Seville oranges for marmalade - how important is freshness? We're currently (in January) in the brief season for seville oranges which means it's marmalade making time.

I acquired some sevilles as soon as they appeared in the shops here a week ago. However things have suddenly gone crazy at work and I'm not going to have time to have a marmalade making session now for a week or two.

How well will my sevilles last if I wait that time before making my marmalade?

Are greengrocers and supermarkets getting sevilles in pretty much daily? In which case I think I'll just go out again and buy more when I have a bit more time (so long as I do it before the season closes). Or does Spain just dump one giant load of the fruit on us at the beginning of the season?

I guess it's this latter part of the question which is most intriguing (since I know I can always freeze the sevilles I already have) since seville oranges are one of those very few products which are still truly seasonal. How does the supply chain work, and why are they so seasonal when so many other kinds of produce are nowadays available nearly all the year round?

Finally, what are the rough start and end dates for the seville orange season in the UK? I feel like it's the middle two weeks in January, but I haven't really checked up on that.

I'm presuming that your'e British because (a) You want to make marmalade (b) your nickname is 'tea drinker'. am i right?

Anyway, those bitter oranges are grown not only in Spain but in other parts of the Mediterranean as well, but their season i relatively short - so if i were you i would keep my eyes open for nice ripe ones and buy them - you can keep them cooled for at least a month in your fridge if they are in good condition in the time of their purchase.

Tip #1: try to buy oranges that weren't waxed.

Tip #2: if you can get Satsuma Citruses, they will do a good job as replacements. The result might be a little more sour though.


What are some pros/cons of restarting a bread machine mid-cycle? The situation:

I put all ingredients in the bread machine pan as usual (but with a little extra sugar or honey and liquid) and start the cycle. After the first or second kneading cycle, I restart the cycle. Sometimes I'll restart the cycle a second or third time, as well. My thought is that this would produce a more uniform bread texture, and perhaps some sourdough flavor. I add the extra sugar so the yeast will not starve, and the extra liquid so the dough will not dry out. None of the ingredients are by themselves perishable (e.g. milk, eggs), so I'm not particularly concerned about spoilage.

The Question

I'm curious what the effects of extra kneading and rise cycles are on a loaf of bread in the bread machine. What outcomes should this produce, in theory? Are there things I should be aware of if I do this for different kinds of yeast breads (e.g. white vs. whole-wheat)?

I know I could experiment with this a number of times and find out, but I don't have the time to perform this experiment with sufficient control and precision, or to my standards, so I'm appealing to community experience instead.

I'm not familiar with how bread machines even work, so I'm not sure if you mean that you are restarting the cycle and that means that (A) you are just mixing the dough longer, or (B) the dough mixes, then rests, then mixes, then rests, etc. Either way, not a good idea.

For scenario (A), you're overworking your gluten. If you do this, it's just as bad as undermixing. You can find plenty of information on the perils of overmixing.

If it's (B), it's also not a good idea. When bread rests, you should never mechanically mix it again. You only need to 'punch it back' to expel the carbon dioxide. Mechanically mixing at this point will actually break your gluten threads. Also, adding extra yeast or sugar is just a bad idea in general. You are not going to increase any flavour, certainly not going to create a sour. For that, you need to learn how to create, maintain, and use sours / sponges.

I am not speaking flippantly here, but I would suggest reading a proper baking textbook to learn about the theory of breadmaking to enhance your knowledge and understanding of ingredients and their role...

Having said that, I'm sure someone will come along and refute everything I've said - happens here all of the time. I only speak from 20+ years of experience plus baking and pastry papers.


White chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate ganache? I've been trying to find out if white chocolate mud cake would taste nice with a dark chocolate ganache. This is for a cake that I am making for someone (so I can't make a mistake) and need to find out if this is a good flavor combination. I haven't been able to find out any example of such combination on the internet and was wondering why white chocolate mud cake is always paired with a white chocolate ganache and dark chocolate mud cake with a dark chocolate ganache.

I am assuming that by mud cake, you mean a tight crumbed chocolate layer cake, almost always iced with ganache.

There are a myriad recipes on the Internet for both regular chocolate, and white chocolate variants, which span the gamut of techniques and ingredients.  While they do in fact most often call for a ganache matching the type of chocolate used in the layer, there are variations, such as strawberry frosted white chocolate mudcake, or coffee filled white chocolate mud cake.  There is even at least one recipe for white chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache.

I think you will find two preferences lead to the relative scarcity of white chocolate mud cakes with a chocolate ganache:

Chocolate ganache may overwhelm the delicate flavor of the white chocolate layers
People who like (regular) chocolate tend to really like it, and thus tend to favor chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache

Nonetheless, there is no other reason not to pair a white chocolate layer with a chocolate ganache if you enjoy the combination; they should work well together, although the ganache will probably be dominant.

I suggest a practice run, perhaps with cup cakes, to test whether the combination works for you before trying it out for your friend.


Are sesame greens served raw, or cooked? While shopping in our local Asian grocery, I noticed a pile of fresh sesame greens, which I've never seen before. Is there a specific reason to cook these, or to serve them raw? Meaning, would cooking mellow a harsh flavor, or enhance a delicate flavor?

I'll ask this part separately if you feel it's a separate issue, but are they a standalone ingredient, or used more as a flavor component?

Assuming you're talking about ggaennip, also known as shiso, it's quite common to use it raw or salt-pickled. There are two common varieties, red and green-leafed, and to my taste there are some subtle differences between the Korean, Japanese, and maybe Vietnamese varieties.

In Korea and Vietnam, ggaennip is frequently used to wrap foods (ssam bap, for example, or the Vietnamese turmeric crepe). Shiso can be used to wrap foods, as a garnish, or chopped and served on some things, like grilled chicken (yakitori) as a flavor contrast.

I don't see much point in cooking shiso or yukari, but I've cooked the red pepper and salt pickled version sold in cans (or sometimes in the freshly made kimchi section) by adapting it into a sort of variation on the mediterranean dolma. It retains much of the flavor, but is different than the raw leaf and mellower than just the pickle it starts from.

I do appreciate shiso tempura, so I'm not dogmatic about not-cooking, and there is certainly precedent for some cooked applications. I've also made an agedashi-doufu, deep fried tofu in soup stock, which had shiso added before it was coated for deep frying.

Shiso/gaennip is now popularly used in a drink that has added lemon juice or citric acid, but I've only seen this as a concentrate or prepared beverage, so it's possible that it requires some industrial techniques to retain the flavor when making a syrup.

Dried salted shiso, called yukari in Japanese, is also used raw, but often mixed into warm rice either as a topping or to make onigiri.


Brining multiple chickens I'm attempting to brine multiple, however I am confused as to whether my brine will be sufficient.
When I usually brine a single chicken I measure the weight of the water that I am going to use and then add salt which is equivalent to 5 percent of of that water's weight.

This time however I need to brine 4 chickens, and I've bought a 10 litre food grade container for this purpose. I'm wondering if I fill this entire container up with water that must mean i'll have to use 500 grams of salt to get a 5% brine solution, that's a lot of salt. What if I used 5 litres of water instead, and 250 grams of salt, this is still a 5% brine solution, will it yield the same results? How long should I brine for optimal results. When I brine a single chicken I usually brine for 5 hours as i've read that any longer and the chicken will become very salty? (Is this true?) And should the weight of the chickens factor into anything?

I'm cooking for a lot of people and I havent brined at this scale before so any help would be appreciated.

If you stay with the same ratio of salt (and any other ingredients) to water that you normally use, you should achieve the same results. As you normally use a 5% solution it shouldn't matter how many chickens or how much water if you stay with the 5% solution.

The only thing that the weight of the chickens will factor into is the amount of brining time needed. A larger bird will take more time than a small one.

Re time, a good rule of thumb for whole chickens is 2 hours per pound, using a 4% solution. You may want to slightly reduce the time per pound using a 5% solution. So, your 5 hours sounds about right. I wouldn't go over that as I would be concerned that it may make the meat mushy. (Haven't ever done that but I've heard that it can happen if over brined.)


Texture and cutting of avocado and Mango used in sushi When I want to make sushi, how should the avocado and mango feels like ? Soft or very soft ?

Plus how should I cut the mango to put on the top of sushi ? I searched on youtube but nothing helped me their.

Avocado: Soft, but not too soft.
Mango, a little bit under ripe.

So, it is always to your own taste.

As to how to cut the mango, I would cut in half and make thin sliced (a little bit like cutting fish for sushi).

Video showing how to cut a mango (like a pro) for sushi rolls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL6J_hy3sHM


Tips on cooking for people with different allergies Most people have friends with allergies, and I wish to make a list with tips on how to make such a meal when there is different allergies at the same time. For example, it's a big problem making a cake without gluten, laktose and eggs, but this issue might come at hand. Often one don't wish to make three different cakes, so tips one how to assert this problem is that I wan't from this thread. Will also try to summarize the tips in this post.

Tips for intollerance, religion and personal choices are also welcome. Actually tips for cooking for everyone of us who tend to be a pain in the ass (I have celiaki myself, so not offence intended).

Make a list of can have ingredients for the possible courses.
Use substitute products (Not easy since they might behave a bit differently).
Make buffet where one have several gluten/laktose/egg/... free dishes (Can be a lot of work).

For tips on specific allergies, see: Fruit/nuts, Gluten

EDIT: I have specified the question quite a lot from the original by request from Ocaasi, since it started quite broad. The original question is removed.

Also, is there some food that everyone can eat, or food where it is easy to use other ingredients to avoid allergic reactions? Making buffets are always a possibility, but I'm thinking more in the lines of three course meals without making to much differences on the dish.

A few basics which haven't been mentioned:

Find out what people's allergies are before they come (they should tell you, but better to ask)
Make labels which list food ingredients and put them on your buffet.
Bring an epi-pen.


Is there anything but yeast in a packet of baker's yeast? So hopefully this does not seem like too silly a question...but is there anything in a typical small packet of baker's yeast aside from actual yeast organisms (S. cerevisiae)?

