Are steel containers good for storing food in the refrigerator? I have heard some people say steel containers should never be used in the refrigerator, while others say steel is the best. Which is correct?

There is no problem with storing food in (stainless) steel containers. In fact, most gastronorm containers you see used by professional kitchen are made from stainless steel.

This doesn't mean that they are somehow "the best" - they are as much suited for storing as many other types of container. If you have some special requirements, you have to find out what offers the best tradeoffs for your preference. If you don't, then it doesn't matter if you get stainless steel or something else that is suitable.

The above assumes that your containers are non-reactive. This would include stainless steel, or containers which are surface treated, for example emailled. Naked blue steel will likely react with many foods, so it is not a good choice. Blue steel which has been seasoned at home will also have some reaction with food, even though more slowly than naked, so it is used in pans, but not in storage containers.


Which lasts longer: ground or unground coffee? Which lasts longer: ground or unground coffee? And why?

It would seem unground lasts longer because less of it is exposed to air. Is this true?

That's correct. The greater surface area of ground coffee allows more trapped carbon dioxide to be released, taking aroma compounds with it, as well as making way for oxygen in the surrounding air to oxidize the aroma compounds and coffee oils.


How can I cut fudge smooth and uniform? I've recently taking up making fudge for family and friends.  However, my cutting technique lacks a desirable smooth uniform piece. How can I cut equal smooth cuts?

The first question is how fussy you want to be about uniformity.  Many people are satisfied just using a long, thin knife to score the fudge in roughly straight lines.

If you want professional-level uniformity in the size of pieces, you'll need to lay out a grid with a straightedge, measuring equal distances on all four sides, and then use the straightedge across the fudge to score it.  (If you plan on doing this repeatedly, I'd recommend preparing a template on a piece of cardboard or something, so you don't need to measure equal spacing on the edges each time.)

As for smooth cutting, there are standard recommendations:

Score the grid onto the fudge with a sharp knife when just barely set but still warm.  This will make the final cuts easier, as well as giving you guidelines to follow.
Everyone has an opinion about the best implement to do the final cuts with.  If the fudge is still slightly warm (but firm), a plastic knife may work best.  If the fudge is cooler and harder, a thin smooth metal blade is often easiest (usually with no sawing motions; just pressing down).  A long blade makes for quicker work.  Some people like to use a bench knife pushed straight down; others use a pizza wheel or smooth pastry wheel.  It all depends on your technique, as well as the consistency and temperature of the fudge.
If you have difficulty cutting or if the fudge crumbles with the cuts, try warming the metal knife (or wheel or whatever) in hot water between cuts.  Wipe the hot knife dry before cutting.
Whatever you use, always wipe the cutting implement clean between cuts.

Some people claim to use dental floss for cutting.  While I've used that for cakes a few times, it seems overly fussy and difficult for fudge (but I've never tried it), though you might consider using it for fast scoring.


What is the "standard" salsa tomato? I make a lot of fresh salsa (pico de gallo style) in the summer, but I don't usually think much about the type of tomatoes I'm usuing. Usually I just buy whatever looks best (fresh & ripe) at the farmer's market, so I've used everything from beefsteak and heirloom to cherry and grape. I've been quite happy with the results, but I'm still wondering: is there a "standard" tomato variety for salsa?

I've read this question and this question about homemade salsa, but neither of them really mention tomato varieties; the focus seems to be on other ingredients or preparation techniques.

A standard tomato implies that there is a standard salsa, which there isn't - but let's stick with your specific case of pico de gallo AKA salsa cruda.

The distinguishing characteristic of salsa cruda is that it uses raw tomatoes - the cruda literally means raw.  Since you aren't going to be cooking them, and since water is going to be your primary binding agent, you'll want to use plump, juicy tomatoes that have potent flavour when raw, and that just so happens to be those bog-standard globe tomatoes you see in the supermarket aisles.  Of course, if you can get garden-fresh tomatoes, so much the better.

Cherry tomatoes are also a great choice - they're very juicy and a little sweeter than globes - the only downside is that for a chopped salsa (as in pico de gallo), they tend to make preparation much more difficult and messy. If you've got the time and patience, give it a try; cherry tomato salsas taste much "fresher" than those made from globes.

The other common types of tomatoes, most notably roma and pear tomatoes, are really meant more for cooking. That's not to say you can't eat them raw, but they don't have a lot of juice or raw flavour, so they don't make a good base for cruda. Roasted roma or heirloom tomatoes (especially fire-roasted) make a great addition to salsa, but of course, it's not really "cruda" anymore if you cook any of the ingredients.

Do yourself a favour and don't use the plum tomatoes in a can; they're plenty juicy but have almost no seeds and no flavour.

So, all in all, for pico de gallo I believe that regular globe tomatoes are the most appropriate, but any tomatoes with strong flavour and plenty of juice will do.


Is it safe to defrost cooked meat and eat it (without reheating) Say for example I had some marinated cooked chicken that I put in the freezer. Would it be safe to defrost this cooked chicken and put it in a sandwich without reheating it through first?

I know it's safe to eat cake out of the freezer, but I was wondering whether meat was different.

There is no mention on the fact sheet of needing to recook previously cooked, frozen chicken. However, be mindful of proper defrosting techniques, as not doing so may open the food up to contamination.


