooled the "soup" congealed like jello.

I didn't know it would do that. Is that good for you...I mean it looked like something that would clog your arteries.

Chickpeas are starchy, so it's natural that the liquid they are cooked in will thicken when it cools. It will not 'clog your arteries' - food doesn't travel directly to your bloodstream in the form in which you eat it.


Liquid Nitrogen Ice cream Melting too fast! I am trying to make ice cream using liquid nitrogen and I am seeing that the ice cream melts very quickly. I'm using a spatula to mix the base with the liquid nitrogen in a vessel.
Initially, I thought maybe I was using too little liquid nitrogen , so I added more liquid nitrogen to the mixture to only see the base forming frozen pieces of ice cream and not in a scoopable format.The scoopable format of ice cream I get starts melting immediately after O stop mixing

I'm currently using 1 part milk,1 part fresh cream & sugar for the base.
Will using corn syrup or a stabilizer like Guar gum solve my issue?

I used to use a cream and condensed milk recipe to make LN ice cream. It sounds like you're not using enough LN - while you should end up with something scoopable it takes quite a bit of beating to get there.

We tended to work as a team, with one (often me) beating as someone else slowly poured in the LN. This minimised solid lumps (which then needed to be beaten back in). Getting it slightly too hard and then allowing it to soften to the desired texture seems to work well.

In this case I'm the one holding the bowl, while one person stirs and another pours.

You're also probably making it harder for yourself using milk, as the high water content means you'll form much more solid ice.


Stopping sous vide to drive to relatives, then restarting I want to sous vide some ribs at ~152 degrees for about 18 hours for Father's Day.

Unfortunately we're supposed to drive to my dad's tomorrow before dinner to serve them. I can't go over there tonight so I want to start it tonight at my apartment, then drive over there before serving.

The drive is about one hour long. We were going to put the ribs in an insulated bag for the drive. They'll be cooked for about 16 hours at 152, then one hour drive, then 3 hours in the cooker, then 40 mins in the oven, then dinner.

Will the ribs be safe to eat if I do that? Will they taste okay?

I've done something similar for Mother's Day, but my mom's place is a bit closer (35-45 minutes, depending on traffic, and I was cooking chuck steaks at 131°F).

In your case, you're actually out of the 'danger zone' of 40-140°F, and it's typically okay to leave stuff out on a buffet for 2 hours, so there isn't that much of a problem.  And it's even less of a problem, as you've actually pasteurized the meat** before transporting it.

What I did for transporting is remove the immersion circulator, and put a tight-fitting lid on the water bath, and then transport the whole thing, slipping it in a cardboard box lined with bath towels (and then folding them over the top to close it in).  Of course, in my case, I sort of planned for that sort of use -- I specifically got two lids for the vessel that I use, and cut one so that the circulator can slide in. (it was actually so I could use it for food prep/storage if needed)

As for the tasting okay ... I don't think it'll significantly affect anything vs. having cooked it in one pass ... but taste is a pretty subjective thing.  (eg, if you added cilantro, then it will never taste okay, because it has cilantro).  There are also some other considerations for flavor when cooking sous vide

** Look at the 'table' links in the linked question for pasteurization times.


Very moldy cast iron cookware - what's the best way to clean it? Returning home after using cast iron cookware on a camping trip, I forgot to clean the cast iron in the midst of much unpacking and other matters. As a result of A) leaving any cookware with food in it for almost a week, and B) leaving a cast iron pot sealed with its cover on it, there was more mold in that cast iron pot than I'd ever seen on any cookware before.

My main priority was to clean all the mold ASAP. I put the pot and pan (lid) outside in my yard, poured bleach on it, then followed up with boiling water. That seemed to kill all the mold, and nearby grass. After that, and rainy weather the following day when I intended to leave it outside to air out and dry in the sun, the cast iron became very rusted.

Now I embark on the task of scraping off all the rust using steel wool, scrubbing the cookware with soap, rinsing it in hot water, drying it, then reseasoning it. This all has me wondering: when cast iron cookware gets very moldy, what's the most efficient and accessible way to make it hygienic and usable again?

The most efficient method would be to skip the whole bleach step, and start right in on burning the mold (and seasoning) off either in a fire or in an oven on the self-clean cycle. Then proceed to re-seasoning.

Taking the bleach side trip adds the joy of rust removal, which you can avoid if you don't let the cleaned (by fire/heat) cast iron get damp before oiling it and starting the re-seasoning process.