I guess that I always assumed that there was some kind of filler agent such as cornstarch mixed in with the yeast in order to give it some "substance".  However, when looking at the ingredient list for baker's yeast on multiple manufacturers' websites, yeast is listed as the only ingredient.

I researched further to find that a single yeast organism of the species S. cerevisiae is only approximately 6 microns wide.  For comparison, a grain of table salt is something on the order of 500 microns wide.  So I am at a loss to understand how I am able to see individual "grains" of yeast.

So one or more of these possibilities seems to be true:

1) There is some kind of filler in the yeast packages that is simply not listed.

2) There is actually nothing but yeast organisms in the package.  Even though individual grains seem discernible, this may simply be an optical illusion of sorts or a large number of yeast cells sticking together which appear to be a single grain/cell.

3) ???

All evidence seems to point to number 2 being true, but I am just trying to determine if I am correct about this.  It seems counter-intuitive to me, though, that each packet contains a lump of single-celled organisms with no filler or any kind.

Please enlighten me or point out what I am missing!

Much appreciated.

Since you mention grains, I assume you're talking about active dry or instant yeast. The short answer is that either way, you're seeing granules of yeast plus dead yeast cells and dried growth medium, with the ratio of each depending on the type.

The Wikipedia page on Baker's yeast has plenty of detail about the various types of yeast. Notably, it lists several stages of processing:

cream yeast - basically just yeast siphoned off, in liquid form. It's perishable enough that you can't generally buy it.
compressed yeast - essentially cream yeast with most of the liquid removed, most commonly sold in the form of cake yeast. It's still perishable, but lasts long enough to sell.
active dry yeast - fully dried, "coarse oblong granules of yeast, with live yeast cells encapsulated in a thick jacket of dry, dead cells with some growth medium".
instant yeast - similar to active dry, but smaller granules and more live yeast per volume. This makes it more perishable but easier to use. (On Food and Cooking mentions that it's "in the form of small porous rods that take up water more rapidly than granules.")


What spice rub would be typically Thai? I'm trying to recreate a dish I had at Alinea a while ago. Their forum actually had a good start for this dish:

  The garnishes on the surface are
  Hawaiian volcanic salt, cucumber,
  garlic chips, fresh banana, young
  coconut, red onion, lime segments with
  zest, toasted cashews, and red chili
  pudding. The glass circle contains a
  basil seed-lime vinaigrette.

  We press the herbs in between two
  pieces of rice paper to form the
  centerpiece. Once the frame is
  assembled the server drapes the flag
  over the frame. We cure the pork belly
  with salt, sugar and aromatics. It is
  cooked sous vide until tender, seared
  and shredded. We make a curry sauce
  from coconut, ginger, mint,
  lemongrass, thai chilis, kaffir lime,
  cardamom, coriander, and lime juice.
  We mix the curry with the shredded
  pork belly to make the ragu spooned
  over tableside by the service staff.

My question is, what would be a typical set of Thai aromatics for the pork prior to putting it in the sous vide?

I think of the typical Thai flavor profile as garlic, ginger, lemongrass, some kind of spicy pepper, and Thai basil.


Mashing bananas for Muffins: By hand or with blender? I am planning to bake some Banana Muffins. The recipe calls for mashed bananas. From my experience I know this can be tricky, because when mashing them by hand, of course they aren't as finely mashed as if I use my stick blender.

What is the ideal consistency for mashed bananas in muffins?

When done by hand I am afraid some parts of the banana will sink to the bottom. When done with the blender I am afraid it gets too liquid.

It sounds like your bananas might not be ripe enough. If they're really ripe, you can mash with a fork and with very little effort turn them into a nice smooth goopy mush. There shouldn't be any pieces left to sink. You want to wait until they're so ripe you wouldn't want to eat them - blackening skin, very very soft.


How to proceed when you have a marinade of beef in spices, tomato, vinegar and onion? I followed this recipe of beef vindaloo, last night, triple checking everything written there. Since I don't have a spice grinder, I put the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, salt and spices in a mixie and converted it into a fine paste. Then poured it into a container which had 1kg cleaned beef pieces, poured 250ml of vinegar (the recipe says 250ml for 0.5kg beef, but I felt pouring 500ml for 1kg of beef is too much).

It's been marinated in a fridge overnight. Today morning the beef seems a bit tough when I squeeze it. I thought it's supposed to turn tender.

Anyway, now the recipe asks me to use the marinade for frying the beef a bit. This confuses me.

How is beef going to get fried (even though there will be 8tbsp of oil), when the marinade contains a good amount of water from the tomatoes and onions?
Every other recipe I have known, the tomatoes are only added after the frying takes place. I've never known tomatoes being used in marination. Is this really something that works?
Every other recipe calls for the onions to be fried along with the spices. Is onion really blended into a paste and used for marination?
Now that I have a rather large quantity of marinade full of onion and tomato, will that ruin the taste of the curry because the onion paste might not actually get fried?
Should I (instead of trying to fry the marinade), take some fresh onions, chop them up with some ginger and garlic and fry them in oil until golden brown, and take the beef pieces separately and fry it for a while (until the outsides are brown) with the onions, ginger and garlic and later add the entire marinade to make a curry?

Somehow I feel that if I just follow the rest of the recipe on that page, the curry will get messed up.

tl;dr there is more than one way to cook food, it sounds like you're used to a specifc pattern, but it's not the only one. I'd personally encourage you to try the recipe as-is before you leap to judgment.

(1) It says sauté, not fry, and that will work fine. You should probably shake off excess marinade, and avoid crowding the pan too much. The water will boil and spatter, but the meat will cook and brown. This will be easier if you use the right amount of liquid, though. I see that you reduced the amount of vinegar. You should probably have stuck to the recipe, or replaced the vinegar with water if you wanted to reduce the vinegar flavor.

(2) Sure, you can use tomato sauce/paste in a marinade if you want. It'll impart a bit of tomato flavor to the meat, maybe. The recipe also isn't 100% clear, but does later say "add the reserved masala water", so I think it's also having you use the marinade as the sauce, and the tomato will certainly be obvious enough there.

(3) Yes, you can also use raw onions in marinades. Same note here about how it appears it also ultimately gets cooked into the dish.

(4) It's hard to answer, because I don't really understand why you think this would ruin the dish. The meat has some raw tomato and onion in a marinade, then it gets cooked. You also put raw tomato and onion into the dish, and then cook them. Everything ends up cooked. Not fried, but frying is not the only way to cook food.

(5) I mean, you could do that, and it'd probably be good too, but that's not what this recipe says to do, so it'd be a somewhat different dish. One of the main characteristics of this recipe is that it produces a smooth sauce, with all the flavors blended together: all the spices, the tomato, the onion, everything. There are no noticeable pieces of onion (or garlic or ginger), but the flavor's in it.

(and as for marinades tenderizing things - that's not always the point, not all meat really needs it, but tenderizing also doesn't really mean the meat will be incredibly soft while still raw, just that it'll be more tender and easy to bite/chew)


Should I season my sushi rice before or after cooking? When I make rice for sushi, I season it with sugar, salt, rice vinegar, and mirin. I'm never sure if I should add these at the beginning or near the end of cooking the rice. Does it matter when I add these seasonings?

You should add the seasoning at the end of cooking the rice.

Actually normally I let my rice cool down for 10-15 minutes and transfer it to a large mixing bowl before mixing the seasoning with my rice.

I do not think it matters when you add the salt BUT the wet ingredients (including sugar) should be added after the water has been absorbed by the rice.


Jam scum after sealing I made strawberry jam and bottled and sealed using wax discs. I'm planning on selling the jam but scum has formed on top. If I open the jars they will have to be refrigerated and won't last. Is there anything I can do to save my jam without opening them?

Did you skim the scum during cooking?  Also, sealing with wax is no longer considered safe, especially if you plan to sell the jam.  It's possible that what you see is mold and not scum.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_01/prevent_spoilage.html

You might be able to save your batch, if it's not moldy if you throw away the wax, and reprocess in a water bath canner using lids and rings.


Help removing excess starch from potato chips I was trying to make potato chips at home but forgot wash off the excess starch from the freshly cut potato slices. I have already dried them off. Now when i fry them they turn brown giving a burnt off kind of taste. What should I do???

According to Food Lab, the chemical that causes browning in homemade potato chips is tyrosinase. That article contains some really nice pictures to help demonstrate the value of soaking. Like this one:

Interestingly, after some experimentation, Kenji discovers a technique of first boiling the raw potato in a vinegar solution, drying, and then frying. According to him this gives the lightest coloration and cleanest taste.

I highly suggest checking out that article. In the meantime, I don't see why you couldn't simply re-soak your sliced potatoes now. You could even try out the par-boiling method indicated in the article if you are feeling adventurous. Unless your spuds have gone completely brown sitting on your cutting board you should be good to go.


Mould in water when making preserved duck eggs We have ducks at home and my wife has been making the Chinese delicacy 咸鸭蛋 preserved duck eggs for about 3 months now.

However in the past week the current batch of eggs has mould in the water.

The weather here is getting warmer as we have just switched to Spring. So we are guessing it might be the extra sunlight or warmth coming into our kitchen.

My wife didn't think we need to put it in the fridge, but is there a suggested temperature?

When my mom made salted eggs, we always put it in the fridge.


What can I do with 500 ml of demi glace? I bought a 500 mL package of frozen demi glace in my local restaurant. While I often cook with regular chicken or beef stock, I have never used demi glace before.

In what types of preparations or recipes would I be able to get the best use out of this - i.e. for which 500 mL of demi glace is enough and the benefits from using it over regular beef stock are evident? Preferably something that I normally wouldn't be able to make without demi glace.

You can make some very good sauces, based on demi-glace.

Bordelaise (if you add chopped shallots, red wine and a bit of marrow) (eat it with grilled beef, steak or pork)
Robert (if you add chopped onions, vinegar and white wine, and a bit of mustard) (fits very well with grilled pork)
Zingara (chop ham, mushrooms and truffle into tiny pieces) (You can mix this with tomato sauce and it goes well with beef tongue)

If you want to use demi-glace as it is, it fits very well with pork chops or lamb, hogget, or mutton.


