Semifreddo vs Ice Cream What is the difference between semifreddo and ice cream? Is it just the cooking method and the time for which they are frozen?

Google translates Semi freddo as semi cold. Half frozen is probably a bit closer in practice to an English translation of what it is, or more accurately, what it should be.

So many recipes on-line are fully frozen like ice cream, that the distinction is muddled. TRUE semifreddo is ice cream (or gelato) often mixed with something not frozen, like whipped cream, or  not hard frozen to begin with.

Jamie Oliver makes it by freezing a custard until firm, then letting it sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before serving it over a warm compote.

Giada De Laurentiis has a version that uses Lemoncello, which keeps the custard mixture from freezing hard.

Semifreddo is not churned like ice cream, it's usually frozen in a pan or on a sheet tray, then sliced or mixed with a non-frozen component.


Can I make a latticed cream pie (no-bake filling)? I want to experiment with a cream pie with a nonbaked filling (containing whipped cream, thickened with gelatine - basically a flavored diplomat cream). But for aesthetical reasons, as well as a better crust-to-filling ratio, I want to try it with a lattice. But I don't have much experience with double-crust pies, so I am not sure how to make it.

My first idea is to blindbake the double crust, then remove the "weights" and get the filling somehow into the pie. I normally use white beans as weights. But I am not sure how I can get them out without breaking the lattice, as they are quite heavy. Also, I normally line the crust with alu foil when blindbaking. How can I get the alu foil out, and how can I prevent the beans from sticking to the lattice? I don't think there will be problems with the filling, I think a piping bag can get it in while still semi-liquid.

The second idea is to bake the lattice separately. I would weave it, put it on something of the right size (I have a glass cake pan bottom, could use it without attaching the pan wall) and bake. Blindbake the low crust, then fill the pie, then cover with the lattice. The question is, how to attach it to the pie?

Has anybody tried this before? I think that the second idea is more feasible than the first, any comments? Or are there other tricks I haven't thought of? Any reason why this will or won't work?

The second option is your way to go. Fashion your lattice on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or Silpat that is twice the size that the lattice will be. Use dabs of pancake syrup, maple syrup, fruit syrup or egg white to seal the strips where necessary. To the side, lay out a piece of paper or cardboard and invert your pie plate on it. Draw the outline of your pie plate and cut the paper on that line. Use it as a lightweight template to trim your lattice to size. Egg wash your lattice and bake it until it reaches the color you want it to be. Let it cool so it hardens up, and then fold the excess of the parchment or Silpat mat over the lattice so you can lift it without breaking it. Slide the lattice off the parchment and onto your pie, color side up, and affix with syrup or egg white.


Reduce the hot taste in a Cambodian curry I made a Cambodian curry, but it was too hot! They say dairy is good for cooling hot curries, but this one I made has coconut milk in it. Would it be ok to put cream in it? If so, single or double??

If it is about keeping authenticity, more coconut milk would be the answer. If you just want a toned down but well tasting curry, any emulsified fat - coconut milk, cream, yoghurt - will do, as long as you add it carefully in a way that doesn't make it split and become grainy (so whisk it, add it carefully with the heat turned off). Cream and/or yoghurt would be the authentic addition for a north indian curry.


Fully cooked ham left out for 10 hours, is it still safe to eat? I received a fully cooked 13 pound pit ham from work at 12 noon. It was refrigerated when I got it. I made it home 4 hours later after running errands and it was 38 degrees outside and the ham was in the car the whole time. I forgot to put the ham in the refrigerator and left it still in the bag and box on the floor in the kitchen. It was 10 pm before I remembered about it and I immediately put it in the refrigerator. Is it still safe to eat?

Welcome to Seasoned Advice!

Chances are, yes it's probably fine, but I would suggest you take some precautions.

Please consider how long your ham may have been in the temperature "danger zone".

This post is a superb explanation of what this means and what it entails:

https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/34671/30873

If in doubt, play it safe. Again, from my experience, it likely is fine, but don't take any chances if you have any reason to think it is not.


Can anyone tell me what kind of squash this is? Last year we planted some hybrid yellow round zuchini. We had one going bad and my husband pulled it and just threw it in the garden. This year we had some volunteer plants from the seeds. I understand that for heirloom seeds you can expect the same variety. The same is not true from hybrid seeds as you can not know what you will get.

What these plants are producing is unrecognizable. The squash are 6 to 8 inches long. The shape is identical to a yellow crookneck. However, the skin is green with lighter green or white stripes.

I decided to cut in and see what I found. The seeds and skin leave no doubt that it is some type of winter squash. I did bake some as I would winter squash but the flavor wasn't recognizable and was quite mediocre.

I have searched high and low on the Internet for different types of squash and haven't found anything close. Does anyone know what this may be or what it could be used for?

To me, it looks a bit like a birdhouse gourd, albeit a different variegation.  Or perhaps a kabocha squash, which to me has a rather mild and mediocre taste and texture.

I guess you've ended up with some wacky gourd hybrid, resulting from open pollination of your desirable (F1?) hybrid. As is the nature of hybrids, the result could be caused by pollination either with itself, or something else in the area.  Either possibility could be responsible for the Frankenstein's monster you produced.  If you started with a zucchini, you've probably got some Cucurbita (e.g., vegetable marrow as @NBenatar suggests).

Have a look at other links from Wikipedia's list of gourds and squashes, or one of a number of gourd identification charts such as this one that will help you narrow it down based on the nature of the inside of the fruit, leaves, etc.

On the bright side, you may have a squash on your hands that has never existed before!  On the other hand, it may not be worth much at the market. :)

"It's alive!!!"


How to prevent the crockpot burning my soups I love making soups in my crockpot. SO, I make it, starting with the crock on High. After about an hour, I drop it to low (middle setting), and let it cook. (I always cook my meats outside the crock, usually in a wok or skillet, to make sure it is cooked thoroughly.)

Once I am confident that it is fully cooked, I turn the soup down to Keep Warm (the lowest setting), and we enjoy a hearty bowl of soup, and have soup ready for tomorrow. I believe it keeps the temp above 100(edit: actually 165F), and probably more like 120F. Well, after two days, it becomes a burnt broth. The top layer of solids forms a crust on top of the broth, and everything under this crust is still good. Is there anything I can do to preserve it, because we don't eat enough to use it up in two days?

Edit: 2016/11/21 Found out the "Keep Warm" setting holds the temp to 165F. Also, the other two settings, "Low" and "High" actually bring the temp of the crockpot to the same temp, but the "Low" just slows the time it takes to reach the "High" setting temp.

BTW, I made a chili I call "9 Furz" in the crockpot yesterday. It won third place in a contest, because the judges thought my pork loin was white meat chicken. (The judges are firm believers that chicken in chili is blasphemous.) But, the non-judges loved it, because it was the first crock to empty out. (Next year, I will write on the card that it is "PORK NOT CHICKEN!"

A crockpot's keep warm setting is not designed to keep food safe and fresh for days, it's really only good for an hour or two at most. What's happening in your case is that the water is evaporating from your food and then drying out inside the pot. Adding water periodically is not an answer as the temperature of the food is not high enough to prevent foodborne illnesses, you don't want to keep it on warm for long periods of time even if you can keep it from burning.

If you want to save your soup for later put it in containers and store it in the refrigerator or freezer, re-heating when you want to eat it.


Ayer cooking kielbasa and sauerkraut in a 300 degree oven for one hour, can I eat it after it was sitting on kitchen counter for five hours After cooking kielbasa and sauerkraut an hour in a 300 degree oven, I left it sitting on the kitchen counter for five hours. Is it safe to eat?

Let's give it the benefit of the doubt & give it an hour to fall into the danger zone. What are you left with?

Kielbasa  - Pre-cooked, smoked sausage, in itself will stay good for weeks.

Sauerkraut - if it's fresh not pasteurised, again it will stay good for weeks.

So, we've disturbed both by cutting, spooning, stirring & then heating. You wouldn't expect them to now be good for weeks, not even days - but 4 hours?

I'd go right out on a limb & say, whatever the 'golden rules' say, if the lid was on & the room wasn't at 25°C or warmer, it will be absolutely fine.

 I'll brace myself for the downvotes ;)


Baking Dark Chocolate in Cookies Without Burning Them I just tried this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe. The recipe calls for adding hand-smashed dark chocolate chunks into the batter and mixing.

It seems like the chocolate doesn't break much. I used the good stuff, 90% cocoa products (very dark!). What I'm worried about now is that the chocolate will burn instead of melting into oozy goodness.

The recipe calls for 350 degrees for baking. I read somewhere on Seasoned Advice that dark chocolate can burn at temperatures as low as 60 degrees celcius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

So how do I reconcile this? Can I actually bake this somehow without burning it? If so, at what temperature?

(I'm also curious to know why the recipe calls for baking soda and baking powder, as one is a subset of the other.)

Dark chocolate is actually more heat resistant than other kinds. Milk chocolate can scorch at 115° F / 46° C or higher; semi-sweet can have problems at 125° F / 52° C or so. It's mainly the dark chocolate that can withstand temperatures as high as 140° F / 60° C.

I think there are two misconceptions to clear up here, those being:

Baking at 350° F does not mean you are raising the internal temperature to anywhere even close to 350° F. Even yeast breads are not baked to an internal temperature higher than around 200° F, and it's much lower for soft breads and especially cookies. It's hard to find much data on the recommended internal temperature for cookies, but I'd estimate it to be around 160° F simply for food safety reasons.
Just because a food can burn above a certain temperature, does not mean that it will happen immediately. Just as heating oil slightly above its smoke point does not immediately result in flames and rancid taste, heating chocolate above the aforementioned temperatures will not immediately cause it to scorch. What it means is that chocolate can be sustained in a melted state indefinitely at lower temperatures, but raising the temperature further will cause it to eventually scorch. The higher the temperature, the less time it will take.

These "scorching" temperatures are mainly cautions against direct stovetop or microwave heating; with these methods it is easy to get the temperature very high, very fast. When you bake cookies, you are applying very slow, gradual heat; if the temperature of the chips even gets as high as 140° F, it won't stay that high for very long. It's not enough to burn, and that is why even milk chocolate or white chocolate chips tend to do fine in cookies.