Sour dough using unbleached all purpose flour is very wet during the preshaping My wife created her own sour dough starter. She’s been feeding it unbleached white flour. It’s doing great.
When she is making her dough during the first step she is using a recipe that calls for bread flour and whole wheat flour. However we don’t have bread flour so we are using all purpose flour.

She’s rested the dough a few times and when she is trying to work it in the preshaping step the dough is really wet and doesn’t seem to have good surface tension. She keeps adding flour to try to dry it out.

The dough basically is just flat on the counter...

What are we doing wrong? Do we need to adjust the recipe for the all purpose flour? Or work the dough differently?

update
I did more research and Cook’s Illustrated suggested holding the salt temporarily for 15 minutes. Salt hinders autolyse.  They found that delaying salt hastened gluten development by an hour.

ratios/recipe
400 g warm water
100 g sour dough starter
400 g bread flour (which we don’t have)
100 g whole wheat flour
Rest for 60 min
add 10g salt and 10g water
Repeat following 3x:
Then stretch and fold, etc.
Rest 60 min

After this the dough was as described in my post.

(I am assuming your starter is at 100% hydration, i.e., that it is half water, half flour. I am also assuming you have no/little experience in baking bread. Please correct me if wrong.)

Looking at your ratios, you have a total of 460g water (400g as water, 50g in the starter, 10g with the salt) to a total of 550g flour (including 50g from the starter). This gives you an overall hydration of just over 83%, which is definitely a wetter dough. Handling wet dough is not easy. I think there might not be anything wrong with your dough itself (although see below), and you just need to get more experience working with wetter doughs.

One thing that may make the dough wetter than the recipe assumes: both bread flour and (especially) whole wheat flour absorb more water than AP flour. Substituting AP flour for the bread flour is not going to make a huge difference, but still might make the dough wetter than is expected.

My advice: lower the hydration to somewhere in the 65%-70% range (i.e., replace the 400g water with 297g-325g). Learn to handle this dough (this might take a few trials), then start increasing the hydration.


How do I get the slimy clumps out of my bisque? I used potato starch instead of cornstarch, as a thickener and forgot to make a slurry first.  Unfortunately, the bisque isn't a pureed bisque, it's mushroom, celery and onion.
After I realized my mistake, I then added more as a slurry and was able to properly thicken it.
But it still has the slimy clumps, very unappetizing. How do I get the slimy clumps out without pureeing the whole thing?

One possible option might be to pick out as many of the vegetable chunks as you feel reasonable, then puree the rest.  You'll end up with a thicker soup body, and fewer vegetable chunks, but it might not be a bad tradeoff to get rid of the lumps.

Or (depending on amount and proportion of liquid to vegetable) strain the liquid out, manually add the vegetable chunks from your strainer to the soup, and either discard lumps left in the strainer or puree them with leftover vegetable chunks (depending on how much patience you have for sorting) with reserved liquid.

Last option - if the lumps are pretty visible, you can pick them out when you see them - for example, when serving from a pot into a dish, or each time you pull it out of the fridge.  If the soup is liquidy you could try scooping up spoonfuls of broth with as many lumps as you can, and ladling them into a strainer held right over the pot, so the liquid will flow right back in and only the lumps get held back.

These last are really annoying, and a lot of work, but if it's really bothering you it does help... I did something similar with a dish once, though it was for woody herb bits, since I didn't want to waste a pot-full of food.


How to Sous Vide Filet Mignon to Medium Rare I made my own Sous Vide with a crockpot and an Arduino and would like to cook a Filet Mignon cut to medium rare.

However, a quick google search of '"sous vide" "medium rare" "filet mignon"' shows contradicting results:

This states 130F for steak in general, not Filet Mignon specifically.
This states 130F for Filet Mignon in particular.
This states 133F for Filet Mignon in particular.
This actually gives not only a range, but a range of 130-139! (for Filet Mignon in particular)
This states 130F for Filet Mignon in particular.
This states 131F for Filet Mignon in particular.
This states 134F for Filet Mignon in particular.
This also has the audacity to give a range of 130-139F but hedges it with 131F.

My sous vide can cook at an exact temperature. Which temperature should I cook Filet Mignon to medium rare?

130F (approx. 54C) works great. That brings it to the very bottom of the "medium-rare scale", allowing you to sear before presentation without overcooking.

Although, I have to tell you, filet mignon is kind of a waste with sous vide. Not that it won't be great, but a much less expensive cut can be cooked at that temperature much longer and give you amazingly tender results.

The minimum time for a medium-rare filet would be just as long as it takes for the whole steak to reach 130F (half an hour or 45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak). Of course you can cook it longer, that's one of the beauties of sous vide, but that won't make it any better.

You can spend a whole bunch less money and get chuck (shoulder) and slice it into steaks. Sous vide it for two days at 130F, and that makes a steak almost as tender as filet, yet more flavorful.

That is my very first chuck steak cooked at 131F for two days, then seared. I used a NASA hot cast-iron pan for the searing, so 1°F less will give you a little bit more time to sear without risking overcooking your filet (which would be really tragic!).

Key Point: As Jefromi says in his answer, medium-rare is a scale. If you do 130F this time, consider carefully as you eat. Is the temperature absolutely perfect for you? Keep track of the temperatures you use every time you sous vide and your impressions at that temperature. Once you know what temperatures are perfect for you, sous vide allows you to duplicate perfection perfectly.