What is the ideal coffee temperature for tiramisu? When making tiramisu, I usually make a fresh batch of strong coffee. I just don't know how long to wait to use the coffee (for dipping the cookies).

In my opinion, room temperature coffee tastes horrible. Does this taste lingers on even if the dessert is chilled? If I use the coffee when it's too hot, will that deflate my egg whites? What coffee temperature gives me a good flavour and doesn't deflate my whipped whites?

I make my tiramisu with eggs, but the same issue applies to tiramisu with cream, I think.

If you are using Savoiardi biscuits then room temperature coffee is probably best for making sure the biscuits don't get too soggy. When I make tiramisu, I roll the biscuits quickly through a shallow saucer of strong coffee which doesn't stay hot for long.

I agree, however, that luke warm coffee just doesn't taste good. The volatile oils in coffee oxidise quickly and by the time it has cooled it will taste stale. Personally I substitute for a dark, non-creamy, coffee liqueur (Tia Maria works well).

I would also like to try using cold brewed coffee which, I'm told, has a different, sweeter flavour profile compared to normal brewed coffee.

Another experiment you could try is to cool the coffee as quickly as possible after brewing, say using a metal mixing bowl in an ice bath, to see if that helps reduce oxidisation. If you attempt this, then please report back.

If you are mixing coffee into the beaten egg white, then be sure to first mix it with the mascarpone which, I assume, you will fold into the egg whites. This way it won't deflate. I would use cold coffee for this, but warm or hot should be ok if it doesn't curdle the mascarpone.

Update: I've tried a variation on my suggestion to cool the coffee as quickly as possible by making, what is known as, Japanese iced coffee. This involves brewing the coffee directly over ice.

Normally a 1:1 ratio of liquid water to ice is used. I wanted it a bit stronger for tiramisu, so I periodically emptied out the brewed coffee so that it would be cold but not too dilute.

I'm very happy with the results. Even though I brewed the coffee a bit too far in advance, it was not stale 20 minutes later when I came to use it for the biscuits. The tiramisu was great too.


Tempered chocolate melting easily I tempered 70% bitter chocolate (Lubeca brand) following the instructions on the Anova site using sous vide: first to 115 degrees, then 81 and lastly 90 degrees (all Fahrenheit). The resulting chocolate was nicely tempered after cooling in the fridge but it would not hold its shape at room temperature.

How can I correct this?

In my experience, those temps work for milk chocolate, but not for bitter chocolate. Instead of 115/81/90, give 135/83/90 a shot. That ratio works well for me.

Good luck!


Roasting marshmallows on indoors Can I use Choice Ethanol Gel Chafing Dish Fuel to cook marshmallows, or do I have to use a certain kind.

Not recommended, sterno as it is known in the catering business is proven to be poisonous if consumed.  Although the less fortunate have been known to drink the stuff to get drunk (another practice that I don't recommend).
IMO the only purpose of a sterno or Choice Ethanol Gel Chafing Dish Fuel, as you put it, is for... exactly that: chafing dishes.


Looking for ways to improve a keto no-bake lime cheesecake recipe I have a recipe for an extremely low-carb lime cheesecake I found online that I tried, and enjoyed.  I'm having trouble finding it now, but from memory the recipe is pretty basic:

For crust, melt butter with stevia, blend it with some almond meal and unsweetened coconut flakes, and press the mixture into a pie pan

For filling, mix some lime jello at about x2-x3 concentration (compared to if you were following the label), then mix it with 1lb of cream cheese, some lime juice, and some vanilla (I use a stand mixer for this)

Pour the filling into the pan and chill, and you've got a sugar-free cheesecake.

I like this cheesecake, but I think I can make it better.  It's dense, and I don't think the cheese flavor comes through the jello enough.  I'm considering trying again, with some modifications:

First, use 1/2 lb of cream cheese, but add: 4oz Ricotta, 3oz sour cream, 3oz mascarpone.  This adds more dairy for some more flavor, and also adds some curds and some creaminess in there to interrupt the flan-like consistency of the final product.

Second, maybe reduce the water in the jello even more and substitute some heavy cream in, or maybe leave the water the same and add some egg-whites?   The idea here is to make the cheesecake "fluffy" and/or "creamy" (as opposed to rubbery and jello-y) preferably by adding a component like eggs or cream, and setting the stand mixer to a high enough speed that it will introduce some air in there.

Third, hit the crust in the oven before I put the filling in.  This is mostly just because I think a toasted almond/coconut crust sounds tasty.

My concerns about my ideas are:

I kinda just pulled the ratios out of thin air, and have no idea if the quantities I'm planning seem reasonable.  Particularly, I don't know if it makes sense to add both sour cream and heavy cream and/or egg white, or how much of any of those to add
I'm not sure about introducing boiling jello water into a bowl with the cheese or cream that I'm adding--I'm worried about the water causing curdling. I don't want a curdled mess
I'm not sure if any of the ideas to make the filling more airy will last through chilling the cheesecake, or if it will flatten by the time it sets up.  Maybe I should set it up in the freezer?
I have no idea what the bake time or temperature should be to toast the crust
I'm not sure how much I can reduce the water while still having the jello dissolve in it
I'm wary about adding egg whites to a no-bake recipe.  Is it safe?
Maybe I'm over-complicating my recipe--part of the nice about this dessert is that it's super simple; just toss all the ingredients in the mixer and you're done.  Maybe there's an easier way to accomplish what I want?

In order to make the texture not " rubbery and jello-y" let your gelatin mixture cool down and set up a little bit. By adding it while boiling hot you are melting the cream cheese, effectively making cream cheese jello. Make sure to whip well after the addition, not just to blend, but to incorporate some air and increase volume.

As far as flavor goes, I suggest that you use unflavored gelatin instead of lime Jello, you may want to up the amount of lime juice you are using and maybe adding a little lime zest. Adding at the end of the mixing process, tasting as you go. (If you do this, you will need to make up for the sweetener in the Jello. You can use your prefered sweetener mixing into the cream cheese along with the gelatin)


Why did my omelette turn gray? I made an omelette today, and it turned out gray. I'm supposing this is because I did some things wrong, the question is what?

Beating the eggs too long
Mixing the eggs with cream cheese before beating the eggs
Too much oil in the pan

My guess is the first two reasons. Do you think that's likely or could it be something else?

The pan is a non-stick (probably teflon). I didn't stir, but did flip. The gray was throughout.The pan is new, but has seen some use already and is not defective as far as I can tel
The cheese is Kraft Philadelphia. I mixed the cheese, the other day, with walnut, hazelnut and chive. Straight from the fridge into the, fresh, unstirred, eggs.

I have a theory about your omelette (and sadly, no means to test it). But I think it is plausible, please feel free to point out logical errors.

I think that the unappetizing coloring is due to the creation of sulfur salts in your pan. Egg whites are rich in sulfur, as are all alliums (including chives). If you heat them enough (you don't mention whether you overcooked the omelette, but it happens often enough), the heat changes the molecules in which the sulfur is bound, and the sulfur atoms (or sulfur containing ions) are free to react with whatever they find around. If they happen to find iron or copper, they form sulfides and sulfates with them. These sulfides and sulfates have colors ranging from blue to green, and pure iron sulfide is black. A mixture of them with the yellow yolk can easily look gray, especially when the color is desaturated through the addition of white cream cheese.

You say you used a coated pan, but there are still possible sources for the iron and copper. First, nuts contain trace elements, including iron and copper. Second, yolks too contain iron (in fact, the bluish coloring on the surface of a hard boiled yolk is an iron sulfide created when the proteins in the egg white denaturated from the heat). Third, you can't exclude contamination of the ingredients (plants sometimes store metal ions from the environment).

I have no way to prove any of the above, but at least it sounds like a good working theory. But I will understand if you aren't eager to reproduce in order to investigate the effect closer.


creme brulee caramelized sugar disappearing I've recently made some creme brulee, poured sugar on top of it and used a kitchen blow torch to caramelize it and capitalise on a finished product.

After that I put the creme brulee in the fridge overnight and when I checked on it in the morning the caramel (caramelised sugar) had disappeared, leaving only a brown trace behind.

I suppose it got dissolved into the creme or underwent some sort of change and it wasn't a hard caramel layer anymore but I wanted to ask for a more experienced user's opinion.

I should also mention that particular batch had less cream in it that it should and it turned out more egg-y.

The precise recipe was:
3 medium egg yolks
200ml whipping cream
80g sugar

Yes, you are correct. Creme brulee exudes and condensates enough moisture that the caramel would disappear. If you want to make it ahead, you have to make the custard only. Caramelization is always done just before serving.


Why add lupin flour to white bread? We buy ordinary, American-style white sandwich bread from a national supermarket chain.  I just had a look at the ingredients and was surprised to see that, in addition to wheat flour, it contains lupin flour (Lupinenmehl in German):

I know that lupin seeds are edible when prepared properly, but what are they doing in ordinary white bread?  I can't imagine that they're any cheaper than ordinary wheat flour.  And this isn't some sort of fancy artisanal bread where the use of exotic grains is a selling point; it's just the regular store-brand sandwich bread.  Does adding lupin flour in white wheat bread have a particular benefit in terms of taste, texture, preservation, etc.?

From a seller's product description1:

  In der Backindustrie verwendet man Lupinenmehl als Zusatz zu Brotmischungen, da es das Brot aromatisiert, elastischer und länger haltbar macht.
  (The baking industry uses lupin flour as additive in bread mixes because it makes the bread more aromatic, elastic and increases shelf life.)

Another description2:

  Das Mehl kann in Brot, Kleingebäck und Teigwaren verarbeitet werden. Lupinen-Mehl bindet relativ viel Wasser.
  (The flour can be used in bread, pastry and pasta. Lupin flour binds comparatively much water.)

So it boils down to lupine flour being used as a dough enhancer, the content in your example being 1.5% or less of the total bread weight suggests that it probably is not really "tasteable", but influences either the manufacturing process or the texture of the bread. If lupine flour is used to alter the protein / carbs ratio, up to 15% of the flour is replaced by lupine.