So just bake them, and don't worry. The cookies themselves will probably scorch before the chocolate does.

P.S. As SAJ14SAJ writes in the comments, this assumes that you bake the cookies on some kind of insulating material like parchment or a baking mat. There is a risk of burning if you bake them directly on a metal tray and the chocolate comes into direct contact with it, as it will then heat up very quickly to approximately the same temperature as the tray. So don't do that - if you use a metal tray or cookie sheet, make sure there's something between that and your cookies. They bake from the ambient heat in the oven, and don't really need direct heat from the tray.


Need to cook pasta for 200 people I need to make fettuccine alfredo with chicken,it's for my daughters Quinceñera. I need to know how much pasta and chicken need to purchase to make for each person approximately  2ounces .

To really get an answer you should definitely do a test dish. Prepare 1 or 2 portions as you usually do at home. If you approve the result just multiple the  ingredient quantity. To me it is impossible to give you a better answer as your portioning has to depend on how filling the sauce is as well. Also doing a test of the recipe will be helpful for your peace of mind on the big day.
Hope this helps :)


Scraping Caramel for Flan America's Test Kitchen proposes the following recipe as their "Perfect Latin Flan" (pg. 785, The Complete America's Test Kitchen Cookbook 2001-2016):

This recipe should be made at least 1 day before serving. We recommend
an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf plan for this recipe.
4 2/3 oz sugar
1/4 cup water + 2 tablespoons warm tap water
2 large eggs + 5 large yolks
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
12 oz evaporated milk
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir together sugar and 1/4 cup water in medium heavy saucepan until sugar is completely moistened. Bring to boil over medium-high
heat, 3-5 minutes and cook without stirring until mixture begins to
turn golden, another 1 to 2 minutes. Gently swirling pan, continue to
cook until sugar is the color of peanut butter, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove
from heat and swirl pan until sugar is reddish-amber and fragnant,
15-20 seconds. Carefully swirl in 2 tablespoons warm tap water until
incorporated; mixture will bubble and steam. Pour caramel into 8.5 x
4.5 inch loaf pan; do not scrape out saucepan. Set loaf pan aside.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Line bottom of 13 x 9 baking pan with dish towel, folding towel to fit
smoothly and set aside. Bring 2 quarts water to boil.

Whisk eggs and yolks until combined. Add sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, vanilla, and salt, and whisk until
incorporated. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into prepared
loaf pan.

Cover loaf pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in prepared baking pan. Place baking pan in oven and carefully pour boiling water
into pan. Bake until center of custard jiggles slightly when shaken
and custard registers 180 degrees, 1.25 to 1.5 hours. Remove foil and
leave custard in water bath until loaf pan has cooled to room
temperature. Wrap loaf pan tightly with plastic wrap and chill
overnight or up to 4 days.

To unmold, slide paring knife around edges of pan. Invert serving platter on top of pan and turn pan and platter over. When flan is
released, remove loaf pan. Use rubber spatula to scrape residual
caramel onto flan. Slice and serve. Leftover flan may be covered
loosely and refrigerated for up to 4 days.

It would seem like the amount of caramel left in the pan if you don't scrape would vary based on the size of the saucepan you use. Why would you not scrape the remaining caramel into the pan? Would it affect the texture/flavor?

(note : I'd have posted this as a comment because I don't have personal experience w/ this, but people keep complaining when I do as this might have enough information to be considered an answer)
I don't know about this case, but in other times when you're cooking down sugar there's always a fear of 'seed crystals' getting into the sugar (causing it to become grainy).
A little searching seems to support that theory.  There were many websites talking about seed crystals, but I'm going to quote the one from Fine Cooking (The Science of Caramel), as they specifically mention problems with the sides of the pan:
http://www.finecooking.com/item/60729/the-science-of-caramel :

What can go wrong when making caramel?
The caramel turns grainy
The biggest drawback to the wet method is that the sugar tends to recrystallize more easily than it does with the dry method. When the sugar and water boil, sugar syrup may splash onto the wall of the pot, where it evaporates quickly and forms back into sugar crystals. If even one of these crystals falls back into the syrup, it can seed a chain reaction, turning the clear syrup opaque and grainy. Should this happen, you can remove it from the heat, add a few tablespoons of water, return it to the heat, and stir until the crystals dissolve before continuing on. That said, it's better to keep recrystallization from occurring in the first place, so here are a few ways to prevent it: ...

See the article at Fine Cooking for advice on how to prevent seed crystals and other information on caramel.


How long can food last if reheated periodically? Say I fixed some stew that's been in the refrigerator for around three days. Will putting that stew in a pot, heating it up to around 170F (77C), and letting it simmer for a while make it last longer in the refrigerator? And if so, then can this be done (nearly) indefinitely?

I think the answer is yes, because whatever microbes have had an opportunity to take root in the food will have been killed by the high temperatures, but I am not sure about whatever biproducts that might remain (e.g. toxic chemicals exuded by the microbes as part of their metabolism or something).

Yes, it will "make it last longer in the fridge" for a certain definition of "last longer": it will not mould nor infect other foodstuffs in the fridge if it doesn't come into direct contact with any of them.

Is it still safe to eat after a few of these re-heatings? Very probably not!

Elaboration: More then half of the number of cells in your body are actually bacteria; bacteria don't generally kill you but the toxins they release is what kills you.  E.g. Botulinum Toxinum D (one of the toxins released during Botulism) has an LD50 of 0.4 ng/kg, which means that you need about 500g (a pound) to kill 99.9% of all human beings on the entire planet...

(And that is for just a few re-heatings; for "nearly indefinitely" we need to bring extremophiles in the equation...)

Related, but not identical question


Carbonated Beverage in Pressure Cooker This recipe for Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwich is written for 8 hours in a slow cooker. I'm considering doing it for an hour in a pressure cooker.

I'll paraphrase the cooker ingredients at the click through:

1 pork tenderloin
12 oz. can of Root Beer
Salt and smoke flavor

Would the the carbonated liquid under pressure be a concern? I think there should be no problems. But when tinkering with pressure, a second opinion is prudent.

Every pressure cooker comes with a safety valve.

So even if not most of the CO2 is lost during pouring and heating, the safety valve will make sure nothing bad happens.

That you should always make sure the valve is in good condition and working is a general pressure cooker rule independent of the liquid used.


Do beef bouillon cubes expire or cause expiration? Possible Duplicate:
  Do Bouillon Cubes/Powder go bad?

I tossed into the soup the last 2 bouillon cubes in the jar. Then, as I threw it away, I looked at the jar's expiration date: May 1979. Am I going to die?

Bouillon cubes can last for quite a while. Thirty years may be pushing that limit, though, as they lose flavor over time. Typically, they are good to use for a year maybe two; that depends on how they were stored, though. If they were in a dry cool place, they should be fine for while. They are loaded with fat and salt which are natural preservatives, anyway. Although dying is unlikely, it is definitely possible to get sick.


Is there a term for this distinction of sweet categories? In a mildly synesthetic sense, I have been describing two categories of sweet flavors as "bright/clear" and "dark" all my life. These categories aren't exhaustive, but I think it will be easy to correlate what I mean if I list the two:
Dark

Coffee
Chocolate
Pancake syrup
Nut-based sweets like peanut brittle
Marzipan
Caramel
Honey
Pure sugar itself
Most ice creams

Clear

Cherry
Watermelon
Apple
Lemon
Grapefruit
Grapes
Almost all sorbets

Unsure

Banana
Fruitcake

Are these categories that exist and are useful in cooking?
Edit one year out: I just saw a video that showed a popsicle stand that had that exact distinction made between such flavors. The words it used were simply Fruity and Creamy.

No, there is no standard categorization on these lines. You are just creating a personal categorization in your head (which is not a bad thing in any way - that's how everybody's mind works) and you are attaching an association to brightness/darkness which is mostly personal, but might be close enough to a shared experience/language use that other people could understand it if you gave them sufficient examples.

The prototypic quality of your "dark" category seems to involve the presence of caremel-like notes and maybe some phenol-based tastes. (To check if phenols are defining, ask yourself: is liquorice a good example of the category, maybe a better one than pure sugar?) The presence of fat also seems to play a role.

The prototypic quality of your "clear" category seems to require the combination of sugar and acid, and also having water present, as opposed to fat.

I said above that these are not usual categories, but they are to some extent recognizable when explained. More common descriptions are for phenolic compounds to be associated with "earthiness", to some point maybe also caramel may have that association. Fats tend to be associated with density and heaviness. The coloring of many caramelized or phenol-containing foods is also dark. So I think that this makes your category name somewhat intuitive.

As for the "clear" category, on some occasions acid is indeed called "bright". And water is indeed clear visually - which might strike you as irrelevant, but actually our brains overlook this kind of separation when building associations.

So I would think that your categories are intuitive enough in the sense that, if you were to give people examples from above and then pressed them into assigning a bunch of new items to these categories, there will be a noticeable correlation in the assignments. But if you also ask the people if they use these categories or know of them, I would expect that almost nobody does.

The closest widespread classification which is somewhat similar is the division of "top", "middle" and "bottom" notes in perfumery. But besides not having made it into cooking, that categorization only has some overlap with yours - they are related, but not too closely.


Why does meat in the crockpot always end up dry? Just cooked some chicken breasts today. All day in the crockpot and when done the meat was horribly dry.  I put chopped onions, carrots, spices, and coconut milk and 1/2 cup water and 4 chicken breasts.  There was plenty of fluid there when it was done, but the cooked chicken meat was really dry.

This seems to happen with beef roast as well.

Is there some trick to getting meat to be tender when cooking in the crockpot?

Cooking anything really lean for a long time can result in super dry meat.  Chicken breasts have little fat and little connective issue.  The same goes for a lean beef roast.  You can do chicken breasts in a crock pot - just not all day, more like a few hours on low.

Try something with more fat like a thigh (or any dark meat) or a beef chuck (shoulder) roast and you should have more luck.


Do salt or vinegar in the boiling water help peeling eggs? In another question, a user commented

  I've heard some tales that vinegar helps with peeling afterwards

and another one responded

  both are totally useless

That struck me as a very good question.