I found a tamarind that was mostly powder, how do I avoid buying these? As someone new to tamarind I'm learning new things about the fruit, and discovered something off in one (it was hallow with some black powder inside). Why did this happen, and how can I avoid purchasing a bad one again?

It sounds like you’re describing mold spores, which I’ve occasionally seen in tamarind. I don’t know of any way to check for this, short of cutting them open to check, but tamarind isn’t particularly expensive so you might just buy a bit more than you expect to need. Often people buy tamarind extract instead, which of course isn’t subject to this problem. (Except for beverages, you really don’t lose anything by using the extract, IMO.)


Which red pepper to use? I am making clam chowder and the recipe calls for black pepper, salt, parsley and red pepper (1/2 t).  SHould I use ground cayanne pepper or red pepper flakes?

Most recipes I've seen for clam chowder suggest adding salt and black (or white) pepper to taste before serving along with a sprinkling of chopped/minced parsley leaves (either in with the clams or as a garnish).  A touch of white pepper in cream-based dishes can be a wonderful addition.

I have never seen a recipe for clam chowder that includes cayenne pepper or pepper flakes - I would think the heat in either choice would work against the delicate flavors of the clam and cream (and even if you were making the Manhattan version with tomatoes, that dish is typically briny and savory - not what I'd call spicy).

Is it possible that the recipe could be referring to paprika?  If that's the case, a little bit of mild paprika used as a garnish on top when you serve the clam chowder should be fine, but remember that a little of that can go a long way in a delicately flavored dish.


What else is being done to make these biscuits I am looking for a basic Biscuit recipe, and found the one on the Bisquick web site. Looks fairly basic. Too basic to make the biscuits pictured. There are distinct ridging on the tops and the browning looks too defined not be something like butter or egg.

So, would additionally would i have to do to get the same look? Or is this just a picture of plastic rolls?
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/bisquick-rolled-biscuits/3e0c95f0-8aec-4a01-9463-73759b2ce066

It is highly likely those biscuits benefited from the skills of a food stylist.

They will have used any number of techniques to ensure the biscuits look as good as possible for the photo, possibly including some that would render them poor tasting or even inedible.

Among the things they might have done are:

Controlling the lighting to put the biscuits at their best appearance
Using a blow torch to carefully brown each biscuit individually in the most attractive way possible
Painstakingly cutting hundreds of biscuits with a fancy cutter and selecting the few that came out looking perfect for further treatment
Dabbing on flour with a paint brush to give them that rustic look

I am sure there are more tricks of the trade, but it is not something I do.

At home, you would achieve best results with a convection oven (if you have one), and a very sharp biscuit cutter (to not disturb the layers) used on biscuit dough that is properly and skillfully prepered to create the flaky layers.   Brushing the tops with milk or butter will also help them brown (and taste good).


Can sunflower or coconut oil be substituted for vegetable shortening in cake icing? I was reading this recipe for cake icing and was wondering what would happen if I substituted sunflower oil or coconut oil (which is thicker and may better model the texture of the shortening) for vegetable shortening. I don't eat vegetable shortening/margarine/crisco and am looking for a way to adapt this recipe.

4 lb powdered sugar
1 TB cream of tartar
1 1/4 c. of white shortening (crisco ... the sticks are easy to measure)
a pinch of salt
1 TB extract of your choice
3/4 to 1c. of water (maybe more depending on humidity)

  Put all ingredients except the water into a mixer. Add 3/4 c. water,
  and slowly add more to make the consistancy of your choice. Mix on low
  speed 'til mixed, then on #6 or 8 for 6 to 7 minutes. Consistency
  should be "creamy" -- like cream cheese when soft. Stiff icing should
  be creamy also.

I don't know for sure, as I've never tried, but I doubt it would whip up into the right texture. Shortening is already a solid, so you're just introducing air. Sunflower oil is a liquid, so you'd want to solidify it somehow to make frosting.


Too much water in cake mix but it’s already baking! What should I do? The cake looks done but it’s not in the middle.  Should I just keep baking it?

At that stage, there is nothing you can do but just bake until the cake is through. Baking by time is not advisable anyway, no matter if you followed the recipe exactly or not.

If you made your dough wetter than intended, the texture of the baked cake can be somewhat different than expected, it is impossible ot say how much different without knowing the type of cake and the amount of extra water (but even then, it would be a very rough guess). But you have nothing to lose by just baking it and using it. If it is a simple poundcake or the like and it turns out too dry because of the extra water, consider a light syrup soak, or glazing it with something nonpermeable (chocolate-fat coatings are good here).


Can I freeze beef stew? I've made too much beef stew, and I'd love to be able to freeze it instead of letting it go bad.

It's a stew with cooked vegetables and chunks of beef.

Will this freeze and defrost well?

(If it matters, I bought the beef frozen, not fresh -- but I think the "don't refreeze" guideline is before cooking.)

Yes, you can freeze stew. You may find that the vegetables are a bit softer or broken into smaller pieces after thawing. If you used a thickening agent (flour, cornstarch), it may separate as it thaws in the refrigerator overnight. To remedy that, remove a bit of the liquid, simmer with a bit more thickener and whisk so that it stabilizes. Then, gently stir into the stew as you reheat it.

And, you're correct, 'don't refreeze' applies to the raw meat, not to when it has been cooked.