So my guess is that the manufacturer benefits by being able to incorporate a tad more water (which is sold, too) and possibly a bit less gluten formation, making the dough easier to handle and giving it the "fluffiness" that a German customer expects from what is labeled as "American Sandwich" bread.


How Not to Lose Liquid in Vegetable Stock I just made my first vegetable stock (I chopped everything roughly and started by sauteeing the onions celery and carrots a bit, added a lot of veg like celeriac and leek tops, then I added 3 liters of liquid, brought it to a boil and simmered it uncovered for 1.5 hours.)

I feel like I only have 2.5 cups of stock after and am upset. It's a waste.

I simmered it uncovered. Should you simmer it covered? Any tips for not losing so much stock liquid? Also, do you use the leftover stock veg for anything?

If you uncover the stock, liquid will evaporate. For maximum yield, keep the stock covered. There are no downsides to this as far as I know.

The leftover vegetables are likely very completely mushy and flavourless, depending on how long you have cooked the stock. They have given their flavour to the stock. Any vegetables with flavour left you can use however you want (although their texture might still make them less than desirable). If not, composting is an option.

Regarding cooking time: if your stock tastes good (I like to add a small pinch of salt to a spoonful of stock to taste), and most of your vegetables don't, there is no point in cooking the stock further.


How Can I Tell If Meat Has Been Brined? My wife and I were eating some rotisserie chicken the other night and she commented something to the effect of "I think they brined this because I can taste the seasoning pretty deep in the meat."

I she probably right?  Is there a surefire way to tell if what you're eating has been brined? Perhaps by telltale marks or coloring?

Empirically, you could use a salinity meter-- one that is made for checking salt water fish tanks. The only other thing I can think of that would drive seasoning into the meat would be cooking in a pressure cooker. I believe some grocery stores employ such a method on chicken before finishing in a rotisserie. Certain fried chicken chains also deep-fry in a pressure vessel which could yield similar results.


Adding additional water to already simmering bone stock I am making stock from bones and I was simmering it with the lid off. I want to simmer it for 3 days. This morning the liquid was reduced by a significant amount even though the heat was extremely low. I put the lid on to stop the evaporation but is it okay to add new water to the stock? Thanks

I have never seen a stock recipe that recommended 3 days. In my experience, after 12 hours the bones gave up all they had and would crumble when touched.

Even so- simmering with the lid off will cause quite a bit of evaporation. Definitely add water whenever you notice it is low.

I've had stocks dry up completely and it smells absolutely horrible when they burn.


Eating mangoes with skin intact I grew up in a family where we had mangoes with the skin intact in fruit salad.

After I got married, I was exposed to the "fact" that "nobody" eats the skin of mangoes.

It is true that I have never seen anyone else besides my childhood family eat mangoes, which would explain why I have no idea that you would not eat the skin of mangoes.

Perhaps, my childhood was too impoverished that we even ate the skin of mangoes. Perhaps, eating skin of mangoes is not an unusual practice, I don't know.

A reason that seems valid is that there is too much chemicals on the skin. But then we would have to say that about strawberries, peaches, apples, wouldn't we?

And what about people in India, China, Japan, Germany, Indonesia or Brazil? Do they eat mangoes with the skin?

It seems such a waste not eating the skin.

Q1. Is it unusual to eat the skin of mangoes, unusual to include mango skin in fruit salads?

Q2. Does mango skin have more chemicals than the skin of other fruits, which we have to eat with their skin intact.

It's not about chemicals on the outside of the fruit; washing the fruit well should take care of that. Whether we eat the skin of any given fruit basically boils down to whether it a) tastes good and b) has a pleasant texture. For example, some people eat the skin of the kiwi, despite it having a hairy texture that many people find unpleasant. Many people do not eat the skins of mango because it tastes bitter and has a tough, fibrous texture, but if you don't mind the texture and enjoy that taste, go ahead, enjoy :)

Note: I'm seeing sources that say if you're particularly sensitive to poison oak, you should not eat mango skins, as they contain one of the chemicals in poison oak but in a much lesser quantity, so it might cause an allergic reaction. You'll probably also break out from touching the mango skin to peel it, so take that as a warning sign. This doesn't apply to the OP, since if you've been eating them all your life you're obviously not allergic, but might apply to other people googling this question.


How can a burned sugar caramel icing be doubled? My icing recipe yields enough for a three layer cake. It covers between layers, sides,and top of cake. I would like to use 4 layers, so how would I do that? Ingredients are: white sugar, water, butter, milk, white Karo syrup, vanilla. Cook to soft ball stage. Cool to 110 degrees, then beat til spreading consistency. I've always been told not to double a candy recipe. This is essentially a candy recipe. What do you recommend? Don't want to risk ruining ingredients on such a time consuming recipe!

There is no reason a recipe like this can not be proportionally increased or decreased.  Just figure out how much you need and adjust from there. So, in your example, increase everything by 1/3. ...but I don't see how doubling poses a problem.


Bread has acidic smell and taste I made a sort of "starter" to use instead of dried yeast for making bread.
It was basically a loose dough with a tiny amount of dried yeast. When I bake I take some from the box and refresh the starter with flour and water.
It worked pretty well for a couple of months but now my bread has an unpleasantly acidic smell and taste.
The start doesn't smell bad. It still has the same smell as before.
Initially I thought it was the flour (I started to add wholewheat to the mix) but today I tried with just plain white and it's still bad.
Is the starter ruined?
I can avoid it going bad in the future?

It's highly likely the lactic acid bacteria in your starter (these were living on the wheat in the field, some maybe from your hands) are more active than the yeasts. You need to dilute the acid out of the starter, feed it more often and keep the whole shebang above 16°C, preferably 18-20°C (although you can still store it in the fridge). Low acidity, more feeding and 18-20°C will raise the activity level of the yeasts relative to the bacteria and generally keep the yeast enzymes, bacteria enzymes and wheat enzymes in harmony.
Consider Ed Wood's "washing" process, it's a very effective starter management procedure. It's going to be a bit different for a mother dough method but the ideas are still the same. I've written about this here before but for somewhat different questions.
Don't pour off the hooch. This stuff is the dark liquid that forms on top of a starter when dormant in the fridge. It is protective (acids, alcohols and enzymes) for you and the microflora, and helps the microflora digest food. It actually increases starter activity. Ed Wood says the starter is contaminated if the hooch forms in the middle or the bottom.
Don't worry about weighing exact amounts of flour and water when you're feeding it. Just focus on the sourness and the consistency. A thicker consistency gives a home cook more flexibility with time and it's easier to gauge the activity level.
Molds are really quite slow compared to yeast and bacteria, especially with hooch retention. The starter has to sit there for a long time to become moldy.
Ed Wood's Washing Process

Stir hooch into starter.
Increase the volume 3-5 times with tepid water
Stir until homogeneous
Pour off 4/5ths of it
Tip in flour and stir until homogeneous
If not a consistency you like then add more flour or water and stir.
Wait until it has risen double or triple, don't worry about how long it takes.
Repeat several times if it still tastes sour.

Good Luck


How should I incorporate oil into focaccia? Last weekend, I tried making focaccia for the first time. I tried two recipes at once, the one from The Bread Baker's Apprentice and a traditional Genovese focaccia recipe modified for quick-rise (I got this one from a FOAF).

For both, I tried to massage the olive oil (in the BBA case infused with dried herbs) into the dough before the proofing (that's a word at least one of the recipes said, "massage"). In fact, the oil just sloshed around on the surface, puddled in the dimples, and flowed off the bread into the pan. The time spent proofing and baking was enough for the oil to flow completely off the surface. In both cases, I ended up with a loaf with dry upper crust and greasy soaked lower half.

What was my mistake? How should I have worked the oil into/onto the bread to get a nice result?

In the real "focaccia genovese" oil is mixed in the dough and added on top of the focaccia.

It is a tricky procedure, there is a video and photo sequence here; unfortunately is in Italian, but you can easily translate it with Google and video and images could help anyway.

I did many times focaccia using this recipe and it's the closest thing to real focaccia genovese I can get


Bread used for containing soup So when I was away on holiday we had a lovely lovely meal which was basically soup. But the soup was served in bread which you could then eat aswell. It was so tasty, the bread was essentially hollow with only the crust but there was a little bit of the dough stuff left which became lovely and gooey from the liquid of the soup.

So as I am a great soup eater (and my boyfriend even more so) this is something that we are really looking to try and do...
Can anyone suggest the best way to do this - do I just bake a loaf of bread and then scoop out the insides, or is the some kind of clever way of making the bread hollow so that essentially I am making the crust?

Hope that someone can help as this is something that I would love to serve at a dinner party!

Thanks :)

You don't need to worry about trying to bake hollow bread.

The typical way of doing this is to bake a stout, crusty French bread into a boule. You can use commercial yeast, but I recommend sourdough if you can.

Once baked, and cooled, you just cut a circular hole in the top of the boule and remove a big chunk. The larger the hole, the larger the portion of soup. If you were to actually hollow this out, you'd end up with a rather huge portion of soup. The finished product should end up looking exactly like those shown in this blog post.


How to pack chilli Powder I packed chilli powder to transparency polythene bag. It expires very quickly. But when I put chilli powder into plastic bottlle I can remain it for long time. How can slove this?
  Thanks

In a word, you can't.

The issue is with the bag vs. the bottle. Both are made out of (essentially) the same thing. But the bottle is thicker and 'breathes' less than the bag. In a word it is less porous.

Plastic bags are not good long term storage, especially ones you buy at the grocery store. What you need to do for maximum shelf life is (at least) a plastic bottle.

Me, I make chili powder every 6 - 8 months and store it in a glass container in my pantry. It stays reasonably fresh the whole time.

So the hierarchy of storage goes something like this.

Paper bags, plastic bags, plastic containers, metal/glass containers

With the left most items being more porous than the one to it's right.


Cleaning my cast iron from exploded battery and plastic I am a baker and just moved houses. I used my cast iron to hold my electronic scale, which is made of plastic and had batteries in it, and without checking put the whole container into the oven at 450. I realized my mistake not soon enough, and while the plastic was not molten, the batteries had certainly exploded by the time I took everything out. Uh oh.