If salt and/or vinegar are added to the boiling water, does that help with the peelability of the boiled eggs? And if there is an effect, how noticeable is it, especially in comparison to other factors such as egg age?

Note that I am not asking about other methods for making eggs easier to peel. Nor is this about the use of vinegar in making poached eggs. I am asking specifically for confirmation or disproval of the salt/vinegar "tale", preferably founded by something more than just "I heard it too".

A chemist here.

I do add baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate). I am satisfied with it as I never got the white stuck to the shell since I do this. However I can't say that the same eggs would have done otherwise without baking soda.

A possibile reason is that the adhesion of the inner coagulated white to the calcium carbonate shell is modulated by pH. In other words rising the pH of the cooking water by a salt with alkaline hydrolysis - such as baking soda - mimicks the conditions of not extra fresh eggs.*

Note that adding table salt (Sodium chloride) cannot work this way as for the pH is let unchanged. I never tried as for I cannot think of an obvious mechansm for why It should work.**

Concerning adding vinegar (a solution of acetic acid in water): the common explaination is that the shell is softened by dissolution. This would also prevent the inner to shell adhesion as well make the shell itself prone to peel off.

I haven't tried this, neither.

*Eggs which are not very fresh undergo changes resulting in a higher pH and are easy to peel.

**The behaviour of proteins is affected by several parameters such as pH, temperature, ionic content. I cannot exclude that adding table salt is indeed effective.

Starting the cooking in already warm tough not necessarily boiling watet is reported effective too. Rationale is that a fast albume coagulation results in the white to inner shrink without setting on the the film near the shell. Worth a try...


Sanitizing bottles/jars for homemade sauce The recipe for tomato sauce (includes vinegar, sugar and salt) I am using says I can put the bottles in cool water and bring to boil; once they are boiling, they are ready to fill and seal. My question is, do the bottles have to be completely immersed to be sanitized? Thanks, Janet

Yes.  Any part of the bottle that is not submersed may not reach the proper temperature for sterilization.


How to deal with strong, sizable spices? I've been making a lot of Indian food, and I've repeatedly had problems with certain spices being "overpowering" when you get a bite of them. I'm talking specifically about cardamom and cloves, although cinnamon is also problematic since you can't really eat/chew it.
Usually, recipes have you add them in great enough numbers that you can't really just sift through and pull them out by hand. I saw a recommendation to stick them with toothpicks to make retrieval easier, but I'm not sure that would work with cloves (and I'd be worried about someone accidentally biting down on said toothpick).
I've considered using powdered spices, but I'm not sure if it's the same flavor - and most recipes I've seen call for whole spices, not powdered.
I've tried peeling away the cardamom pod and using the tiny seeds inside, but I end up with the same issue - even the tiny seeds give an overpowering lemon-ish flavor when you eat them.
How can I prevent large spices from overpowering all other flavors when they're consumed?

Simple: spit them out.
You're not supposed to eat whole cardamom pods or cloves, any more than you'd eat whole cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, or slices of dried galangal.  Each diner is expected to spit them out, or pick them out of their food, and set them aside on their plate.
Whole coriander seed, cumin seed, and other small spices are meant to be eaten, but these aren't as intensely flavored.


Sous Vide and Plastic Melting? Is there a danger of the plastic bag melting for cooking via sous vide?

How do you know when the plastic has melted?

Polyethylene, which is the material typically used for sous vide bags, is stable at the temperatures the sous vide bath will reach. Ensuring you're using the right kind of bag, and checking that the temperature hasn't gone too high, should avoid any risk of melting.

  Polyethelene is much more stable than plasticized plastics. It's fine at the low temperatures typical of sous-vide cooking (which generally don't creep above 140 degrees Fahrenheit). They do, however, start to soften at temperatures above 176 degrees Fahrenheit...

from Sous-Vide Cooking in Plastic: Is It Safe?

  According to the latest research, the safest plastics for use with food are high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene. Virtually all sous vide bags are made from these plastics, as are most brand-name food storage bags and plastic wraps such as Saran wrap.... The bottom line is that bags made expressly for cooking sous vide are perfectly safe as are oven bags, popular brands of zip-top bags, and stretchy plastics such as Saran wrap.

from Is It Safe to Cook with Plastic?

See also Sous vide without plastic bags? for some discussion of plastic bag safety and alternatives.


Is it safe to re-heat food twice in a short time span? Imagine the following scenario. You make some food, and put part of it in the fridge relatively quickly (often before I eat, so I save e.g. half for later).
Some time later, usually dinner the same day, or either lunch or dinner the next day, I re-heat that food.
So far, so good, I assume.

Now, the question is: what if I re-heat it (first time) for dinner, but it gets cold while eating, and I re-heat it the second time perhaps 20-60 minutes later?

A, is it safe at all, and B, if it can be, do I have to heat it to cooking temperature yet again, or can I simply heat it so it's pleasant to eat, this second time? I always heat it properly the first time around.

The real issue is the total time it spends in the "danger zone" (40-140 F, 4-60 C), not how many times it is heated, frozen or refrigerated.  Those things may change the quality and make the food unpleasant, but that is a separate issue.  Re-heating in and of itself is not inherently unsafe.

See also:

How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?


Why are these mushroom stems leaving a long, skinny fiber behind on the cap? I was pulling the stems out of some mushroom caps today - we save the stems and make broth out of them - when I discovered that some stems weren't coming out all the way. Have a look:

Mushroom fanatics out there: Any idea what causes this? Is there something wrong with these mushrooms? Am I being paranoid because I just read this question?

Mushrooms are complicated little guys. What you see as a single type of mushrooms is actually hundreds of different substrains. Its possible they're from a slightly different batch than what you're used to, and so have slightly different stems. I wouldn't worry about it, and enjoy the mushrooms!


How much salt do potatoes absorb when being boiled? My mashed potatoes are always bland. I’ve googled recipes and a lot of them say to put a teaspoon or so of salt in the water to boil them. I’m a bit worried about using so much salt.

What I’d like to know is how much of that salt actually goes into the food, and how much is left in the water?

Thanks.

From the linked question on pasta absorption, When cooking pasta in salted water how much of the salt is absorbed?, which basically says "the more salt you put in, the more will be absorbed".

However, one thing I've always thought to be true is that if you don't put enough in when cooking, you seem to have to add a whole lot more afterwards to lift the flavour to desired levels than you would have if you'd added it whilst cooking.
So the overall cooked vs table-added levels may in fact be lower if you add it early.

As it's cropped up in another answer - if you boil them with no salt whatsoever, the smell & flavour are really quite different & no amount of salt added after mashing can properly rescue them.
I can smell when someone's forgotten to salt boiling potatoes. My partner at one time wanted to believe it was because I can smell salt… erm, no. I don't think anyone can smell salt, but the potatoes smell completely different.

Late edit: The accepted answer on Ways to learn to season food correctly? would appear to agree with the statement that salting early is different to salting late - but I'd love to see some really solid evidence as to actually how that affects something as simple as boiled potatoes. All I have right now is 30 years of just knowing it makes a difference.


butter fat on top of frozen roux. Is it still good to use? I made a brown roux and froze some. Now there is a thin layer of butter fat on top of the roux. Is the roux still good? Do I need to remove the butter fat, or just start all over again? Thank you.

No problem, just melt it gently over low heat, stirring, and go ahead with whatever you were going to do.


Used Pan.... Old Oil.... Can this pose a risk before washing? After frying Pierogies in oil in frying pan for dinner Wednesday evening, I left pan on the stove to cool and meaning to wash later.  Got caught up with different things and went to bed. The next day I was out all day never to set foot into the kitchen and Friday night after work went to kitchen to clean any dishes in sink and noticed the pan on the stove!!! I put it in the sink to rinse before washing dishes.  Then the dreaded thought came to me!  Could that pan with the left oil oil have collected the botulism toxin and then by pouring water in the pan did I contaminate my sink, my sponge and other dishes?!  I know it may sound stupid, but I'm nervous as I don't want to harm anyone!  I've never done such an absent minded thing and am very concerned.  Please advise.

It is highly unlikely that your pan will pose danger of botulism.

The botulinum bacteria doesn't live in oil, it lives in plant matter which is cut off from air. This is why storing plants (garlic, spices and the like) for a long time under oil is dangerous. But the oil by itself is not the medium in which the bacteria can grow, it is only needed as an airless buffer between their actual medium (the plant) and the environment.

Even if you had fried plants (e.g. potatoes) in that oil, it wouldn't have been much of a problem. The bacteria's spores can easily survive home canning temperatures, but they are only slightly higher than 100 Celsius, even in a pressure cooker. But when you fry in that oil, you use at least 180 Celsius; in my experience, home cooks (myself included) are prone to letting the temperature get a bit too hot, frequently over 200 Celsius. Combined with the fact that any crumbles left after frying are probably charred, so too low moisture to support the bacteria, I can't imagine a colony establishing itself.

Lastly, the toxin itself is much easier to destroy by heat than the spores. In the very unlikely event of contamination, the spores will die on your sink and other dishes, because they will be in contact with air. If you are still nervous, fill your sink, together with the dishes, with just-boiled water. The toxin itself is neutralized after 10 minutes at 80 celsius.


How does good pasta dough feel to the touch? I have just been given an Imperia Pasta Roller as a present and have wasted no time in trying to make pasta. As advised in the instruction manual, I have made a small batch of pasta just using water and passed this through the rollers in order to clean any factory impurities or debris from the machine. I noticed that the pasta (eggless I hasten to add) was quite soft, much softer than shop bought fresh pasta. I worked some more flour into the dough and the pasta held up quite well to being passed through the rollers. This was then thrown in the bin.

The next batch that I made, following a recipe by Jamie Oliver, called for 100 grams of flour to 1 egg. I am using Tipo 00 flour. The resulting dough felt firmer and very slightly sticky to the touch but when cooked was very soggy and flabby in texture, not very appetising at all.

For my next batch I added a little extra flour and kneaded it for longer. The dough was dryer than the previous batch and when I took a few strips and put them in boiling water, they cooked perfectly. However the remainder, when I went back to it a couple of hours later had stuck to itself and turned into a solid mass that was really difficult to separate. I had dusted it with fine cornmeal to stop this happening. I was advised not to coat it in flour.