Which cuisines (besides Hungarian) have a tradition of serving savory desserts? About 20 years ago my wife and I were poor, and we went on a very cheap coach trip to Hungary for a holiday. The hotel meals always finished with a rather uninteresting savoury dessert.

I researched the matter and found that there is a tradition of savoury desserts in Hungary, a lot of which are much more interesting than the ones which we got in the hotel. But when I look outside of Hungary, all I see are "cheese / pate and crackers" style dishes to follow the main dish, and not much else.

So what I am seeking is other nations with a tradition of savoury desserts - savoury dishes used to end a meal. which are nothing to do with crackers or Hungary.

All offers considered ...

In the big French meals, the sweet dessert is sometimes followed by the cheese course which is naturally savoury.

Also, in China, in big meals, a clear simple soup is served at the end of a meal. This is, I am told, to clear the pallette. My experience is Yunnan and Szechuan, and it may not be the same in all of China.


How to differentiate normal potato from the potato that has sweetness? Sometimes, we need to add potato to our dishes like in  Pulao and some Indian dry vegetable dishes. But some potatoes have sweetness to them which ruin the flavor of the dish.

Is there a way to differentiate the potatoes which are sweet in flavor from the normal one without tasting?

Note: I am not talking about Sweet potato, which is a different thing altogether.

Though there is not a perfect way you can differentiate them except tasting, but you can try following ways which are kinda based on experience as we used to run a grocery store.

1. By smelling them

You can smell them while purchasing. If you smell some sweetness, it will have sweetness. Though, it'd require some practice.

2. By texture and color

You can differentiate between them by looking at color.

For eg., this one has sweetness.

While this one doesn't have.

There is one more, but it works after boiling.

If you boil potato with sweetness, it will get glue-ish.


Is it safe to eat the skin of a potato? Is it safe to eat the skin of a baked or boiled potato, or are there any health or sanitary reasons not to eat it?

Contrarily, are there any reasons to eat it, e.g. does the skin contain vitamins or minerals which you would cut off by peeling?

EDIT: There is a related question Do I have to peel red potatoes before baking them? that asks specifically for red potatoes. This question covers yellow potatoes as well.

It's usually safe to eat the skins of potatoes.

If there is a greenish tint under the skin, you'll want to peel down to below the greenish bit.  If you don't, it could lead to solanine poisoning.

See Is it safe to eat potatoes that have sprouted? and Are Green Potatoes OK?


Is there a scale for measuring level of roast? Similar to, for example, how the Scoville scale measures spiciness by concentration of capsaicin, is there a scale that measures how toasted/roasted something is, perhaps as a function of the Maillard reaction or something?

There are two factors here: surface treatment and doneness. Doneness (as mentioned above) is a factor of temperature and time. Surface treatment, browning, and crust, may be more what you're asking about.

There are simple ways to measure surface browning:

colour (pink, grey, brown, freckled brown, and black)
dryness (wet -> dry)
thickness (thin -> thick)

So a good BBQ chunk of meat may have a dark colour (lots of browning, some burning) and a fairly wet and thick crust. It's wet, in that it's not crispy or crackled, and it's thick as in it's described as "bark".

A blackened, pan-fried steak will have a thin(ish) dry black crust, but show very little grey, assuming something like rare or medium rare.

A BBQed (not grilled) steak will have a slightly thicker, wetter crust.

A good smash burger will have a thin, fairly dry, and brown crust (possibly speckled).

A round/inside roast will be in between somewhere (probably), and can side anywhere from brown to dark, but usually fairly rare inside (up to medium).

A pot roast may be dark, but will almost always be wet and basically be all "crust" (or all one colour). Sometimes you brown pot roast ahead of time, in which case the surface may have some colour too.

A prime rib will have a wetish and darkish crust, and be very rare inside (ideally).

You may also consider the seasoning (and depth of seasoning) of a roasted food. BBQ often has a thick bark that is also seasoned most of the way through. Something like corned beef is cured, so has seasoning throughout (and on the surface).


Do bread bins really keep homemade breads fresh? I usually keep my homemade breads for a day or two in a ziplock bag. I recently felt like buying a good-looking bread box/tin to not use plastic bags that often (I keep the bags for as long as possible unless used for something like cinnamon rolls) and a bread box looks good on the breakfast table. I was reading some reviews that people complained about their bread going moldy in the box although it was a pretty fancy/expensive one. Since I wouldn't spend money on something useless which takes some space in my small kitchen, I'd like to make sure it is a good buy.
I also read this question on plastic bags keeping the bread fresh for a few days and ask myself whether I should keep using ziplock bags.
Also, there different types of them,

I would avoid anything that can't have a good wash.  I've had wooden bread bins in the past and crumbs in crevices can go mouldy and spread the mould to bread until you give up and throw the bread bin away
These days I either use the enamelled cast iron pot I bake in (and which therefore fits my boules perfectly) or a plastic box that originally held a lot of biscuits (if I bake in a loaf tin or use the bread machine).  Both can go through the dishwasher; the cast iron additionally gets sterilised at 240°C before baking.  The plastic box is presumably more airtight, but both keep home made bread fine for a few days, which is as long as I need.  It's important to make sure the bread is completely cool before putting it in, to avoid condensation, but not to leave it too long.