How could I clean battery acid/plastic off my cast iron to make sure its safe to eat from?

Lots of of abrasives. Electrolytes from the batteries won't soak into the iron, and lithium is not soluble in solid iron if they happened to be lithium batteries. If you can get all the plastic completely removed, the chemicals from the battery are water soluble so it will just wash off.

EDIT:

Depending on your battery type, you might want to dispose of the pan. If alkaline batteries were used, be aware that the electrolytes from the battery are caustic. They can cause tissue damage(topical burns), which should be treated with soap and water.

Either way, cleaning the pan could be dangerous, and you might consider throwing it out completely, because of the precautions you'd need to take. However the pan should not have suffered any corrosion from the battery, metal is non reactive with a base, and there is no compound in a alkaline battery that is reactive with metals. You can confirm this via the MSDS for most batteries. KOH is the only chemical that is corrosive, but its not corrosive to iron. In fact KOH is commonly used to clean cast iron, because it will corrode everything but the iron.


Substitute baking containers I have a three-wheat batter bread recipe that calls for baking in four 16 oz cans. What size pan can I substitute?

Three small (but not mini) metal loaf pans (5"L x 3"W x 3"D) will do it. Check out vintage bakeware in thrift stores to find that odd size, or choose pans closest to that size.


What is the difference between baking bread in a loaf pan made of stoneware vs metal vs iron cast? Is there a significant difference between using a loaf pan made of this materials?

Sandwich or quick bread has different heat requirements than artisan breads.

Artisan breads require a blast of high heat and humidity right from the beginning. They are usually baked on flat, preheated stones that store a lot of heat.

With breads baked in loaf pans the bread is proofed in the pan which is obviously not preheated. The goal is not a blast of high heat but generally even heating.

Stoneware and cast iron will hold a lot of heat but that isn't very useful for this type of bread. The big difference that a stoneware loaf pan will make is in the bread's crust. Unglazed stoneware will let some moisture escape during baking. Stoneware loaf pans are often used for dishes other than bread such as meatloaf where the even heating and heat retention when serving is valuable. Bread baked in stoneware will be crustier in the area covered by the pan than bread baked in metal. This is a more compelling advantage with quickbreads. In my opinion sandwich bread doesn't need to be crusty.

Metal bread pans are cheaper, lighter, and less fragile. They won't even out any heat gradients in a sloppy oven. If you know your oven is unreliable consider getting a thermal mass (such as a pizza stone) to even out the temperature.

I haven't used a cast iron loaf pan but my first inclination would be to use it for southern-style cornbread. This type of cornbread is normally cooked in a cast iron skillet. The pan would be preheated with hot fat and the cornbread batter would be poured in. The stored heat in the pan would fry the bread before it rose and set. I don't know why a cast iron pan would be used for normal bread.


Can I use 100% cotton bed linen as a pudding cloth? It's hard to find large pieces of closely knit food safe cotton where I am. (UK / EU)

Can I use pieces of undyed 100% cotton bed linens with tags removed instead?

What chemicals if any would the fabric be treated with?

If you wash them first, there's no reason you can't.  Muslin is just fabric.  It doesn't even necessarily need to be undyed (although it can matter what color the dye is), and doesn't necessarily have to be cotton (although some synthetics won't pass enough moisture).

It's fairly traditional for cooks to use an old pillowcase for boiled puddings.  According to a Regency Fiction blog, most 19th-century pudding cloths were linen bedsheet remnants.


Low fat muffins won't rise I'm really trying to make a great low fat muffin. No matter how hard I have tried with this one (I am not over stirring), I can't get these to rise past a mini muffin height, and this batter is so sticky, it's all I can do to get it off the spoon. Any insight/suggestions?
https://www.averiecooks.com/skinny-blueberry-muffins/

Muffin mix should be a pourable batter, not a thick dough, your mix is too dry. If it's too dry and claggy it won't be free to expand, and you don't get a rise from water vapor. Try adding more cashew milk until you get a pourable batter, and try it again. You want it to be ribbony, not so loose it evens out right away.


How much dough will I need in order to fill a loaf tin? I'm going to be making a loaf of bread in a 900 g tin (11" x 4.5" x 4" deep).

What is the total weight of the dough I will need (when mixed) for a tin this size?

Literally speaking, a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin is designed for a 900 g loaf.  You'll be fine if you use that much dough.

Some mass does get lost during the baking process due to evaporation, so if you want to end up with 900 g and not less (as an actual bakery would try to do), then you want to plan for anywhere between 8% and 12% loss, depending on the kind of dough and how long you bake it for, as well as how quickly you cool it.

The standard figure for mass loss seems to be about 9%, plus whatever is lost during cooling - generally around 1-2%.  I would compensate 10%, meaning to use 1000 g (1 kg or 2.2 lbs) of dough.


Retain chilli powder taste till end of cooking When I add chilli powder to an Indian curry, and let it lid-closed for next 5-7 minutes, by the time it's cooked, it loses it's taste and the curry becomes bland. What should I do to retain the spice and colour (as even a pinch of Turmeric and 2 spoonful red chilli powder makes the curry yellowish? Why does it become bland??

2 probable causes

you did not put enough chili powder.
the chili powder is stale.

Some chili powder are not "spicy hot", taste some before adding it to your curry.


Milk in fermented bread dough I would like to ask if the role of milk in bread dough fermentation, is to increase the population of microorganisms similarly present in sourdough bread? If so, can it be said that this kind of bread recipe comes close to sourdough bread?

I put milk in yeast bread some of the time because it results in different taste and texture than using water. Nothing to do with critters, which will almost all be yeast from the yeast (and their great-grand-yeasts), rather than anything specific to the milk.


What can you do with an infrared thermometer? Infrared thermometers have plummeted in price in recent years, and are now inexpensive gadgets for the home cook, not to mention the pros.

What are the primary uses of an infrared thermometer in the kitchen?

Infrared thermometers work very well when measuring the temperature of hot oil. For deep frying it's not a big deal, as standard probe thermometers work fine. But for shallow frying or sauteeing, the IR thermometer does an excellent job at providing the temperature of the oil. (Note that IR thermometers are not accurate when measuring the temperature of a dry steel pan, as the shininess makes the pan look much cooler than it is. IR thermometers work fine on dry cast iron pans, though!)

IR thermometers work rather poorly when measuring the temperature of hot water, however! Rather than measuring the temperature of the water surface, which is usually similar to the mass of the water due to convection, it measures the average temperature of the water vapor coming off the surface! In my experience, boiling water measures about 200 F with an IR thermometer.


Is free-range veal available in the US? I found a great looking recipe that calls for ground veal. Is there free-range veal or "rose veal" available here in the U.S.?

Veal cows are male.  So the best place to get them would be from a dairy farm.  You know they have milk for the calf and they have little use for bulls.

This article lists some farms and source around the US.  In most parts of the US there are farmers that will try to treat their stock humanely, but they tend to be local organizations (for now).


How do I scale a recipe that calls for boiling off liquid? I made a lamb ragu last night, but doubled the quantity for a large group. One of the steps called for 1.5 cups of red wine and then boiled it off. Doubling to 3 cups seemed entirely too much (once I'd already done it) and took quite a while to boil off. The recipe then called for 3 cups of chicken stock, which was again supposed to mostly boil off. 6 cups looked ridiculous, so I ended up using about 4, but it still seemed like too much. The 90 mins suggested wasn't long enough to boil the sauce down to a good consistency, but I had to serve it anyway. It was a bit watery, but tasted good.

So how do I scale quantity and cooking time in a recipe that calls for the liquid to boil away or boil down significantly? A linear scaling didn't seem to work well at all. Are there any good rules of thumb?

Agreed, scaling up sauces that require reduction can be tricky, but it actually reduces to a simple physics problem.  First I'm going to give you the best solution and then the science behind it.

The solution is to use a larger, shallower pan and apply higher heat, while stirring more frequently.   I usually go a quarter step up in heat on the stove; so, from medium-low I go to medium, and from medium to medium-high.  Using your stove's ventilation fans may also help.  If you're doubling the amount of liquid you reduce, you can assume roughly a 50% increase in time required to reduce it, following this advice.  Normally, it would require doubling the time to reduce the sauce.

And no, you cannot reduce the amount of liquid... if you double the recipe you need to double the liquid too. The liquid is reduced to add flavor and body to your sauce.  Doubling the spices and other ingredients without doubling wine and stock will yield a sauce that is too spicy, lacking in depth, and does not have enough volume.  Alternately, if you double the stock and wine but do not reduce enough, you'll get a watery, bland sauce, because stock adds gelatin, which thickens the sauce.

If there's meat cooking in your reducing sauce:  reduce the sauce until it needs only the suggested time to finish reducing, then cut the burner to the suggested power and cook for the suggested time.  Using a higher temperature setting will overcook the meat, making it tough.  Also, using a partially reduced sauce will impart more flavor to the meat; since the flavors are already somewhat concentrated before adding the meat, more will penetrate the meat.  If this is a problem, break your recipe into normal sized batches and cook them on separate burners.

If you're concerned about estimated the right amount of time for a doubled recipe, you can reduce in the specified way before adding meat, then add meat and do it again.

Now the scientific explanation:

The principal problem here is the rate of evaporation. Let's break it down!

Liquid needs a lot of extra energy to transition from liquid to vapor, called the enthalpy of vaporization.  For water, the energy required is 6 times what it took to heat it to the boiling point from room temperature. Once it hits the boiling point, it can't get much hotter until the liquid is almost completely gone.  This means the rate of evaporation is mainly limited by hot fast you can input heat.

The rate of heat input is limited by the power supplied to the burner, but a second limit comes from the pan; the rate of heat transfer is proportional to surface area, thermal conductivity, and the temperature difference between two surfaces.  Turning up the burner gets it hotter, increasing heat transfer, but the pot still needs to transfer that heat to a liquid, so using a broader and more conductive pot exposes more liquid to the heat.  It also distributes the heat over a wider area, preventing the liquid from overheating as easily where it touches the pot.  Stirring ensures the heat is evenly distributed, maximizing heat transfer (by increasing the temperature differential) and preventing over heating.