Can anyone please give me some advice on how the dough should feel when correctly prepared (how stiff, how moist or how sticky it should feel) and also some advice on how to stop it from forming a solid mass before I have time to cook it.

Thank you

Pasta dough should be smooth in texture and be only slightly sticky.  When kneading it out and folding it over onto itself, it should not readily re-stick to itself, but rather require a bit more kneading to do so.  It should feel slightly tacky (less so than a post-it note) but not aggressively stick to your hands or the counter.  If you get it too dry and it refuses to stick to itself, add a few drops of water.

My pasta method is based on the well method, but in a bowl to avoid making a mess, and adding flour as I go to avoid wasting any.  Start by cracking as many eggs as you want into the bowl, about one per person you'll be serving.  Scramble with a fork.  Gradually add in flour in amounts about equal to the amount of egg, and mix well with the fork--adding too much flour at once, especially early, can result in "pasta sand" which is a difficult condition to recover from.  The dough will go from the consistency of oatmeal, to a paste, to cookie dough.

At some point, the dough will become too solid and the fork will stop being an effective tool--you'll just be pushing a solid mass around the bowl.  At this point it's probably still way too wet, so dump another good amount of flour on top and get in there with your hands.  Once it gets a little less sticky you can dump it onto your counter.  Continue to knead and work in flour until it reaches the consistency described above.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30-60 minutes.

You'll know you've gotten it just right if it barely requires any flour, if any, when rolling.  If you find yourself having to apply flour on every roll, you left it too wet.  It's still perfectly edible, it's just a huge hassle and might turn out a little gummy.  Another thing to look for is that as you roll it thinner, the edges will crack slightly.  If you got it too dry and it wants to crack all over, or is struggling to go through the machine, you can loosen it up with a bit of water--wiping one side with a wet finger should be enough.

If you get the dough to the proper consistency, you won't need to do anything fancy when drying it.  I just lay it out on cookie sheets.  It's okay if it sticks to itself a bit, it'll come apart again in the water.


Is there a difference between a slow cooker and a crock pot? What is the difference between a crock pot and slow cooker? Both terms seem to be used for the same thing.  Is this correct?  Are they the same?  Or is there some key difference between them?

Crock-Pot is a brand name.  Slow cooker is the generic term.

It's like Kleenex & tissue or for the Brits, Hoover & vacuum.


What kinds of corn can be nixtamalized? What kinds of corn are the standard for nixtamalization? I mean, do they use sweet corn, popcorn, dent corn, flour corn, flint corn, pod corn, something else, or some/all of the above? I'm guessing it would work with any corn, but some might be ideal for the purpose. Maybe it depends on what you want to do with that nixtamalized corn. Let's assume it's for masa de maíz, for use with tortillas and stuff.

Well, it looks like I found my answer:

Field corn is used for creating masa de maíz (see this link for my source). Field corn includes a few types of corn (dent, flour, flint, waxy). I'm not sure if all types of field corn are used for masa de maíz, however. So, if anyone has a more specific answer, feel free to give it.

I'm guessing really any kind of corn could be nixtamalized, however (but some kinds may be more ideal than others). Other kinds of grain besides corn can also be nixtamalized.


Why do spots appear on iceburg lettuce during cold storage？（0~4℃） Why does round lettuce appear spot during cold storage？（0~4℃）Is it still edible?

I would like to extend the storage time.

Lettuce is packaged with other vegetables, like red chicory, NewZealandspinach, Romaine Lettuce, etc.

May be my expression is not clear, my English is very poor, please forgive me. I want to know the reason of the spotting, so I can avoid it.

The brown spots you see are known as "russet spotting". This is a reaction which is believed to be caused by ethelyne gas emitted from citrus, such as apples, bananas, etc.

Bottom line, the lettuce is completely safe to eat. It's certainly less visually appealing, but it is indeed safe to eat. For ideas on preventing russet spotting, check out the source linked above.


What are the differences between the grades of maple syrup? You can get maple syrup in different grades, but what defines the difference between the grades?  Why is one syrup grade A and one grade B?

The grades reflect how much light can get through some standard quantity of maple.  The darker maple syrups tend to have a stronger maple flavor and tend to be harvested later in the season.  The collected sap needs to be concentrated and purified to make the syrup, which is traditionally done by boiling and skimming off impurities.

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) have similar grades for maple syrups:

The CFIA standard requires measuring the grades using green light (560nm) light.


What is the function of this shallow, 19-divoted, eared cast iron piece? This piece was given to me a few years back by someone who picked it up at an estate sale. At the time I cleaned it up, re-seasoned it, and promptly forgot about it.

At first blush I thought maybe it was an escargot pan, but on further attention the divots seemed too shallow; each of the 19 holds approximately 1/2 t to 3/4 tbs (7-11 ml). There are no discernible markings on the reverse nor the ears  to give me anything to work with.

Someone said it might be an Æbleskiver pan, or a drop muffin pan, but in comparison with the samples I have on hand I don't believe it to be so. The divots on this pan are shallower and the bottoms are relatively flat (disc-shaped rather than hemispherical).

Does anyone one know what the purpose of this cast iron piece? Is it even a piece of cookware?

They look like the Dutch "mini pancake" pans... they're used to make poffertjes.

There are nearly identical pans on sale here.

The Wikipedia article talks about them more specifically:

  Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Unlike American pancakes, they have a light, spongy texture. Typically, poffertjes are served with powdered sugar and butter, and sometimes syrup or advocaat.

And an image from a recipe page:


How to make a brewed tea at work? The way I make tea at home is per the following:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk (or sometimes 3/8 cup)
2 teaspoons of tea
3-4 spoons of sugar
Few inches of ginger
Mint (occasionally)

I put all of them in a pot until it brews to the top of the pot. (Small pot, could hold maybe 2-3 cups of water)

Anyway, my question is how can I make this at work where all I have is

Fridge
Microwave
Hot water dispenser
And K-Cup machine

I usually make tea at work per the following but it just doesn't taste that great:

1 bag of tea
3-4 spoons of sugar
Add milk until cup looks like the right color.
8 oz. water

ideally I would like it to taste just like the contents of this packet (without artificial milk) http://shop.khanapakana.com/wagh-bakri-instant-tea-premix-3-in-1-ginger-9-18-oz-260-grams/

Why not make it how you like it at home? Here's your best bet (and a very simple suggestion); buy a good thermos. You can get a 24 ounce one for about $30 which will work incredibly well, and last you a lifetime unlike most cooking appliances. When you properly prime a thermos with boiling water, it can keep beverages piping hot for upwards of 12 hours. This lets you avoid trying to come up with a complicated solution at work.

Boil water and put it in the thermos, and seal it. Leave it alone for a few minutes while you brew your tea exactly as you want it. When your tea is ready, dump out the boiling water and pour in the tea, and reseal.

We do this daily for my wife, since she is unable to brew tea at work. She just uses hot water, but it stays hot enough that she can actually drop in a teabag or two midway through the day and brew with no issues. Here is the one we use:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FK9NIC


ready made sugar syrup Lorraine Pascal made some macaroons, and added a readymade sugar syrup. Would this be liquid glucose or sugar syrup made earlier and stored. I know how to make sugar syrup, but a ready made one would be much easier when making several flavours.

Lorraine evidently used the Italian meringue method of making macarons. Italian meringue uses hot sugar syrup, not glucose syrup. As you can see from this question, sugar syrup can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator. Simple syrup is available ready made for use in cocktails, but do see William Shakespeare's notes in the commments.


Drying whole, small fish at home As part of my ongoing experiments with whole small fish (sardine, smelts, small mackerel), I'm considering drying them at home to produce concentrated umami bombs.

However, I'm admittedly less than thrilled with the instructions I've seen online, which either advise leaving them exposed to the air for an extended period--in which case I fear rapid spoilage and a truly horrible smell--or sticking them in the oven--the idea of which I like more, but which apparently yields a tough 'fish jerky,' which is also not what I had in mind. I've also noticed that most instructions just assume the fish will be gutted, but with fish so small (the ones I get are generally between 5 and 7 cm long, with few going past 9) I generally like to leave the guts in.

What would be the safest method for drying small, oily fish for future use? Should they be brined first for sanitation purposes?

Considering the option of leaving them extended period in open air sounds good depending upon where you live. The climate takes a important role. If there is humidity don't do that and there should be strong sunlight for a long period of time. It will remain safe, just cover it with a thin net so it won't get spoiled by insects. I have done it a lot of time previously so i am not worried. In this method, you can constantly observe them dry so that you can control as well.

Regarding putting them in oven, you may feel secure as you clean your oven and the food is free from  external spoiling effects.

But, personally I prefer the sun because the flavour will be far better if exposed to sun for long period of time. You are supposed to clean them thoroughly and brine is just an option for taste, that is not compulsory.

I hope it helps...


omelettes and scrambled eggs - How long can I store them? Is it a good idea to keep make a lot of them and keep them in the refrigerator? I like them for breakfast but I don't like cooking every morning. For how long I can keep them?

What Tim said. Eggs just don't hold very well, and they are very sensitive to temperature--reheating them basically will mean re-cooking them. I would never store eggs in this manner, because the texture and flavour degradation will make them unpleasant to eat.

However, to actually answer your question--and again, I urge you not to do this because stored and reheated eggs will taste like garbage--cooked eggs should keep for up to 72 hours in the refrigerator. Remember to chill them as rapidly as possible after cooking, and you may wish to undercook slightly in order to minimize problems when reheating.

I would use 72 hours as an absolute maximum, particularly if you are undercooking. 48 hours is probably wiser.


Can I descale/decalcify my coffee machine without a special product? I have a capsule espresso machine. The company sells a special decalcification kit. However, I think that it only contains a citric acid and nothing more, yet it is quite expensive.

The question is whether I can safely and efficiently use just a citric acid I buy in any shop for decalcification? Or is there something else readily available I could use?

The manufacturers will tell you:

  During decalcification with decalcifiers on citric acid basis, residue
  can form and clog the fine lines and  valves of your espresso machine.
  Lime deposits can become sealed under an unremovable layer of residue
  formed by the citric acid.