Why put pepper on a dish before cooking? (Almost?) every good recipe for searing/grilling steaks advises to season the steak with salt and pepper before cooking it.

However, I’m reasonably sure that pepper is extremely sensitive to heat and quickly loses all its flavour.

Other recipes also advise using pepper before the cooking process but with other dishes I’m confident enough to ignore this hint and invariably apply pepper after cooking (or in the last stage). When it comes to steaks I’m trying to follow every good hint I can find. But this has always bothered me: What is the purpose of seasoning steaks with pepper before cooking?

According to wikipedia, the melting point of piperine - the compound responsible for the pungency of black pepper - is 130 degrees celsius, so it's definitely not a given that anything you'll be cooking will heat all of the piperine above 130 degrees celsius - at which point you'd begin to get significantly faster decomposition (and lose the peppery flavor).

Now, the maillard reaction doesn't occur until around 155 celsius, so for cooking steak it's pretty much a given that the outside of the steak (including all of the pepper on the surface) will get hot enough to melt and begin to decompose, so it's certainly possible that you'd lose much of the pepper flavor from the actual peppercorns.

So the two questions are, how much is actually lost?  and where does it all go?

Most recipes that call for crusting cooked meat with black pepper call for a coarse grind.  One good reason for this is that by minimizing surface area, you are not allowing the piperine to heat up and decompose as quickly, so depending on how coarse your pepper is, and how hot you sear your steaks, you may have a not-insignificant amount of piperine left in your pepper.  I haven't found a good source for how fast piperine breaks down at various temperatures so you'd have to test this a bit to see how much of the flavor you could expect to lose.

Probably more important is the "where does it all go?" part of this question.  For this you have to consider that even though the ultimate tempurature of the pepper is far above its melting point, during cooking it has heated up slowly, not instantly, leaving a good portion of time where the piperine was melting but before it was hot enough to decompose very quickly.  During this phase, piperine can escape from the peppercorn, while still intact (not decomposed) and migrate through the steak (or other dish).  While cooking a steak, piperine should migrate far enough into the steak that it does not ultimately reach a temperature where it decomposes.  This will cause that portion of the steak to be flavored with piperine.  So, the benefit of heating the pepper is specifically so that it will melt and migrate into the dish (i.e. meld with the foods), something that you don't get by sprinkling it on the top afterwards.


How to get cheese melted without burning grilled cheese I've been using a George Foreman like grill for grilled cheese sandwiches. The problem is the bread seems to burn before the cheese is thoroughly melted. How can I fix this? Do I just need to add more butter because I've been trying that.

EDIT: I keep my cheese in the refrigerator so maybe leaving it on the counter to come to room temperature would help.

Try using a different cheese that melts better; try Gouda, Gruyère, Jalsberg or similar. Most Swiss cheese melts well.


Pyrex glass round casserole safety in high temperature I want to know can I use Pyrex glass round casserole as a safe cookware on gas burner?

Does this cookware release toxic chemical in high temp?

I only worried about toxic compounds and not about cracking!

Update based on edited question:  there are no issues of toxicity.

It is a very poor idea to use glass cookware on a burner.  Not all Pyrex is made from high quality borosilicate glass anymore, and even if you have some, the issue is thermal shock, not toxicity.

If you heat or cool glass very rapidly, the internal stress caused by thermal expansion (or contraction, when cooling) can cause it to shatter.  This can be a real safety issue when it is full of hot food.

For this reason, you generally only want to use glass cookware in the oven, and never transfer it directly from the freezer to the oven, or the oven to the freezer.


differences in caper berry seeds I use caper berries in salad sometimes, but honestly I mainly like to just eat them straight out of the jar. I've noticed that in a single jar, each berry has 1 of three types of seeds inside:

Black seeds, which are hard in texture

Red seeds, which are also hard, but maybe slightly harder (or softer?) than the black ones

White seeds, which are much softer than the other two.

It seems odd that in a single jar, all 3 varieties would persist. Does the color of the seed indicate anything about the berry? Is there a taste or age difference?

forgive me for asking, but are your capers perhaps in a jar with peppercorns?

if so, this might explain it

sadly i'm not an expert on this plant, but they might be like other flowers (a sweetpea for example comes in several colours)

oh-- i will not post a pic because someone will take points from me, but as you love capers it might interest you to know that they grow on the Western Wall in Jerusalem :)

if your caper habit becomes too expensive you might try Pickling Dandelion Buds & Nasturtium Buds


How to make coffee-infused butter? What are some ways to make "coffee-infused butter"?
By that I mean cow butter but injected with espresso, somehow. Essentially, produce a block of butter with strong coffee flavours in it (the color, I imagine, would be medium brown rather light yellow). Strength per block of butter is roughly equivalent to that of one cup of coffee or double shot espresso.
I've been consuming my mokapot coffee with some butter on side, and really enjoy the taste combination. It is especially good when the coffee is let to become cold a bit (the bitter notes really come through and cut through the milky goodness of butter).
Note: this is different from what is known as 'bulletproof coffee' (which can be described as butter-infused coffee).

A simple way to do this is to place 250 grams of whole bean coffee and 500 grams of butter in a ziploc bag.  Then place that in a water bath with a sous vide device set at 90C.  Cook for 3 hours.  Alternately, you can do this on the stove top.  Very low heat, same amount of time.  The longer you cook, the stronger the coffee flavor.  Strain, discard beans, use the butter.  Credit to an old ChefSteps formula.