Evaporation is also impeded by a pressure and a high concentration of vapor above the surface.  This concentration will be higher if there is liquid has less surface area (the same amount of liquid released into a smaller volume).  So, the liquid out in a bigger pot increases the evaporation rate.  The local concentration will be also higher if humidity is high (more water vapor in the air), and higher if there are no air currents to disperse the vapor boiling off.  So, running vent fans and using a shallower pot will make it easier for the vapors to escape.  A ventilation fan may also slightly reduce pressure, but that has more to do with weather.  In industrial food processing, a vacuum may be used to evaporate liquids at a much lower temperature than normal.  For example, this is how powdered and evaporated milk are made.

Finally, in a tall pot, escaping vapor may lose heat to the cooler walls of the pot as it rises, re-condensing and falling back down into the pot.  If the pot is lidding, this is even more of a problem.  For this reason, it is advisable to use an open, un-lidded pot.  This effect can be used to evaporate away alcohol from a sauce while retaining the water content.

So, to double the rate of evaporation and maintain a constant reduction time, double the power supplied to the burner, and increase the surface area of the pot.  Of course, you often can't double the burner power without burning the liquid... so you're left with using a larger pot and increasing the heat as much as you think you can get away with.  If you stir enough and scrape the pot's sides down, you can get away with quite a bit.


Can an all wheat flour be high in protein, yet low in gluten? I know that wheat protein isn't all gliadin and glutenin (the proteins that give dough its stickiness and elasticity and together create gluten), but high protein wheat flours are also generally considered "high gluten".

Except when they're not, apparently. I am in possession of a flour that makes the extraordinary claim on the nutrition facts label of 4g of protein in 25g of flour (so 16% protein), yet this particular type of flour is not supposed to produce much gluten. Wheat is the only ingredient.

Is that even possible?

How can I go about testing the gluten strength of a particular flour relative to known quantities? (I have bread flour, AP flour and cake flour to play with)

I can't say that this is the answer with 100% definitiveness, but I do have a theory that seems valid. Usually, flours are milled and ground with the endosperm, which contains most of the starch and protein. The germ contains proteins, fats, and vitamins and the bran is primarily fiber. The fats, vitamins, and fibers at a molecular level would contribute some interference to gluten formation.

In addition, whole wheat flours cannot be ground as finely as endosperm-only flours. Because the size of the flour granules/clusters are larger in whole wheat flours, the proteins within the flour granules are shielded from added water. This means that less flour proteins come into contact with water, which means less gluten formation.


water in egg shell when cracking open to cook I purchased some eggs recently and when i went to crack them open to cook there was what seemed to be water in the egg shell. Is this normal because all of the other eggs i have prepared before the inside was not runny like water.

A number of things can result in watery albumen.  Older birds especially of high lay breeds like hybrids used in battery farms are more prone to it especially as they get older.  These are often also associated with thin, very fragile shells.  If the egg is stored at too high of temperature, or as mentioned in comments, too low, the albumen can become watery as well.  Rough handling of eggs can cause some breakdown which can display as runny whites as well. In especially warm weather, I have seen it with free range chickens simply because they are drinking so much to stay cool.  The most pronounced cause though tends to be age and it can be especially noticeable if the egg is both old and stored at too high a temperature.

There are two quick tests on age of an egg, either of which are always accurate for commercial eggs because there are ways to cheat these tests.  Easiest is put the egg in water.  If it lies flat, it should be fresh.  If it stands upright, it is getting old and if it floats, I won't say it is bad, but it is certainly old and could be.  The 2nd way is to shine a light through the egg.  This is called candling because it used to be done with candles.  Use a small flashlight of similar and cover the edges so you do not see the light directly, only what goes through, and use a dark room.  At the rounder end you should see an empty area which is an air cell.  The older the egg, the bigger the air cell and you may see a line where the air cell has grown.  The shell is porous, and water evaporates out which increases the size of the air cell with age, but as it ages the albumen also loses some of its structure and looks more watery when cracked.  The air cell size increase is what also caused the standing up, and then floating in water.  These can be cheated by producers who do things to shells to make then less porous or storing them in high humidity to reduce the evaporation rate.

It is possible, but unlikely that it actually is water as well.  In most places in the US at least it is not legal to actually submerse eggs while cleaning them though.  The egg is porous, so if submersed, especially if the water is colder than the egg, the egg can draw in water, so this is not allowed.  It can be done against these rules, or by accident, and these rules are not true in all countries.  I would be surprised it that was the case for you though.


How do I pick a watermelon at the supermarket? Lately, every watermelon I bring home form the organic section of the supermarket has not been sweet.  Among the small, seedless varieties, I try to pick the densest. How do I know if it is ripe?  Can I ripen them at home?  Should I keep them in the fridge?

I don't believe there is a fool-proof way to determine 'ripeness' without taking a slice out of it. The best you can do is look for certain signs:

Ripe melons have a hollow sound when you tap or slap the outside
Look for the patch where the melon would have been on the ground (called the field spot). If it's a yellow colour its probably ripe, if it's white, it's probably not.
It should feel relatively heavy when lifted
Weird areas on the skin aren't necessarily bad. insects may have tried to start eating the fruit because it is ripe, but have only marred the surface.

Unfortunately, melons don't continue to ripen once picked, unlike fruits such as apples, bananas etc. which contain ethylene. As a tip don't store melons with these kinds of fruit, they may well go 'soggy'.

Extra: NYtimes video on picking the right watermelon.


Leaving the lid open in a soup I've heard from some that soups should be left with the lid slightly ajar when still left on the stove (heat off) because the soup can spoil when the lid is left completely closed, so you need to 'air' it out by leaving it slightly ajar.

Is this a myth? If not, what is the purpose of this?

I personally don't believe it and cannot find any reasons for that being the case, which is why I am asking everybody here, as there may be a culinary reason that I am not aware of.

This is a myth.  Soup will NOT spoil faster if the lid is left on normally after cooking.  In fact, leaving the lid ajar may make it easier for contamination to enter the pot and lead to faster spoilage.

I assume there may be two reasons behind this myth:

(1) Before the days of modern refrigerators, many people would leave food to cool on the counter or stovetop before refrigerating it in an icebox.  Leaving the lid ajar would allow faster cooling through evaporation, thereby allowing the food to spend less time in the warm "danger zone" where bacteria grow most rapidly.  (Note that this is NOT a safe practice.  Small quantities of food should be refrigerated as soon as possible, and larger quantities may be cooled in an ice bath if necessary before refrigerating.)

(2) Lids of pots tend to cool faster than the rest of the pot, and they thus accumulate condensation which will drip back down into the food.  The liquid may be at a cooler temperature and may introduce contaminants.  Leaving the lid ajar at a slight angle will both decrease the amount of condensation which occurs and will cause more of it to run directly back into the soup, rather than cooling and remaining for a long time on the interior surface of the lid.

In any case, even if both of these are somewhat true, they are likely trumped by contamination which may be introduced by exposing the food to air: hence, it's a myth.  Also, do keep in mind that cooked soup is NOT sterile -- many harmful bacteria have spore forms that can even survive boiling and will begin to grow in leftover soup once it gets below 130-140F.

Again, the safest course to prevent spoilage for leftover soup is to refrigerate as soon as possible (or at least as soon as its temperature gets below 140F).  If quantities are especially large, use an icebath or cold water bath to get the temperature down faster.


When a recipe calls for 'individually wrapped caramels', are these soft caramels (e.g. Jersey caramels) or hard candies (like werthers cream candies?) I am in Australia but the recipes are from the US. I can't seem to find out what kind they would be.

In US recipes "individually wrapped caramels" will always mean the soft variety. If the writer of the recipe wants you to use hard, the recipe will say "hard". Recipes that ask for "individually wrapped caramels" are looking for this:


Will brownies remain fresh if sent by post? My friend makes baked goods, and I would like her to send me some of her brownies by post. Is this feasible?
Would the brownies remain delicious, and how would we keep them delicious? I live about two hours away from her by car, in the same province in Canada.

Brownies should stay excellent for several days at room temperature. For several more days they will have diminishing quality, but still remain tasty enough to be worth eating. After about a week to ten days, they're usually more stale than most people will consider worth eating. Of course the difference between "worth eating" and "not worth eating" is subject to personal preference. Any brownies that you won't consume within the "still worth eating" window, you can store in the freezer for several months. Thaw at room temperature, or by gently heating in the microwave.
Usually you can get one day or two day shipping, which would arrive within that "still delicious" window. In COVID times, shipping services are having lots of delays, even if you pay a premium for fast shipping. So it's difficult to predict whether your brownies would arrive while still delicious, or even still good to eat. I suggest having your friend weigh a batch of brownies (don't forget to add the weight of the packaging). Use the shipping calculator on the website for Canada Post (or whatever shipping service you want to use) to calculate how much that package will cost to ship. Then decide whether you're willing to gamble that amount of money. You could have her send you just a couple of brownies as a test.
To ship them, your friend should make sure the brownies are completely cool before packing them. (If they're still warm, they will release steam inside the packaging, which will make them soggy.) Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and place inside a plastic bag with a zipper. Put the bag in a box. If there's loose space in the box, fill it with crumpled paper or other packing material to stop the brownies from moving around and getting crumbled during transit. Particularly dense brownies might do alright in a padded envelope, if you want to save costs and are willing to risk them getting a bit smooshed.


Is refrigerated seafood fresher than seafood displayed on ice but uncovered? I'm guessing that  seafood displayed in refrigerators aren't exposed to room temperature

would be fresher than seafood exposed on ice?

Based on your other post, I am assuming you are in Canada. And in Canada, fish have to be labeled previously frozen or fresh based on its storage history. So assuming we are only talking about the ones labeled fresh. Here is what I have experienced.

Between choices above the "fresher" option doesn't really exist both options the fish have been sitting for some time. As a result that "shore-side" freshness is lost. However, a more optimal tasting fish would be from the covered ones because it is chilled and has not exposed to room temperature air for as long. This helps preserve the moisture and texture of the fish.

The other thing to consider is, were the fish (or other seafood) farmed or naturally caught. Because, and this is especially true for fish, the taste will differ greatly, as will even the colour of the meat.