A similar reason goes for vinegar.  And Citric acid (from what I'm told) is less problematic than vinegar.

The real expensive stuff like Durgol isn't actually citric acid and some other formula (unlike citric acid it tastes awful).

Here is their description (pdf)

While your machine's specific kit might be dosed for perfection, you're likely ok with any descaler for the size of the machine.  A competition grade professional machine on the other hand, I'd recommend vicious service.  If you only see what's under the shower screen of some of the machines out there in the wild.

A key point is that they claim their product is faster.  So if you have time, and are willing to rinse a quite a few more times, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The Cafiza powder from Urnex is really good at cleaning coffee grime, but does not de-scale/de-calcify.  I would recommend it for cleaning coffee urns and the coffee stained parts of your machine.

Finally, you might wish to use softened water.  It'll make the coffee taste better and reduce the build up.


What is this plant? Is it edible? I bought a bunch of cilantro today. Some of these leaves were mixed in with the cilantro. What are they? Are they edible?

Don't consume unknown plants for safety reasons, not even ones identified by a random stranger on the internet!
It is very difficult to identify plants based just on leaves alone, generally for a certain identification you need stems, flowers and/or seeds to be absolutely certain
Having said that:
These look very much like young Mallow leaves (Malva from the Malvaceae), which is a genus of widespread plants found in temperate to tropical areas. Many species are considered weeds and are common in disturbed soils in urban areas.
The things that make me think it is mallow are the kidney-shaped leaves, with indented teeth and a dark spot where the petiole meets the blade
Most of the species of Mallow are edible, with a pleasant sweet taste to them. Some of the species are common garden flowers - usually a pretty pink or sometimes white.


Restaurant: How long can prepped food (cut vegetables, garnishes, etc) be stored before it has to be thrown out? I am interested to find out if line cooks or prep cooks will prep more than what is needed in a given day for a restaurant, and then just keep the extras in the fridge? Or is food prepped and used or tossed every day?

Many chefs and restaurants follow food storage guidelines obsessively, at least in part because they're required to. Using ingredients that have been stored longer than considered safe can result in customers getting sick, in which case they probably won't return, they'll tell their friends or use social media to spread the word, and they may take legal action if they got really sick. If a health inspector catches such violations, they won't be happy either, and they have a number of potential penalties to impose.

Food cost is on par with labor as being one of the largest costs of running a food service business. I've always heard the "rule of thirds" as a guideline for operating costs in a restaurant setting: 1/3 food cost, 1/3 labor cost, and 1/3 profit (which is not always pure profit and may involve reinvesting back to the business). Industry benchmarks bear this out as well.

My point with all of this is that chefs have two strong, competing incentives:

Do not waste food, because it's expensive in the short term!
Do not serve bad or spoiled food, because it's expensive in the long term!

Obviously there are bad chefs out there who simply don't care. They may not be invested in the business, poorly trained, or just checked out. And many of us have seen reality TV exposes that show how awful some kitchens are.

But, the good chefs that I've worked for and with have a couple different approaches to using up prepped ingredients and avoid throwing things out:

Good labeling and storage. This is really fundamental anyway if you want to ensure that you know how old everything is. Some ingredients (blanched or hearty vegetables) will easily keep for a day or two after being prepped if they're kept cold. All you need do is store them correctly (which depends on the exact food) and use some easy, reliable labeling system to keep things straight in the fridge.
Recycle them into a different dish tomorrow. Lots of restaurants have specials or rotating items. If I shelled a bunch of beautiful fresh peas for a risotto on the dinner menu and I simply don't sell many, I can turn the extra peas into a delicious soup tomorrow. If I'm smart, I'll also use up some of the ham that I diced for a different dish, and the vegetable stock that I use everywhere and have to make more of anyway. On which note:
Turn them into basic or pantry ingredients. Some chefs are really good at this. There are certain things that you can use everywhere: stocks, breadcrumbs, etc. And they aren't necessarily picky about their base ingredients being in prime quality. I might make vegetable stock every couple of days using whatever pre-prepped vegetables I've got on hand, supplemented as needed with fresh (also an excellent way to use up odds and ends that can't be served on their own, like celery stalk bottoms). I might take a surplus of julienned carrots that would have been garnish and pickle them for later use. I could take fresh herbs that are starting to wilt and use those in a marinade for meat. This is a really defining quality for a great chef for me: cleverness with a broad range of ingredients and preparations, and a willingness to experiment. After all, if those pickled carrots don't work out, I would have had to throw them anyway.
Compost them. Not feasible for everybody, but growing their own food is something of a trend and obsession for certain chefs. Rather than having things go to waste I can do what a smart home gardener would, and turn my sad wilted vegetables into healthy compost for my rooftop herb garden.

Most chefs who do these sort of things are also very good about monitoring how much they sell and doing their best not to order or prep more than they need, so they don't have tons of waste in the first place. Chefs who aren't as passionate simply wind up throwing more out. This leads to the curious assertion (but I've seen it quoted from Gordon Ramsay as well) that you can learn a lot about a chef by going out back and checking the dumpster.

Oh, and since your question asks specifically about line and prep cooks: ideally, they are doing exactly what the head chef tells them to. That's basic kitchen discipline. If they go off on their own and prep three times more potatoes than they were told to, they won't be prepping potatoes or anything else for too much longer.


Olives in French Beef Stew What is the use of the olives in this recipe: https://www.diningandcooking.com/38945/french-beef-stew-with-red-wine-garlic-mashed-potatoes/

In the stew, the meat gets marinated in wine and herbs, then simmered for two to three hours. Fifteen minutes before serving, pitted olives get added.

I cannot stand olives on their own so I wonder if there's a chance I will like them in here or whether I should simply leave them out.

If the recipe said to simmer them slowly with the meat, you might be pleasantly surprised as they could blend in with the other flavors. (Or not, but it might be worth a try with a smaller amount.)

But in the given recipe, a not-so-small amount gets added shortly before the end of the cooking time, which seems intended to keep the original olive flavor (a bit like adding fresh herbs at the end). The flavor of the stew has developed without the olives, a few minutes won’t make a real difference. If you dislike olives on pizza, salad or as appetizer - leave them out.


How to make microwaved condensed milk caramel sauce properly? When I tried making, but it always necomes pieces, and if I continue to turn it into a caramel brown colour, very dry, and turns into candy. What is the a recipe for making a caramel sauce in a microwave? I want it to be like canned dulce de leche. Unfortunately, I learned what cans might be leaching unsafe plastics (like BPA) into foods if boiled, so I won't do that.

Put Sweetened Condensed Milk into a microwave safe bowl and whisk it thoroughly until its smooth and the thicker stickiness from the bottom of the can that has settled is evenly distributed again.
Place in microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes then take it out and stir thoroughly. Do NOT use full power!  If you do it will burn, and it will look similar to what you mentioned was happening to yours - it turns into a brown dry solid.
Put back in microwave (50% power again) for 1 minute increments, stirring in between each additional minute until it has reached the level of darkness you are looking for.

Hope this is what you are asking for.


Why does almond milk make eggs stick to a nonstick pan? I was doing an experiment when I was making eggs this morning, and tried friendly farms almond milk instead of regular milk in my eggs, and the eggs stuck to the pan, when they normally won't without anything. Why did this happen?

Method:
crack eggs
pour in a little almond milk
cook
scrape out whatever skin formed to the pan

If  the friendly farms almond milk you used is the original variety, this has sugar in it in the way of cane juice so that's why your eggs did what they did.


how much powdered gelatin to one gelatin leaf? Some recipes call for a number of gelatin leaves, but since I use powdered gelatin I'd like to know the conversion rate/scaling.

According to Modernist Pantry and thanks to SAJ14SAJ:

You can successfully substitute sheet gelatin for powdered gelatin in
any recipe by using the following scaling.
1 (0.25 oz.) envelope granulated gelatin = 1 tablespoon [(15 ml)] powdered
gelatin = 3 sheets leaf gelatin.

and so one sheet of leaf gelatin would correspond to ~1 teaspoon (5 ml) of powdered gelatin.
and a bit extra info from Modernist Cuisine

Gelatins are measured by what is called their Bloom strength (usually labeled as bronze, silver, gold, or platinum). Knox brand has a bloom strength of 225. If you are making a recipe (not just one of ours, but any recipe), be it a Jell-O wreath or a pâté, you can use a different Bloom strength than what the recipe calls for, but you’ll have to do a little math. You can convert the recipe to use whatever gelatin you have on hand if you know the weight (MA) and Bloom strength (BA).
For gelatin A, you can find the equivalent weight of gelatin B (MB) with a Bloom strength of BB by using the formula MB = MA × BA ÷ BB. For example, if a recipe calls for 2.6 g of Knox gelatin, you could use 3.7 g of silver gelatin, which has a Bloom strength of 160 (2.6 × 225 ÷ 160 = 3.7). To make a vegetarian panna cotta, we substitute 0.8 g agar and 0.65 g xanthan for the 4.3 g gelatin the recipe normally calls for.


In what stage should the temperature of meat be taken? The temperature of meat is different when it is in the pan, when it's just out and starts resting or when it's done resting. When a recipe or safety recommendation calls for a specific temperature, in what "stage" of the meat preparation should it be taken?

Foor food safety, the recommendation means that the coolest part of the meat should reach the target temperature. For something like a beef or pork roast, the coolest point will be generally in the very center of the roast. For chicken or turkey, it will often be where the leg joins the body. You may need to probe more than one more place to find the coolest reading.

Now, because the meat surrounding that coolest point is at a higher temperature, the meat will continue to cook after it is removed from the oven. How much of an increase will depend on how big the roast is. In other words, a large roast will have a greater thermal mass — more meat towards the outside will be at a higher temperature, and the heat will transfer into the coolest point, raising its ultimate temperature.

So, the practical answer to your question is that you need to anticipate when the target temperature will be attained. To err on the side of food safety, keep the meat in the oven until it reaches or is very close to the target temperature. With a little experience, you'll be able to gauge how much of a temperature increase occurs with various roasts, and remove it from the oven earlier.