Mortar used to process paste containing candlenuts - risk of contaminating raw foods? If I use a mortar and pestle for working with candlenuts (who are considered mildly toxic when raw), to make a paste that is later cooked, how thoroughly and how does that mortar (not dishwasher proof, using soap is also best avoided) need to be cleaned before you can safely use it for raw preparations like pesto?

Didn't even know they were toxic uncooked, and survived 40+ years of home cooking (both by me and my parents) without any ill effect, I would say 99% of the times ground uncooked.

That is, however, not an answer, so I will just explain my point of view, and why I won't bother with extraordinary cleansing after grinding candlenuts.

I can't find anything on the toxicity levels, other than "mildly", and never saw any warning on any bag of candlenuts. I did find it on some other "exotic" ingredients, most notably mustard oil.
Not a very strong argument, but: Usually, somewhere between 5 and 10 nuts are used, tops. For a mildly toxic ingredient, this seems quite a low number to make it dangerously toxic.
It seems unlikely to me that after grinding you end up with 99% of the stuff going in to the dish, and yet somehow, a significant, if not most of the amount of toxins remaining in the mortar.
Recipes sometimes do tell to toast the candlenuts first. None of the ones I know of say it is because of the toxicity. All of the ones I know of, tell to toast them lightly, a few minutes max. Given the size of a candlenut, it seems unlikely to me (but I'm not chemist) that toasting it for around 2-3 minutes will kill the toxins. Come to think of it: None of the books, recipes, or sources otherwise ever even mentioned their toxicity.
Lastly, and completely irrelevant, I may be the lucky one of course: I'm still here breathing.

All in all, I personally group it into the "Tomatoes and potatoes are toxic" category. Both nightshades, but you'll have to eat a ton of them in one sitting before you'll have to start worrying.


Should I freeze gyoza before or after cooking? I'm about to make a big batch of gyoza and I don't want to eat them all now. I was thinking about freezing them and I want to know which is best from a food-safety and a quality perspective.

If I freeze them after cooking, is the crispy side going to become soggy after cooking? If I freeze them before cooking, are they going to get soggy whilst the meat inside defrosts? Is it safe to defrost them with raw meat inside?

Either would be safe.

You will get better quality by freezing them uncooked.   They should not get soggy due to the freezing, as neither the meat filling, nor the wrappers, are particularly subject to ice crystal damage.

Gyoza are very small, so you should not need to thaw them:  just begin the steaming phase right out of the freezer, and they will thaw while cooking.   If you do wish to thaw them, do it in the refrigerator and they will be perfectly safe, despite the raw filling.

You are correct that if you freeze them after cooking, you will loose the crispy bottoms--this would be true if you save them as left overs in the refrigerator as well.


What is the difference between Capocollo and Coppa di parma? Capocollo is 70 Calories per 55 grams.
Coppa Di Parma is 110 Calories per 33 grams
What cut of pork is each from?

Coppa (aka capocollo) is a type of cold cut (salume) in Italy. You'll see it with different names, including capocollo, lonza, and lonzino. They are all made from the same part of pork. It comes from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck, and the name "capo-collo" means "head-neck." "Di Parma" simply means from Parma, and it means the product is created according to certain traditions from that region (though it's actually produced in other regions). The word "coppa" means "cup" in Italian. I'm just guessing here, but I suspect it may be called this because of its shape which is created when it is trimmed (it is cut to be cylindrical).

I suspect the two products you are looking at have different amounts of fat. They are probably both delicious.


Is our oven at work powerful enough to bake pizza? Do all thick based pizzas require an oven temperature of at least 300°C (575°F) to cook better as per our reference manual?

Absolutely not. There are a lot of tricks to get good thick (or thin) pizza with oven temperatures under 300C (572F). The people at Serious Eats have researched the problem at great length and with excellent results. Few home ovens reach 300C. I made this pizza last weekend using the recipe in the above link, my oven's top temperature is 274C (525F):

Serious Eats has a lot of pizza recipes for the kind of oven most of us have. A lot of those recipes, like New York Pizza, take advantage of a pizza stone.

For my pizza, I used a 12 inch cast iron skillet which worked very well, but it can be done in two 10 inch cake pans - or in just about anything else. Read the comments, all types of pan sizes and types are discussed. The dough is a no-knead recipe that rises vigorously overnight, then it does the second rise in the pan. It's easy to shape for the second rise, and it holds up to an extraordinary volume of toppings (which is a generally a desirable trait for Pan Pizza). It would have been nice to have been able to reach the recommended temperature of 288C (550F), but the site addresses that issue too. The pizza came out of the oven with the bottom crust a bit blond, but two minutes on a burner brought it to perfect. Be sure to check out the sauce recipes too. I used this one. It was the best Pan Pizza I have ever had.

Serious Eats has hundreds of pages of very good information specifically about making world class pizza without a pizza oven. It's a great site, check it out.

We are also lucky to have a lot of very knowledgeable people here on Seasoned Advice that can help with any specific problems.

You can make great pizza without a pizza oven.


Does burnt mark on cast iron crepe machine mean it’s ruined? I have a Krampouz crepe machine made of cast iron. Someone rested what looks like a hot mug of tea on top of it, and now it has a dark brown burn patch. Does this mean it will no longer work, or is there a way I can remove this?