So in short - the covered one is more "fresh" and neither is truly fresh.

Hope this helps.


can i put hot soup in mason jar for travel i ran out of glass containers (people haven't returned them) and i want to give my boyfriend hot soup for work.  Is it safe to put it in a mason jar and put the lid on while hot? And how long might the soup stay hot in it?

I have had mason jars break when filling with hot items.  It is best to warm the jar first, just by running hot water into it.  A someone else pointed out, a mason jar is, of course, not insulated.  You mention this is to take to work, I assume for lunch or dinner.  I also want to point out that you need to consider food safety, as your soup will soon be in the "danger zone."  You should read this.  It is much safer to chill the soup to refrigeration temperature, pack it in a cooler, or refrigerate at work, then reheat at meal time.


Paring knife selection for work in the air? I'm going to be buying a new paring knife soon. I use my current knife mostly for "air work" - things like coring strawberries, trimming fruits/vegetables, etc. I rarely (or never) use it for work on a cutting board.

I've been looking at different styles/brands of knives and saw in a (printed, not online) article a comment that Japanese-style paring knives were "not good for air work." There was no elaboration.

This caused me to pause and ultimately brought me here to ask, what criteria go into choosing a paring knife specifically for work in the air? Heavier/lighter? Larger/smaller handle? Handle shape? Blade shape?

(Ultimately I'd love to buy a range of knives and decide for myself, but that isn't practical financially. And I don't have any stores nearby that allow test-use of knives, so I have no way to "test drive.")

'Air work' is an interesting term that I am not used to hearing, and I do a lot of it. The trick here is where will you be holding the knife as you work. A long thin blade will mean you are holding the blade as you work, which is not a problem, per se.

Small bladed and hook beak knives are well suited for this, as you can comfortably hold the handle. I love hook beak knives for mushroom garnishing, coring, small veg peeling and trimming, etc...

Small straight paring knives are the standard choice for this, if you don't like the hooked blade.


What does "curd" mean in a South Asian recipe? I've seen the word "curd" used in a few South Asian recipes (like, notably, some "Butter Chicken" recipes).  In one video, it kind-of looks like it might be cottage cheese (or something like that), which would make sense given what "curd" means to me in the US (like, "curds and whey").  However, it also may have just been plain yoghurt, or something else.

I've looked through a couple of recipe books and I see no mention of it. For the recipe in question I'm pretty sure that yoghurt would work just fine, but I'm curious.

In the recipe in question, the "curd" is put in a food mill with some garlic, ginger, and peppers, and some spices. Thus, with either cottage cheese or yoghurt, it'd end up more-or-less the same, with possibly more fat and acidity from the yoghurt I guess. (It's a marinade for the chicken so it doesn't seem critical to me.)


Do smokeless grills have an advantage over gas grills? On my quest to balcony charcoal grilling, without bothering my neighbours, I have researched many solutions.

I am now, pretty sure, that I can limit the smoke of the actual burning by using the right coal (like cocos coal) and lighting it the right way.

However, the main problem appears to be the fat on coal dripping, which results in a lot of smoke, no matter the coal type.

I have stumbled upon a "smokeless charcoal grill", which is specifically designed to be smokeless and it looks like this:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmVlfXxh-x0

From what I can tell, this grill hides the coal and works by indirectly heating the food, preventing fat dripping on the coal.

While this makes sense, this also limits the flavors, which develop by the dripping.

I wonder if there is no fat on coal dripping, does this even have an advantage over using a gas or electric grill?

Would the food still get some smokey flavour from the coal? Or is this actually the same as gas or electric flavorwise?

Flavors don't develop by dripping onto the heat source

Flavor can enter a meat from smoke, but you want the flavor of hardwoods like hickory or apple. You do not want the flavor of burnt grease; I have never heard anyone describe burnt grease as a pleasant smell or taste.

Therefore, you want the drippings to go somewhere that isn't the heat source. For some fatty foods this can be a problem, particularly 70/30 hamburgers or a pork shoulder. Many barbeque-ers will put a drip pan (a small tin-foil pan) into their grill to catch grease, keeping it away from the coals or the gas flame. Also, the drippings from some cooked meats can be re-used (like in a gravy), another reason for a drip pan.

I have never seen or used a smokeless charcoal grill. But, as long as the device works as promised and keeps the grease away from the flame, there should be no change in flavor of your finished foods.


Cheese delayed in the mail My nephew sent Truffle Gouda & Herve Mons Gabietou along with some Genoa Salami and bread via USPS overnight mail on Weds, 12/23.  However, it did not arrive until today, 12/26. Would the cheese still be okay to eat?

As long as the rind is still encasing the cheese, it should be just fine, as Gouda is aged for weeks anyway, and its salt content preserves it.


Pears caused uneven bake - how to stop this? I baked a gingerbread cake following a recipe which seemed fairly typical for gingerbread. The instructions included slicing a pear and pinwheeling it across the top of the batter. I ended up over-baking it because the pears prevented the very top layer from baking and I couldn't see that the sides and bottom were plenty well done. Now I have a dry gingerbread that has a top layer of basically pears and batter.

Edit for details: Oven temp was 375, 9.5" glass pie dish (called for 9x9 glass dish, but I didn't have one). It is a very small, old oven that I'm not used to yet, though other things I've baked have so far turned out alright.

I assume the wet pears caused this, but it's not the first  recipe I've seen that you bake with fruit on top. How could I have prevented this uneven bake while still using fresh fruit?

If you were baking this in a glass dish, the color of the sides should have been a hint that you needed to take the cake out of the oven.  This is one reason for the popularity of glass dishes.  But you have to keep in mind that a glass dish holds a lot of heat, so things baked in it need to be slightly underbaked when you take them out.

Also, it sounds like this would be a good candidate for the toothpick method of cake testing (the toothpick, when inserted in the middle, comes out dry).  You're not trying to caramelize the cake, just cook the batter entirely.

Slices of fruit, especially pear, are never going to go brown like a naked cake would.  So you need to allow for that in your evaluation.  One of my coworkers baked a cake into leather last week because she thought it had to be really brown - that is not the case, a mild gold is usually enough.  If you want more color, you might consider sprinkling a slight bit of sugar on top, that usually causes a bit more brown for the same degree of doneness.


Is Dextrose the same as Atomized Glucose Powder? I have been making some yummy sorbets and ice creams.

Many recipes call for atomized glucose powder. However, 'atomized glucose powder' is not that readily available. 'Dextrose', however, is commonly available at local heath food stores here in Southern California.

There is some debate if dextrose is the same as atomized glucose. Specifically, look at this thread on eGullet where it is stated:

  Dextrose is a type of glucose but is sweeter. Atomized glucose has
  what is called a sweetness coefficent of 50 while dextrose has one of
  75.

Here are some other data points:

1. Wikipedia states:  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose)

  Glucose (also known as D-glucose, dextrose, or grape sugar) is a
  simple monosaccharide found in plants.

2. Harold McGee in 'On Food and Cooking' states (p. 653 in the most recent edition):

  Glucose, also called dextrose, is a simple sugar, and the most common sugar from which living cells directly extract chemical energy.

3. The Culinary Institute of America's 'Mastering the Art of Craft of Baking and Pastry',
   2nd edition states in the glossary (p. 914)

  Glucose: A monosaccaride that occurs naturally in fruits, some vegetables, and honey. Also known as dextrose.

4. Heston Blumenthal's 'The Fat Duck Cookbook' in the Science section (p. 456):

  Glucose: Arguably, glucose is the most important and widespread sugar molecule in biology.

  All glucose molecules come in two versions, a left-handed version called L-glucose and a right handed version called D-glucose. D-glucose is the only type produced by nature and the only type used in food.

I am persnickety about using just the right ingredient. Is dextrose powder that you find at the health food store exactly the same as the expensive imported atomized glucose powders that need to be ordered from a specialty pastry supplier? Or is ordering fancy French atomized glucose powder a pain when you can just buy 'dextrose' and substitute 1:1.

Most atomized glucose powder comes from Europe and dextrose is from American sources. Is this just a different term for the same thing?

"Atomized glucose" seems to be primarily a French product, derived from spray-drying glucose syrup. Glucose syrup is best known in America as corn syrup (e.g. light Karo, not HFCS), and is mostly, but not entirely, glucose. Dextrose is pure crystalline glucose. They are not exactly the same ingredient, and probably not interchangeable in fussy recipes.


Bread Book Suggestions I want baking my own bread loafs, specially things like sourdough baguettes, ciabatta, flatbead, and multi grain loaf bread.

I've been researching this for a few days, but as usual, there is a tremendous information overload, and I'm not sure if/which book I should get, or is there an online place that would have me better covered.

I'm the kind of person that do actually enjoy knowing the whys and hows of how things work, but I also appreciate quick recipes, so a mix of those two would be great!

Is there any specific book/author/resource that you recommend?

Thanks!

How about a good website? http://www.kingarthurflour.com/ Be aware that the brand of flour that website stresses measures and behaves slightly differently than other brands of flour, but they are usually interchangeable. In other words, a recipe on that site will always say such and such amount of a particular type (bread flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour) of King Arthur Flour. 99 times out of 100 another brand of the same type of flour will give the same results.

I love that the recipes convert from volumetric to weight with one click of the mouse. Also, the reviews are very helpful.


How to tell apart mold and flour on sourdough bread? I bought some sourdough bread from a bakery three days ago, and put it (still in its brown bag) in a ziploc bag. Now, I know these loafs are covered in flour, but the bottom looks slightly different than flour.

Are there any tricks to tell if it's mold or not?

Scrape at it with your fingernail. Flour will come off in a... floury manner, revealing the cranny it was stuck in. Mold won't be limited to the crannies. Also, it'll appear on the cut surface before it appears on the crust. Additionally, it'll be different from the color of the flour (in the same area of the loaf).

FWIW, that's definitely flour on most of the bottom, though I do see a couple of lighter spots that could be mold.


canned green beans safe to eat! I canned green beans using the pressure canning method. My son said when he tried the beans they were still crisp. Could they be bad? He ate some of them with no bad results.