The bottom line however, is that the roast needs to ultimately reach the target temperature.


Interpreting recipes from a different culture (specifically India) I've tried to make dahi (indian "curd", or yogurt) a few times, but it has always turned out more like cottage cheese (English "curds and whey") than like yogurt.

This isn't necessarily bad (the whey is great for making pancakes), but it isn't what I'm trying to produce.

Making the starter using peppers is no problem, since there isn't anything critical at this stage, but after that, everything is vague.

I think the biggest problem is that the recipes written by Indians are difficult to understand by Westerners.  What's blatantly obvious to everyone there isn't obvious at all to me here.

For instance, I discovered that the verb "boil" in India doesn't mean what it does here.  (E.g. recipes that say "boil for a few minutes until lukewarm" don't make sense unless one interprets "boil" as simply "heat".)

What does "lukewarm" mean?
What does "room temperature" mean?
When I got up this morning, "room temperature" was 18°C, but two months ago it was nearly 30°C.
How long is "a while" or "until done"?
One recipe offered help by suggesting "a while longer if you are in the North".
What does "test on wrist to ensure it is the right temperature" mean if I don't know what the right temperature is supposed to feel like?

How should Indian recipes be converted to exact temperatures, specifically "lukewarm" and "room temperature"?

Note:
A comment mentions that the above might be considered insulting to Indians.

I was generalizing what I had noticed in Indian recipes, but I definitely didn't mean any of it in a negative way.

It's just a fact of life; every culture has its own obvious meanings that aren't obvious to other cultures.

If I said I picked up a two-four of blue, a mickey of screech, and a couple double-doubles on the way home, almost every Canadian would understand what I meant, but almost no one else would. Or poutine with a bloody caesar.  Or Nanaimo bars and butter tarts for a toonie.

I certainly wouldn't be insulted if someone from India asked me what I was talking about.

OK, 'recipe requests' are off topic here, but as a guide to searching…

There are thousands of 'British' chefs, whose ancestry is not British.
If you look for a recipe on a site ending with .co.uk [or .de or .dk or .se or anywhere except .in] rather than .com then you are likely to find one who's ancestry is 'Indian' but whose upbringing is 'Western'.

To balance this fairly, you are equally likely in this day & age to find some guy called Jock McStereotype*, ginger-haired & Glaswegian-accented, who has spent the past 20 years working as a chef in an Indian restaurant… but that aside…

Those chefs will all know how to do measurements, temperatures, definitions, etc for their 'home' country's target audience.

Alternatively, chefs write books - from Khalid Aziz way back in the 70s/80s [Khalid was an Asian newsreader for the BBC, who was also an accomplished chef in his spare time.] to more modern authors such as Atul Kochar, or even the 'king' of restaurant curries in the 90s, Pat Chapman.

I just checked books on my shelf by all 3 authors - Khalid has a dahi recipe, for a British audience, in 'British' terminology… dated 1983 - so this has been information, easily available to westerners, for over 35 years.
I managed to google that book here - Eat Your Books - The Encyclopedia of Indian Cooking by Khalid Aziz
You can browse for free, or buy the whole thing.

*Though he would hate it if I gave any details [so I won't], one of my favourite Indian restaurants has a chef who fits this appalling 'McStereotype'… just to show it is no longer important where someone came from, only how they cook.


Flank postmortem (how I was outflanked) Picture yourself a flank veal-cut. The grease and silver tissue are off. I open the flank with a knife to extend it. It's filled with ground meat, apple and raisins. It's rolled and bound and goes into the oven at 50ºC to get the enzymes working full speed. It stays at 50ºC with high humidity for an hour.

Then, the dial goes to 180ºC until the center of the flank reaches 65ºC.

Result: the outside is overdone and tough to eat.

I'm guessing I could get better results taking the meat to 65ªC slowly, then let it cool before giving it a blast of heat to get a crust on the outside.

Normally, this kind of meat is seared first, and then stays in liquid on a slow fire for some time (braising). I wanted to obtain the same or better result the other way around.

Does anybody have any additional idea? Should I stick with braising, if so, for how long?

"The other way round" certainly works. Only not with a blast of hot air.

You can happily get the meat cooked to your 65°C first, then take care of the crust. But convection heat isn't enough to give you a crust. You need either conduction, or radiation.

For conduction, you need contact with a hot material which gives off lots of heat at once, commonly known as "searing". I know that searing after the roasting is unusual in the kitchen, but this is only one of those things which is done because it has always been done this way, or maybe because great men like Leibnitz posed the untested hypothesis that searing "seals the juices in", and the world hasn't caught on that it has been disproved. Disregard, and plop the cooked meat on a hot griddle brushed with a thin layer of oil. BTW, the food lab swears on exactly that technique.

A more common approach is to use radiation heat, and lots of it. This is why most ovens have a thing called grill/broiler. Put the roasted meat close to it, use it until there is a crust, turn it to another side, continue. Here, you have to pay a bit more attention. The heat is enough to warm the inside too, so stop the first cooking stage at less than 60°C. I can't tell you how much less, but would probably try it with 60°C the first time. If you brush the meat with some fat first (really thin, use a pastry brush), you will get a crispier crust. You can also look into "advanced" techniques like putting something on the meat, usually dusting it with flour, but sometimes batter is also used.


How long can I store soaked beans before cooking? I've soaked some beans in room temperature water overnight, since 6pm (white navy beans).

How long can I keep them in water before I must use them?

Will they last a day or so at room temperature and in water, or should I drain and store in the fridge, or must I cook with them immediately?

It rather depends on the temperature of the room. Where I live, in the summer it gets hot and humid, and they shouldn't be out on the counter during the day, or they ferment.
In winter (like spring in the northern US, 45-70 farenheit) they can be out for two days with no problem.

My recommendation would be to soak overnight for morning use, or to soak during the day for evening use. It also helps to change the water every few hours, though this isn't critical.
If you refrigerate them with the water, you get an extra half-day. Refrigerating drained gets another day or so.

Either way, they should always be shaded, never in direct sunlight.

If they do spoil, you'll know, as they'll have a sour/yeasty smell to them.


How long will a frozen lamb roast stay "good" ? I have a lamb roast in the freezer ( uncooked) that I put there at Christma, will this still be
"good"?  thank you, Claudia

It will be safe indefinitely at freezer temperatures.

For maximum quality, the frozen shelf life (per Still Tasty) is about 6-9 months.

You would want the lamb well wrapped, so that freezer burn cannot develop.

It appears that at the time this question was put in, your lamb is about 4 months frozen, so it should still have good quality if well wrapped.


What percent of the inside lining of the Instant Pot actually stainless steel? I’ve tried 2 intant pots and both pitted with first use. The 2nd pot I never added salt to the recipe, made the squash soup recipe from the booklet and used vegan liquid buillion and washed pot immediately after cooking, and ALREADY pits have formed! I find this unacceptable. My stainless steel pots I’ve used for 20 yrs have never pitted or corroded even with salt added to recipes. How much stainless steel is used in the lining of the pot?  If no salt is used there should NOT be corroded spots. This is absolutely unacceptable for a promoted “stainless steel” product. I know it’s made in China but is the steel lining like 1% steel? Is there any quality control in the manufacturing? The lining cooks off into the food, I don’t want metal in my food even if some deem it safe.

There is no such thing as a mixed material containing "x percent steel", unless you are talking an inhomogenous composite material (which would be most certainly more expensive than using all steel, and wouldn't look metallic). A metal alloy is either a steel (stainless or not stainless), or it isn't a steel.

There are thousands of stainless steel types (which you could group by 3 major types and a few specialty ones) which have varying corrosion resistance. Also, a major factor here is how the steel was polished/finished.

Have you compared cooking the same dish in another (non instant, non pressure) stainless steel pot?

Were there any other metal items (spoons, standoffs, immersion blenders...), especially made from something else than stainless steel, more than momentarily present in the liquid while cooking or while the contents were still hot? Stainless steel doesn't like being part of a boiling battery...

A salty, sour liquid at pressure cooker temperatures is actually a rather aggressive chemical mixture - even stainless steel has to work hard here.

By the way, the stainless steel typically used for pots has mostly iron (good for you), carbon (not bad for you), nickel and chromium (technically not good for you)...


Pork butt roast: slicing temp vs pulling temp At internal temp of 170F,  will the pork butt slices be very tender and moist or should one continue to higher temp closer to pulled of 195F to achieve?

It really isn't that simple.  It turns out this question is like "how long does it take to drive 100 miles?"  Well, part of the answer is dependent on how fast the car goes!

The pork will be fully cooked, and almost certainly palatable to your taste (in terms of doneness which is always well done at these temperatures), if it reaches 165 - 170 F in any case.

The key question is how long has it been at temperatures that convert collagen to gelatin?  Collagen converts to gelatin at a temperature dependent rate, faster at warmer temperatures (within limits).   It is not an instantaneous process.

The key difference between the slicable roast and the pullable roast is the relative amount of converted gelatin.  That is the 100 miles you want to go... having enough converted to be sumptuous and delicious.

Unfortunately, that is a tricky question to answer, since the conversion reaction starts (at a glacially slow pacing) as low as 140 F if you are willing to wait literally days, and proceeds relatively rapidly at 200 F, with varying speeds in between.  This is the speed of the car.

On the other hand, the internal temperature of the roast cannot really exceed the external temperature, since heat moves to the center from outside (I know, it sounds trivial, and it is).  But the key thing is, the outside is cooled by the evaporation of water (technically the term is enthalpy of vaporization is, but that sounds complicated):  it takes a relatively large amount of energy to convert liquid water at 100 C to steam at 100 C.

Because of this, every time a water molecule evaporates from the surface of the roast, it actually cools the roast compared to the instant before.   Overall, the temperature of the outside cannot climb substantially above a certain level until it is fairly dry (and your bark is formed).   This implies the center cannot get too hot until then either.

However, the entire time the surface temperature of your meat is stalled as it dries out (and more water migrates from the center, to certain extent), the inside is hot and collagen to gelatin conversion is ongoing.

Saying your roast is done at 170 F or pullable at 190 F (a common recommendation) is an over simplification of a complicated, non-linear process.  Sometimes it is better to just recognize when you reach your destination.