This is not a burnt patch, cast iron doesn't burn. It is almost certainly a rust patch.
Since the surface comes into direct contact with food, you cannot use the rust removers sold in home improvement stores. You need to remove it with lye - you can try a mechanical stripping too, but that is unlikely to get all tiny specks of rust, unless you get serious about it and use a dremel attachment until you bite into the blank metal. See also my answer here about removing rust from cast iron.
Once you have stripped that part (or all of the seasoning, if you use lye) you will need to reseason. Since this is a crepe maker, you don't have to do much with multiple layers etc., just enough to seal the surface against rust until the next batch of crepes you make. Making more batches will give you an even better surface.
Above, I said "almost sure" that this is rust. Since this is only a photo, there is a tiny possibility that this is stuck-on dirt which looks like rust. If you think that this might be the case, you could try removing it with an abrasive cleaner, or with a metal sponge. But since this will be a lot of work and the chance is small that this is not rust, you can just treat it like rust from the beginning.


How long should pearl barley be boiled for? Different recipes that involve boiling pearl barley recommend boiling pearl barley for different periods of time.  How long should pearl barley be boiled for, and why do different packets of pearl barley recommend different cooking times?

It's hard to give a universal answer to questions like this. But, two reputable sources, The Kitchn and Serious Eats each have the same recommendation of 30 minutes.

The article from The Kitchn discussed Hulled Barley (has the bran left on) taking longer to cook than Pearl Barley, which may be why the packages you are seeing have different times.

I see two other possibilities for differing cooking times:

Target market of that brand. For example, a more upscale brand targeting a more "refined" palette may recommend lower cooking times, as these folks will be more accepting of the tender chewiness of properly cooked barley. On the other hand, cheaper brands are likely targeting lay-folk, and let's face it, people without culinary experience might prefer a more done barley.
There could just be some slight variations in types of barley, where it's grown, etc that impact cooking time. This one is difficult to rule out, and leads me to recommending experimentation! Cook a few different batches to different levels of doneness, and see which you prefer.


Genoise vs whipped egg whites - which makes cakes fluffier? When making a cake utilising all the leavening agents including creamed butter and sugar as well as baking powder and soda, would there be any difference if I were to include whipped egg whites vs foamed whole eggs?
Which one would provide a fluffier / lighter texture to the cake?

Génoise is always made with whipped white eggs for maximum fluff. No matter how long you whisk your whole eggs, they will never get close to the consistency of whipped egg whites.
Found an interesting comparison video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCdOU-1sjO0
Now if you make your cake with foamed eggs I'm sure it will be good, but it won't be a génoise anymore.
Regarding the use of butter, there are two schools, some use a bit of melted butter, others don't use any butter at all. I personally never use butter because I think it is lighter and fluffier without it, and generally I fill my génoise with ganache, so that brings the fatty element to the cake. However it is always melted butter, I have never seen a recipe using creamed butter, and indeed I think it will make your batter heavier and your cake will be denser.
But if you ever try please let me know!


Looking for a Finnish bread name and recipe About 20 years ago, I went to Finland to visit a friend and I had the opportunity to stay with her and her parents.

They treated me with home-made meals. It was really good.

I remember that they have a special bread which serves as a meal. It was filled with small fishes and an unknown sauce. When you cut it open, the content was flowing outside of the crust.

I asked my friend about it but she couldn't find an answer. I'd love to find the name of that bread / dish.

Sounds like kalakukko. From  Wikipedia :

Kalakukko is a traditional food from the Finnish region of Savonia made from fish baked inside a loaf of bread. The Cornish pasty from Cornwall has the same basic idea of complete packed lunch. Kalakukko is especially popular in Kuopio, capital city of the Northern Savonia region. Kuopio is home to many kalakukko bakeries. The city also hosts an annual kalakukko baking contest.[1]
Traditionally, kalakukko is prepared with rye flour (like ruisleipä), although wheat is often added to make the dough more pliable. The filling consists of fish, pork and bacon, and is seasoned with salt (unless the pork is already salted). After being baked for several hours, traditionally in a masonry oven, kalakukko looks much like a large loaf of rye bread. If prepared correctly, bones of the fish soften and the meat and fish juices cook thoroughly inside the bread. This results in a moist filling.


Which kinds of rice can replace Uzbek devsira? I found a recipe for a Fergana-style plov, one of the main versions of Uzbek plov: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/savedaru/uzbekskii-plov-poferganski-vkus-i-aromat-bespodobn-5f93ccc1a81c50318e584c8c . The description asks for devsira, a type of Uzbek rice. Not having that I wonder which other types of rice I can use instead. Any hints?

Surely this will make your Plov unauthentic, but in practice any medium-grained rice will be an acceptable substitute. If you find the correct spices (or close enough; cumin gives most of the flavour anyway), and some nice fat lamb, you should be able to make a delicious dish.
Even if the article on TripAdvisor mentions fermented and aged rice, this is a rarity; in most cases ordinary non-aged rice is used.


How to distinguish between different types of squash? Last spring I planted two seedlings that claimed to be pumpkin. They've grown long tendrils and lots of leaves, and have made several flowers, and I thought that was that (I subsequently found out you're supposed to pollinate pumpkin manually).

Having now cleared some of the weeds from around them, I've discovered that they have in fact fruited.

One plant has two fruits - both very dark green, spherical, one about 3" or 4" diameter and the other one about 6" diameter.