As it stands this question is unanswerable as we don't know the specifics of your method - how long, what sort of pressure, acidity etc.

However, I would take crisp beans to mean that you probably didn't cook them for long, which means there is potential for the process to have not been heated to a high enough temperature for long enough to sterilize during the canning process. This means that you are at risk for Clostridium botulinum growth.

Is Clostridium common? - No, not very, but those cases of it are generally serious.

Now, the question remains: Is this a risk for you and your family? The answer to that is possibly! The National Center for Home Food Preservation page on green beans indicates that botulism is a risk for beans that have been incorrectly canned. They state that if you are worried and it is within 24 hours or the canning process, then you can eat immediately, store in the fridge up to 7 days (while eating), or repeat the canning process.


Why was my Quiche dry? I was experimenting with Quiche in the kitchen this weekend. I didn't follow any specific recipe as I had watched serval on YouTube and felt it couldn't be too difficult. I was also making an individual size so a regular recipe would only have been a guide anyway.

The mixture was 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons heavy cream, shiitake mushrooms, shallots and Pancetta. I cooked just until the middle stopped wobbling like when I make crème brulee. When I cut into it, it seemed really dry and certainly not custardy. I used a butter and shortening crust.

Any suggestions on how to make the quiche have a more custard like texture?

Honestly, it looks like it's just too high a percentage of egg... and maybe not enough cheese. I don't know that it can't work with that much egg but most of the recipes I've found just now use much more dairy to egg and have other ingredients to make them creamy.

For comparison purposes, you're using less than a quarter cup of liquid to two eggs or 1.5 tbsp/egg.

For example, this one on Food & Wine, uses 3 eggs and 1 cup half and half.  It also has a cup of cheese and lots of other ingredients. The egg is clearly just a binder to hold things together. So, that's over 5 tbsp half and half per egg.

This one on allrecipes has 4 eggs and 1-1/2 cups of milk... and lots of cheese. That's 6 tbsp milk per egg.

This one from food.com is closer to yours in ratio, with 5 eggs and only 3/4 cup milk but that's still over a quarter cup more liquid (12 tbsp instead of 7.5 tbsp per five eggs)... and it has you add two cups of other stuff, first suggestion being cheese.

I've found other recipes that use 6 eggs to 3/4 cup cream, too... which, again, is closer but still about 1/4 cup short.

I recommend adding more wet to your mixture to cut the egg.

Also, if you were baking at the traditional 350 F (175 C), you might lower your temperature a bit. Smaller things often do better with a slightly lower oven. This gives you more room for error. I bake mini-cupcakes at 325 F instead of 350 F for this very reason.

So, try raising your cream to 4-5 tbsp (or maybe try a more watery dairy like half and half), add some cheese (cheese is creamy, remember?), lower the temp to 325 F (160 C) and try again.

Sorry, that's a lot of different things to try... but since I don't know your oven temperature, that part is more of a guess.


A recipe calls for Brown Ale, I didn't want to use beer, are there any substitutions? Here is the recipe - I didn't want to use Beer, any help?

3 lb chuck steak, cut into 2-inch chunks
***1-1/4 pints Liefmans Goudenband***
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 oz butter
1 oz brown sugar
1 Tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt
pepper
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp tomato purée
4 oz pitted prunes, sliced
14 fl oz veal stock
1 bouquet garni
1 to
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 cooking apples

Instructions:
Marinate the meat in 3/4 pint of the beer for 3 days. Lift the meat out of the marinade, reserving the marinade. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy-based frying pan, add the meat, sugar and nutmeg and cook over a medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a casserole and season with salt and pepper.
Stir the flour into the oil and butter and cook until well browned, then stir in the tomato purée, prunes, veal stock, bouquet garni and the beer marinade. Bring to the boil, skim and then pour over the meat. Simmer very gently until the meat is tender, about 1 hour. Stir in the mustard and the remaining beer, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Peel and quarter the apples, add to the casserole and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the apples are tender. Serve hot.

No beer!? Hmmm.

Well, I can't think of anything that would give you the same flavor, and as a component of the dish it looms quite large...3 day marinade in beer? No way to replace that, and brown ale is distinctive and nutty.

Beer and wine are natural tenderizers, which is what the marinade is for...They're some of the only ones that aren't acidic (buttermilk and yoghurt are others...Obviously not a good choice here) so filling that role without changing the character of the dish is going to be a serious challenge.

Are you looking for a non-alcoholic substitution, or just a non-beer one?

Since tomatoes and apples feature, you might try marinating in cider or tomato juice (depending on which flavor you want to push). You won't want to marinate for anywhere near the same amount of time: those two are acidic enough to digest your meat after 3 days. Might try apple cider and apple cider vinegar mixed. Vinegar marinated beef has an interesting twang to it.


Can pho be served ice cold? Is pho ever served ice cold similar to that of Korean mul-naengmyeon?

If so, does it have a special name?

A (somewhat south) Vietnamese not currently in Vietnam chiming in ^^ :

Apart from some exceptions (like cà phê sữa đá) I have the impression that there are no traditional ice-cold Vietnamese dishes whatsoever (I'd even dare to say that almost all desserts are eaten warm or at least at "room temperature" at 36°C / 96°F). Maybe it's just due to the non-availability of ice and constant power outrages that lead to cozy 20°C / 68°F in the freezer. What I've also observed is my Vietnamese relatives in Vietnam always want to have their tender herbs / lettuce / mung bean sprouts blanched and served immediately. The reasons are omnipresent nasty pathogens.

(Don't ask me how they eat their bún chả or bánh xèo with lettuce without getting belly-ache. Perhaps it's all about mitigating risk but not completely avoiding it at all costs.)

To answer the question: Probably no. At least not traditional phở.


Gritty White Globules in Precooked Grocery Store Sausage? I've been buying some various types of precooked brand-name sausages from the grocery store over the last few months, and while they've been pretty good I have consistently found these little white globs in the sausages. They don't taste very good and they're not particularly soft or easy to chew. If I had to describe them in more traditional terms, I'd say it's similar to the "grit" that I don't like on some steaks.

The sausages that I'm speaking of are small 4-6 inch links that come in plastic packaging.

It occurred to me eating it recently that maybe these were little globs of fat that hadn't been melted, and in that case maybe I was cooking the sausages incorrectly. I have a fairly limited set of instruments to work with in my kitchen right now, so I've been cooking them on the stove in the single saucepan that I have in my possession. I don't have a frying pan or anything else like that.

I'd like to know what these globules are and if there's anything I should be doing to cook my sausages differently.

Largish white bits like that will be either fat, cartilage, or (other) connective tissue. Once cooked, if they can be squished apart with your fingers they're fat; if they're crunchy when you bite into them they're cartilage; if they're very chewy they're connective tissue.

Fat should be quite soft once the sausages are cooked to a safe temperature, so I assume they're not that. The other substances get their structure primarily or entirely from collagen, which will break down during long, slow cooking, but that's not a normal way to cook a sausage and will probably result in a dry, grainy texture overall. If they're a problem, I would suggest trying a different brand rather than trying to cook them differently.


How do I make gelatin gummies without adding sugar and still have it survive out of the fridge? I am on a no-sugar diet due to food insensitivity. I crave gummies and would like to make some without adding sugar (say with coconut water) and have them survive (stay firm and not grow mold) out of the fridge for my upcoming travels. How do I do it?

If eating fruit is ok for you, you could boil fruits rich in pectin (without adding water) to a very thick jam, then spread it out thinly onto a sheet of baking paper and let it dry. If your climate doesn't allow the jam to dry in a day or two, put it into an oven on the lowest temperature and leave the oven door slightly ajar. Adding citric acid to the jam improves durability.

Cut the jam into gummy-sized strips before it's completely dry. Dust it with a little corn starch to prevent the strips sticking together. Store them in a container that keeps moisture out.

Apples are well suited for this procedure, that was used in medieval Europe to process left-over apples before they spoiled. Unfortunately, the finished product has a brown color that is not very appetizing.

I think a similar result can be obtained by preparing gelatine with only a quarter of the prescribed quantity of water / juice.


Drying fruits with a household dehydrator I have a "small" household dehydrator, it is similar to this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_dehydrator#/media/File:Tomato_in_food_dehydrator.jpg

Now, I've tried to dry fruits (mainly bananas, cut into thin slices) with it several times. Usually I let it run for 6 to 8 hours at 70 °C (the machine has  a power of ~ 250 W). This is the drying time indicated in its manual. But the end result is always still somehow soft and not comparable to the dried banana I buy (which I assume is dried in an industrial-sized dehydrator). One difference for example is that my dried slices stick together when put into a container.

Is it possible to try fruits with a household-sized machine much more? Should I just let it run for 12 hours or even a day? What else could I do to favour evaporation? What do industrial dehydrators do differently?

It is possible to dry fruit with a household machine.

How long it takes will depend on the relative humidity. When I lived in Texas, drying would take 24 hours- sometimes more. Now that I'm in a high altitude desert drying is sometimes done in less than 6 hours.

At very high humidity fruit may get moldy or just too oxidized before it is able to dry. A unit with a heater will help a lot with this.
After the fruit is dried, keep it in an air tight container to keep it from absorbing water from the air and molding.

If you find your unit just isn't able to move enough air you can try Alton Brown's method and bungee cord an AC filter to a box fan and put it in your window. That will move a lot of air and dry things relatively quickly.

Keep in mind that home dried fruit can be dissimilar to purchased dried fruit. For example, apricots are treated with sulphur to preserve their orange color but it affects the flavor. Home dried apricots are darker and not as soft but have better flavor.

It's also possible that your bananas are too ripe.
Bananas are dried when they are only barely ripe- or slightly under ripe. Ripe bananas have so much sugar that they stay chewy and sticky for a long time. On the plus side they have a lot more flavor than commercial banana chips.
Recipes for banana chips will sometimes call for just ripe bananas and toss them in acid to keep them from browning.

If your bananas are still sticky they are definitely not done and will mold if you store them very long. Try giving it a good 24 hours. If that still isn't enough then either your machine isn't moving enough air or the air is too humid.