Will roasted pistachio nuts keep well in freezer? Will I ruin roasted pistachio nuts(still in shell) by freezing them? If not, any advice on how to best freeze whole in-shell roasted pistachios?

Frozen pistachio nuts should be good for about one year; as nuts (roasted or not roasted) are low in water, mostly the benefit of freezing is to protect the fat content from rancidity.  You will want to make sure they are in an airtight container.

For convenience, I would shell them first, so you can use them directly when you take them out, and to save space in your freezer.

Of course, if you make them into ice cream,then you are unlikely to have any issues with them lasting very long.


How reliable is determining cooking oil temperature with a thermometer? Sometimes I dip my meat thermometer in the hot cooking oil and I wonder if the reading is accurate since I do not use a lot of oil so the metal rod is always making contact with the bottom of the pan.

Is this a reliable method? If not, what are the alternatives?

Given the description, I read the question as concerning "pan frying" in very little oil, rather than deep frying.

If the layer of oil truly is so thin that you can't reliably put the thermometer in without touching the bottom of the pan, you're probably not going to get an accurate reading regardless of whether you're using a probe thermometer or a candy/oil thermometer that can be mounted on a pan.  All of those require a minimum depth to work well.  Touching the bottom of the pan may or may not create a significant error in such a case: a thin layer of oil is likely to be close to the pan surface temperature, but you could also hit a "hot spot" on the pan or affect the thermometer's response through direct metal-to-metal heat conduction.  The other problem is that pans often heat much more unevenly than we realize, and with only a shallow layer of oil, some parts of the pan may be significantly hotter than others.  Mounting a deep-frying thermometer on the side of the pan in that case may be even more inaccurate for sensing how hot the middle of the pan is than awkwardly using your probe thermometer.

Personally, in a case like this, I might consider using an infrared thermometer instead.  It's usually easier to move it around the pan a bit so you can get instant readings to sense the overall temperature of the pan/oil.

Short of that, with shallow oil, you may be better off using various visual cues in the oil to estimate temperature -- as the temperature rises, the viscosity often lessens.  (It gets noticeably thinner and will flow around the pan more quickly.)  Then at some point it will begin to "shimmer" (with little waves appearing within the oil), usually a sign you've hit an appropriate temperature for frying.  If you go much beyond this, eventually you'll get too hot and hit the smoke point, which will be obvious from the evaporation and, well, smoke.  These cues are less precise than a thermometer obviously, but they are generally enough to estimate when the oil has reached an appropriate cooking temperature if you're familiar with them and the behavior of that specific oil.

Regardless of what method or thermometer you use, what matters in most applications is learning the relative measurements that will cook the way you like.  In some ways it doesn't matter whether your thermometer says "380F" and the oil is actually 350F, as long as you know when you hit "reading X" for that pan that it's a good time to put the food in to produce good results.  From my experience with shallow frying, getting familiar with the pan's conductivity and heat retention, as well as the specific burner setting on the stove, are often more important than knowing "I drop my food in when the thermometer says exactly X."  Trial-and-error will help.

For deep frying applications, maintaining a consistent oil temperature (and using a thermometer) is more important, since you can't correct the temperature as quickly if something goes wrong -- e.g., browning too fast, or not cooking quickly enough.  But with only a thin layer of oil for pan frying, it's usually easy to make an adjustment to the burner as food is cooking.


Is creamed butter stable for mid or long term storage? I find creaming butter a pretty annoying process.
I would like to make lots of it at once and aliquot for later use.
Is creamed butter less stable than butter? You wouldn't think so because you are mixing 2 ingredients which virtually have no water (butter and sugar). Does it separate over time?
If indeed it is stable, is there a reason why grocery stores do not sell it?

If you are asking about butter creamed with sugar, you can do this.  I would place in an airtight container, maybe with a piece of plastic or wax paper on top, and refrigerate.  It should be good for a couple of weeks.  Of course, you will need to bring to room temperature to soften before use.