The other plant has two fruits - both yellow, spherical, about 1" in diameter.

Are these in fact pumpkins or maybe some other sort of squash (presumably it's possible the two seedlings are not the same variety)? How can I tell? How can I tell when they're ready to eat? Will the mini ones continue to grow now the weather has turned cold and wet?

If you want to post a picture somewhere I can probably tell you.

You could do a cursory google image search and see if visually you can tell what they are. I have grown pumpkins most of my life and I have never manually pollinated them, I have never grown the "big ones" though so maybe that could be different.

Pumpkins in the southern US generally ripen closer to late september-to-mid-october and can hang on the vines for a bit. It sounds like you have some veriety of squash. If you do have pumpkins unless they are an off shoot hybrid they should be taking on their orange color by now, especially if you planted them in spring. Having said that if they did not get enough water or enough heat then their growth would be stunted. It could be your yellows have stunted and are shriveling but I would assume they look healthy.


Are there any fish bones which are edible without canning or pressure cooking? As the question states, are there any.  I know things like sardines require pressure cooking or canning but what about thuings like anchovies or other, is the bone edible without having to pressure cook? My goal is to get calcium from bones with the least amount of cooking, if any at all.

Sprat and even larger fish like small jack mackerels (up to 10 cm length) are typically eaten with their spine bones when fried. The fins and heads are removed though.


Why is there so much baking soda in scones? I am a German living in Australia and I am generally quite happy with Australian food.
However I do not understand why there is so much baking soda in scones. One would buy self-raising flour and even add more of the raising agent.

I wonder, if there is a reason for that other than the taste. Does baking soda preserve food especially well under certain conditions?
Or were scones historically just eaten with a dish, that needed to be contrasted by the flavour which some describe as soapy, slight spicy or salty?

When I made scones for the first time, I also found the taste a bit unusual. The recipe I used specified a total of 11 g baking powder and baking soda per 250 g flour, and also 5 g salt. I used less salt, but the taste is definitely unusal for people accustomed to continental Kleingebäck.

I can see two reasons for this. First, the dough for scones is quite unusual, something between cookie and pastry. It is a lot tougher than the usual soda-leavened dough. So I guess that it needs additional leavening power in order to create a light texture, unlike the semiliquid batters which raise without a problem. Plus, it gets no help from egg whites the way some cakes do (in fact, my recipe specified egg yolks only).

The second point is one you already mentioned in the question. It seems that the English tradition is to eat scones with cream and jam. I tried it with my own scones, and the combination was quite good. I don't eat much jam, as it is too sweet for my taste, but the pairing with the bland scones was really nice. A sweeter or richer vehicle would have made the whole thing overwhelming.


What is the best way to hold a sphere and for how long? I have been playing around with the spherification process. My questions are how long can I hold a sphere and what is the best way to do so??

In my experience, spheres done with the reverse method (calcium solution dipped in alginate) can last up to four days, well refrigerated, and kept submerged in vegetable (soy or canola) oil. I do not know the science behind it, only that it works. For reference, these were spheres made of a carrot-ginger consomme, not certain of specific amounts of calcium chlorate (in the carrot mix) and sodium alginate (bath) used. Note that acidity may play a role in how long spheres will last, and (often) the chemical reaction will continue, albeit slower; on Day 1 we'd have thin membranes with very liquid interiors. By Day 4, the membrane would be perceptibly thicker and the contents more glutinous.


How can I make these cookies less sweet without ruining the texture? I've finally found a snickerdoodle recipe that results in cookies with that perfect "bite": a crispy outside -- not crunchy, but an almost-infinitesimal stiffness that resists your teeth just a little before "letting them in" -- leading to a chewy-soft inside that is neither too chewy nor too soft, but perfectly in between. The cookies also have a perfect balance of cinnamon vs. vanilla: they're snickerdoodles, not cinnamon cookies. (Well, unless you accidentally use the 1/2 tablespoon measure instead of the 1/2 teaspoon. Don't ask me how I know this.) The problem is, the cookies are just too sweet for my taste. They're not so overly sweet that I can't eat them, but every time I do eat one, I find myself wishing it weren't so sweet.

How can I modify this recipe to make the cookies less sweet, without ruining their texture?

Ingredients:

  1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  1 cup sugar
  1 egg
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  2 tablespoons milk
  1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping

The method is the usual: cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla, then the dry ingredients, then the milk. Chill 30 minutes, then form into big balls - 1 1/2 inches, dip in the cinnamon sugar, put on parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes.

(I followed the recipe almost exactly1, except for substituting 3/4 cups of the AP flour with WWW [white whole wheat] flour.)

1OK, so I followed the recipe almost exactly the second time I made it. The first time, well, let's not talk about that. Stupid capital T vs. lowercase t.

As I'm sure you know, sugar has many functions in baked goods, so replacing it can be tricky. Syrups will make your cookies too moist and just reducing the sugar can change the texture and browning. Sugar alcohols can add sweetness, but they usually don't brown and they can give people "digestive issues". I think your best route will be replace at least some of the sugar in your recipe with a different type of sugar, while keeping the total amount of sugar the same.