The final target temperature required to allow sufficient conversion time is dependent on the size of the roast, the temperature of the oven or barbecue, the rate at which the temperature rises in the specific roast, and so on.  This is very hard to predict.

Fortunately, pork butts and other cuts used for this type of cooking are remarkably forgiving.

So as much as it pains me to say this, in this case, put aside the thermometer, guestimate based on time, and learn to test your meat by poking at it (literally, the tenderness is the goal and the test) until you have enough experience to just know.

If you take the roast out early, and find some is not pullablle, you can always wrap the un-pullable part in foil (to inhibit additional moisture loss), and stick it right back in.  Or just slice that part!

Even the failures will be delicious.

See also:

Huffington Post article on The Stall
What makes a moist steak (or roast)? (The answer is more general...)


I want to make a mug cake, can I use hot chocolate mix instead of cocoa? Unfortunately, I do not have any cocoa powder left. If I use Cadbury's hot chocolate mix, would it give me the same effect?

You definitely want to use cocoa powder if you can...but...

I've done it in a pinch. It's not as good as cocoa powder though because hot chocolate mix is usually also sugar & sometimes powdered milk. But it's still something to fix a chocolate craving when you don't have much else in the cupboard.

I've added hot chocolate mix to waffle mix/pancake mix and always found it delicious, though of course not as chocolate-y as with pure cocoa powder.


how to avoid crystallization of powdered sugar I have powdered white sugar and stored it in a glass bottle. I see the next day that the sugar had crystallized and i cant seem to take it out or anything. Tried to keep under sun. No result. i have no other go than to discard the whole bottle.

First, if you powdered it yourself, you should have added cornstarch, else it goes stone-hard quickly.

Second, you have to keep it away from moisture. The bottle would have to be closed tightly, and you have to use a perfectly dry bottle, not a just-washed one. If you live in tropical region or somewhere else with really high moisture, a bottle may not be a good container, try something wide mouthed from which you can break out the sugar if needed.

For the existing bottle, you might not need to discard it. Try soaking it in a larger water container overnight. With luck, it will dissolve the sugar enough to get it (partly?) out. The resulting sweet liquid can be boiled down to make simple syrup or caramel. You might need to boil it for a long time though, depending on the amount of water used.


Ingredient Identification: Hong Kong restaurant spicy spice I was at a fast food restaurant in Hong Kong which was apparently popular for its spicy dishes - there were cartoons on the walls and lots of red peppers everywhere.  It looked like a chain, sort of on the level of In-N-Out or Five Guys, but with spicy ramen.  My wife and I ordered different dishes and they both were, well, spicy.

But! This spicy-ness was a different sensation than I've had before or since, and I can't find what was causing it!  The best way I can explain it is lots of little ants with hot feet running around on my palate.  This isn't very appetizing, I realize, but it was delicious - usually, hot foods will spread out evenly around one's palate, but this was (I'll try again) like those "pinhead" toys where each bit of hotness was a separate point (rain on a tin roof?) It was delicious!

I hope I've given enough clues for someone to tell us what the heck this was!

It's possible it was a combination called 麻辣 (ma-la,) literally "numbing and spicy", a mix of hot chilies and Sichuan peppercorns (which are called Huā jiāo [花椒].)


"Lively simmer" vs "simmer"? From what I understand, a "simmer" is when you start getting small air bubbles floating up, but only one air bubble breaks through the liquid's surface every 2 seconds.

So then what is a "lively simmer" as I've seen in many recipes?

If I were to guess, it would be that the ones that call for a lively simmer are sauces, soups, or other thicker liquids. The lively simmer in that case would refer something close to a light boil. For instance, tomato sauce simmers even when you have it on low, but if you were to cut the temperature up to a medium low, it would bubble much more actively and to me would be considered a lively simmer.


Why is my stevia-sweetened fresh whipped cream bitter? I just used my iSi whipped cream maker for the first time.  I cleaned it thoroughly.  Then, I used a half pint of unpasteurized heavy cream (just bought yesterday with expiration 6 days away), and a few squirts of liquid Stevia.  It came out super bitter.  There doesn't seem to be a ton online about what the cause might be, and the answers I did find were confident but varied.  I've read everything from using bad cream to not enough sweetener or flavoring.  Any thoughts on what the cause might be?
Thank you!

I've been using stevia for years to control my carb intake and  I had to learn by experimenting with it. If you use too much, it will taste bitter. Just add a little at a time, and taste as you go.


How to add flavouring ingredients to steamed or boiled veggies? I'm a newbie cook from to prepare the nightly dinner for my wife and I. I usually have a meat and stream or boil sweet potato, corn, Brussels sprouts, asparagus or broccolini.

It occurred to me that I was adding a little bit of butter and salt to everything that I cooked. I know if I bake something I could add rosemary etc, but how can I season / flavour food different steaming / boiling? Adding herbs to the water??

Adding flavors to the water will not transfer to the vegetables. Steam is a poor medium for flavor as water carries almost nothing with it when it becomes gas. There are a few very good methods to add some flavor to steamed veggies, so you can just use one of those!

You can add herbs and other aromatics to the veggies This works best with fresh herbs, but a few sprigs of rosemary or a few leaves of basil in contact with your steamed veggies will get some good flavor action. Alternately, mixing them in right after you take the veggies off the steam will let the residual heat of the veg to bring out the flavors in the herbs. Other things that work well is cooking your veggies on a bed of orange peels or lemon peels to add some citrus flavor.

Add oil, plus any flavors you want to infuse into the oil Once you have steamed your veggies, hit them with a light drizzle of oil. I make a chili-infused olive oil that I toss my steamed carrots in that is always a huge hit. There are wide array of lipid soluble flavors that you can infuse your oil with.

Compound butters are great, but so is just butter Animal fats added after cooking almost always turn ho-hum into yum-yum. Butter has long been the french way to add a bunch of subtle flavor to a side dish. You don't have to use a ton, normally a light toss is enough to make a difference. Compound butter is just butter with herbs chopped in and it gives you the double whammy when you use it.

Any ground spice You can also just shake some ground spices on. Pepper, curry powder, cinnamon, pretty much anything that sprinkles and fits the profile you are looking for will work. If your spices are fresh ground, you will get even more taste for your buck.

If you are boiling your veggies, your options open up. Most root veggies will take on the flavor of whatever you cook them in, so using stock or vegetable broth can add some flavor. Vegetables that you cook with each other in a pot of boiling water will also get some transference among themselves. That's the basis for a large number folk dishes like New England Boil and the reason Cajuns always throw some taters and corn in with the crawfish.


Medium - Rare steak as meal prep ok? Hi I am doing a weekly meal prep cooking myself, and was wondering if it's ok to grill steaks medium rare and then put them in the fridge to eat in the next 2-3 days, or bacteria can still develop for that time.

That will work just fine as long as they are handled safely before you cook them, then chilled down as quickly as possible after you cook them.  I would let them cool briefly after cooking (a couple of minutes), place them in a zip type bag, and put them in an ice bath until chilled, then refrigerate.


I rarely clean the old oil from my slow-cooker, is it OK? I put some chicken/beef into my slow-cooker, pour some olive oil and cook it for 4-5 hours. After that, if some meat is still left in the cooker, I may heat it up again the next day or the day after the next day, etc.
Then, when all meat is finished, I just throw away the oil & meat juices from the cooker but don't wash the cooker with water. I put new raw meat, pour some fresh olive oil and repeat again the cooking process. Is it bad that some residues of the old olive oil from the previous cookings are present in my new cookings? Is there carcinogenic stuff in the old oil?

You have a couple of potential issues, one possibly dangerous, the other has to do with flavor/quality control.  First, by not washing your cooking vessel, you leave the potential for bacterial growth.  This would be especially true if there is some down time (even a couple of hours) between uses.  The quality issue is that over time residual oil is going to become rancid, introducing off flavors into your food products.  So, I would strongly suggest a wash in warm, soapy water, or the dishwasher, between uses.


Butter alternative for making breads I'm interested in making dairy-free Banana nut bread. What can I use as an alternative to butter? I'm aware that there is soy and coconut milk as alternatives to cow's milk, but I'm not immediately sure that using those will work as a substitute, as cow's milk is to soy milk as (regular) butter is to soy butter (which is not the same concept, as I understand?). Basically I'm wondering what products exist which would provide the chemical properties of butter without being dairy.

Thanks!

Result, using rfusca's advice:

Butter flavored shortening and a touch of water (because butter has water in it too).  The key thing here is that you have a have a solid fat because you're beating air bubbles into the butter during the creaming process.  These bubbles are needed for the bread to properly rise during baking.

The browning process may be an issue though - shortening has no protein.  You're after an umami flavor from the Malliard reaction ...  it may be difficult to add that because of the lack of protein.  A pinch of MSG maybe, for the umami?


Handling raw poultry turns my cuticles black! Whenever I handle raw poultry (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.) my nails, cuticles, and the skin under and around my nails turns black. This happens even after I thoroughly wash my hands, and when working with thoroughly cleaned utensils.

This has been happening to me for over ten years. So far, I've not been able to get an answer as to why, or how to prevent it.

As a student of medicine I've never heard of any condition similar to the one you describe, but then there are still a lot of diseases, conditions and genetic prepositions unknown to man (and to medicine students).
First I thought, it might be an allergic reaction to poultry proteins, but our skin normally doesn't have many immune cells on the outside (but can still result in a rash or excema) and you would probably have a really strong alergic reaction when eating poultry (that does not seem to be the case).
What I would like to know is how long does your skin keep being black? Does your hands' colour change slowly or in a few seconds to a black? Do you have any other symptoms during contact to poultry or in general?

Anyhow there are few possibilities. Either something's really wrong with the meat you're buying (and I doubt that) or something's not alright with your skin. Maybe you have some kind of weird bacteria growing on your skin. There a lots of different bacteria physiologically growing on everyones skin ... stil this not seem normal to me.
You should consider seeking professional help and talk to a general practitioner.
Meanwhile I suggest using latex or nitril glove (you should be able to buy them in a drug store). This should prevent your hands from turning black and they still allow you to handle the meat precisely.


How cold can a brining turkey get before freezing? If I brine a turkey in a solution of 1/2 cup of salt per 1 gallon of distilled water, how do I tell how cold it can get before the brine freezes?

Here in America, we all know water freezes at 32 degree Fahrenheit... if pure. Salt reduces the freezing point of water, which is why we salt our roads to melt ice in winter.

Since my fridge is fairly full, I would prefer to keep the brine bucket in the garage overnight. However, it may get as cold as 26 degrees F tonight. Will a brine with 1/2 cup salt per gallon distilled water freeze at that temperature? Is there a good way to calculate the temperature to make an answer applicable to multiple brine ratios and temperatures?

Wikipedia has a page on saline water and its freezing points but this requires calculation of molar masses and more chemistry than I am capable of - is there a way to simplify this in the context of cooking proportions? I.e. cups and gallons, not g/cm3 and other measurements.

To be more specific, I am using Alton Brown's brine recipe. 1 quart of store-bought vegetable stock mixed with one gallon of water, 1 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Boil to dissolve/mix, then chill in the fridge. Combine with another gallon of chilled water and store chilled (fridge or outdoors in a cold climate, in a detached garage in my case). However, a good answer will not assume a specific recipe: it will specify ratios and explain "X cups salt, Y cups sugar, Z gallons water = W% brine concentration" since not everyone uses the same brine. I am looking for an answer that anyone can use to convert cooking volumes (cups/gallons) into temperatures: "I put X cups of salt into Y gallons of water, how cold can it get before this freezes and the brine fails to do its job?"

Actual results: the brine appears not to have frozen. When I checked in the morning it was liquid without any ice chunks floating in it. I am still interested in a more scientific approach to planning this, however.

Short answer: a recommended 6% brine solution will not quite freeze at 26F.

Long answer:

You should have just looked at the chart on the Wikipedia page, which has % by weight.  That's easy to calculate; just divide the weight of the salt (4.5oz for 1/2 cup) into the weight of the water (133 oz).  This is, of course, way easier to do in metric (128g into 4000g).

Note that you will find widely varying estimates for the weight of a half-cup of kosher salt on the web, from 2.5oz/70g up to 5oz/140g.  Based on weighing Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt in my own kitchen, the correct answer is towards the high end of this range (4.5oz / 128g).  To answer the math part of your question, if you're willing to believe my scale rather than getting out one of your own, each 1/2 cup of salt per gallon represents about 3% salinity by weight and about 3.5deg F drop in freezing temperature, at least up to 2 cups.

You also should have read better instructions on brining a turkey, as the amounts you ask about, 1/2 cup salt per gallon of water, is far too low in salt.  That's only about 3% to 3.5%, which is well below the recommended brine strength and will result in a watery turkey (as well as frozen brine at 26F).  You want a 6% saline solution by weight.

And, coincidentally, per the chart a 6% brine solution should freeze at around 25F, putting you in the clear.  Mind you, that means you'd better be pretty confident in that weather forecast.

On the other hand, maybe you should try a dry brine instead?


With few items, it easier/safer to use the fridge for everything, are there trade offs? I don't keep much food in the house, and generally use the fridge as a general purpose store for all kinds of food, as a way to slow down chemical reactions and lifeform growth alike, as well as spending less time considering the type of storage for a particular item.
However I've recently experienced some potential pitfalls, some honey has solidified into what could be a crystalline sugar solution, and a recent, official peanutButter/marmite mix developed a thin, non-fury, jelly like, yellow layer on some of its surface, apparently these are due to keeping the foods in an environment that is too cold.
Is it true that there are trade-offs either way regarding heat?

Besides the issues already mentioned, you should also beware of storing some dry goods in the fridge, especially if you live in a high-humidity area.
Basically, every time you open the container outside of the fridge, you will exchange it for more humid air.  In the fridge, the moisture will condense.
If you're storing something in amounts similar to the amount that you'd use at once, this usually isn't a problem.  It's more of an issue with items that are used just a little bit at a time, especially if they might clump up or have reactions to moisture (such as baking powder)
There are also a number of fruits and vegetables that may do strange things when in the fridge.  (tomatoes lose flavor, potatoes get sweet, etc.  See Which fruits and vegetables should be kept in a fridge, and which outside? ).  Also, it traps ethylene gas, so you may have issues if you have both ethylene producing and ethylene sensitive foods in your fridge.


Yeast 101: Active Dry Yeast, Instant Yeast, Baking Soda, Baking Powder. Differences and Info I'm a little confused as to what are the difference between them, when should I use which?

Also, how long is the lifespan and proper care after opening of these products? If I don't bake that often can I just keep a small can in the pantry for a long while? Can they be substituted for each other?

Thanks!

Note:  I am only putting this as an answer because it is too much for a comment and because the titles show.

Many of these topics are already covered:

Why use yeast instead of baking powder?

Why are there no recipes combining both yeast and baking powder?

Does active dry yeast really expire?

How to convert a recipe calling for active dry yeast into rapid rise yeast?

Is there any difference between bakers yeast and regular yeast?

Does active dry yeast really need proofing?

Can active dry yeast be substituted for a compressed yeast cake in baking?

Is 'Pizza yeast' any different than normal baking yeast?

Can/should I use rapid rise yeast for longer proofing?


Is it possible to subsititute nutella for peanut butter? Beyond the obvious differences in flavor, do these two tend to be interchangable?  The consistencies and composition seem close enough to me to make an acceptable substitute, but is it likely to give a significantly different end product with certain types of preparations?

Nutella is over half sugar by weight; peanut butter might be more like 5-10% depending on brand/style. That already sounds like enough that it won't make a good one-for-one substitution in most things, especially anything that's not already pretty sweet.

It probably also means that it'll have a slightly different resulting texture; nutella is already a bit less thick (probably again affected by the sugar), and I believe this is pretty obvious when heated, though it's been a while since I tried.


Proper olive oil tasting technique I'm looking to buy some really nice olive oil from an artisan shop near my home. Is there an appropriate olive oil tasting technique, similar to wine? If so, what is it, and what dimensions of flavor and texture should I be mindful of?

There's a fairly comprehensive "How to Taste" resource here:

  The Olive Oil Source: How to Taste


Peeling and dicing potato before boiling it I've mostly seen people peel a potato after it has been boiled and then cutting it to pieces if required. Given it's muddy exterior, I find it cleaner (and probably takes less heat) to remove the skin with a peeler before boiling. Am I losing anything when I use my method? What do you suggest?

A lot of us just eat the peel, but assuming you don't want to...

Certainly it's going to be a lot faster to boil a potato that's already been cut up than to boil a whole one, so between boiling whole and peeling, dicing, then boiling, I'd certainly pick the latter. It doesn't really have much to do with cleanliness, though; a good washing leaves the peel plenty clean and safe (and like I said, I eat it). You're not losing anything with your method, besides the nutritional value of the peel.

I imagine the reason a lot of people boil their potatoes whole is to be able to peel them without a peeler. You could sort of have it both ways. If you partially cut the potato (thick slices, probably), you could boil them in not much longer than it'd take to boil small cubes, then peel the slices by hand, and cut further if necessary. Not sure it'd really save you a ton of time, but if your peeler is dull/broken/missing/stolen, it'd be a decent fallback. (You could probably also partially boil them whole, peel, chop, then finish cooking, but that's starting to sound like it just makes more work.)


What is the purpose of seasoning a skillet? I've seen a couple questions on how to season a skillet, and this may be a dumb question, but why do you season a skillet?

Does it impart flavor onto the food?
For how long? (which I guess is one way of asking, "How often do I need to do it?"
Do I still "need" to apply butter etc.. to the pan even though I "seasoned" it? (in this case, maybe it's a question of taste, not need)

Purpose of Seasoning

protect bare cast iron from rust
make the pan surface non-stick

How often to season the pan?

You'll need to season it more when it's new.
Use it frequently and you'll need to season it less often.
Don't cook beans or tomatoes in it at first; if you do so later, you may want to re-season it.

Regarding adding butter, you're right: that would be for taste, not necessity. If seasoned properly, a cast iron pan is non-stick.


How long can fish be left out? I was defrosting fish and forgot about it.  It has been left out for a long time.  How long can fish actually be left out before it goes bad?

A quote from the below link;

  "Do not thaw frozen seafood at room temperature. Thaw in the
  refrigerator or defrost in the microwave oven. If thawing in the
  refrigerator, allow one to two hours per pound of seafood".

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/fsfcs100.pdf

&

Another quote from the link below;

  "... If food is allowed to remain at room temperature for two hours or
  longer, bacteria can multiply and cause food poisoning. - Even a tiny
  amount of contaminated food can cause severe illness. If you have any
  doubt about the safety of the food, throw it out!"

http://www.calpoison.com/public/food.html


Sunflower oil reaching smoke point on medium temperature. Is this normal? If I turn the heat any lower I fear that the meat won't be cooked well enough. It's only a small amount of smoke. I'm learning to cook and I'm afraid I will start a fire.

I assume you're cooking steak when you say "meat." Cooking steak to a safe temperature isn't just related to the temperature of your pan. It's also related to how long you cook it and what cooking method you use. If you use a really hot pan for the entire time your steak will be overcooked on the outside by the time the inside is medium rare (save for thin cuts of meat).

When you sear meat you want to do it on a really high temperature for a short amount of time (just long enough to develop the crust) to maximize browning and minimize the gray bar between the outside of the meat and the inside, which is normally cooked medium rare. Some smoking of oil is normal at this high temperature. However, be careful not to leave the oil at too high a temperature for too long or it will catch on fire.

Note: it's  best  to keep a lid that fits the pan close at hand along with a towel or pot holder. If the pan catches on fire, do not panic! Immediately cover the pan with the lid and then take it off the heat. Bring the lid toward the pan from the side at an angle (shielding your hand from the flame) and then cover completely.

There are many methods for cooking steak in a pan. Some people sear in cast iron and then put the pan and steak in an oven to finish more gently. Some cook in the oven first then finish in a hot pan (this is called reverse searing). The advantage to this method is that the outside of the meat is dry and already hot so it will brown better and faster.

Sunflower oil has a relatively high smoke point (450°F), so it's a good oil to use.