I think your best resource may be a brewing supply store, as they often sell other types of sugar to help control fermentation in beer. Brewing sugar, also called corn sugar, will be easiest to find and it's almost entirely glucose. In your case, granulated glucose will have the advantage of only being about 70-80% as sweet as sucrose. If this reduces the sweetness too much, you can try blending the granulated glucose with regular sugar. There are other sugars that are even less sweet, like maltose or lactose, that could be used to replace some of the regular sugar in the recipe, but they can be harder to find.

For reference, here is a chart of the relative sweetness of various sugars and sweeteners.


How do they commercially coat gummies in wax? I've been making gummies very successfully for a couple years and just coating them in citric acid/sugar before i dry them, which works well, but im curious how i can make them shiny like haribo gummies. I know they use carnuaba wax or something, and i assume they tumble them in a giant tumbler, but how do they dissolve and atomize the wax? How do they keep them from sticking in the tumbler before they get coated? Obviously you can't heat them so the wax must be dissolved in some solvent? If anyone knows these secrets I would love to hear them!

The tumbler does a really good job of making sure the gummies get coated.

It will mist in the wax and definitely get it everywhere.
You can see on the gummies where they were sorta stuck together, some still come stuck together.

So the waxing isn't quite perfect but most of them come free.


What kind of cloth is OK for cooking glutinous rice and how to handle it? I got myself some glutinous rice, but it's suggested that I use a cotton cloth in order to cook it. Thing is, I take food safety quite seriously and I wanted to know what kind of cloth specifically is OK to use and what isn't. For example, would a washed piece of a white t-shirt with no print be okay? If not, what to look for? I'm from Poland and I looked for "steam cooking" results on allegro.pl, but found nothing made for steam cooking. Also, how to properly clean it afterward in a food-safe way?

I would look for cheesecloth, it should be widely available.

If not, yes, a white cotton shirt should be good enough, make certain it is not a blend of different fabrics; and I would wash it in boiling water before.


To tell if meat has gone bad, is touch enough evidence? I have meat in my fridge that range from a couple of days to the sell-by-date to several months. All of it is slimy on touch, but it doesn't smell bad.

Should it being slimy be enough of a reason to throw it away? I read that sliminess and smell were ways of detecting if meat has gone bad.

TL:DR version: you are thinking about it wrong. Food safety is not about finding evidence that it has gone bad (that's usually impossible), it is about having evidence that it is still good. If you don't have it, that automatically throws it in the "unsafe" category.

Food safety has basically two rules:

if it has exceeded the allowed time in properly-cooled storage, it is considered unsafe.
if you recognize bacterial or mold colonization of the meat ("spoiled"), it is unsafe even if you kept proper storage.

None of this is equivalent to "it will make you sick" or "it has too many pathogens", it just means that you cannot know if it will make you sick or not.

You are asking about the second one, and for that, nobody can be the judge but you. You have the meat in front of you, we don't. Non-spoiled raw meat has a surface which can be described as "slimey". Spoiled raw meat can also have a "slimey" surface, but it is a different kind of slimey. If you have seen OK meat and spoiled meat several times, you know what I am talking about. If you haven't, then you don't have the skill needed to distinguish it, and fall under the "if in doubt, throw it out" rule. Somebody else might be able to confirm that it is OK on seeing it, so that somebody else wouldn't fall under that rule.

Now you may be surprised here and protest that, if the meat was not going to make you sick, you shouldn't be throwing it out. In fact, that's normal. Only a tiny proportion of the food that is unsafe would have made you sick anyway. We can never predict which food will make you sick, so food safety is about preventing risk, not about preventing certain events.

You can, of course, show your meat to somebody who has more expertise, and ask if they have any doubt. That is reasonable, and you seem to be trying to do this now with that question. Unfortunately, "spoiled" is something for which one needs all five senses. A few words of description are not enough, unless it happened to be some egregious change. So, I'm afraid we cannot help you over the Internet. You can show it to somebody in person, toss it, or decide that you don't care about food safety and eat it as it is. But you cannot expect written information on "slimey" to make you certain that it has "gone bad" or not.


Why are Italian sausages so different from those in the UK? I've just returned to London from a holiday in Puglia, Italy. The sausages (not salami) are so completely different to the sausages here. Their colours are pink/white or red/white and much more bright/bold, whereas here the colours are pretty drab. Here when I cut open the casing to crumble out the sausage meat to use in something else, I get a sticky and pretty disgusting texture. The meat in their sausages is much more like actual meat. When cooked I find the Italian ones taste so much better as well.

Basically I hate the sausages here and love the Italian ones. What's the difference between the two (aside from aromatics etc) and how can I get more "real meat" sausages in my life? Obviously I could buy from some of the specialist online retailers who stock them, and I probably will, but I want to understand why the sausages here are so completely different. For example, why is the sausage "meat" here basically a sticky paste?

Images illustrating the difference:

Italian sausages
UK sausages

I agree with your assessment of the sausages between the UK and Italy, getting decent sausages in the UK is harder, but not impossible. Commercial sausages in the UK tend to be very finely ground, and have rusk or some sort of meal to act as a filler and absorb juices as they are cooked. UK sausages tend to be flavored by herbs, or have apple in them. Italian sausages are generally more coarsely ground so you see distinct pieces of meat and fat throughout, they also have less fillers so they shed more fat when cooked.

In the UK you get what you pay for with sausages, if you get the cheap store brand stuff you'll get sad tubes of grey paste which will split the second they experience direct heat and spray so much fat the entire barbecue starts on fire. If you shell out a bit more you will get a better product. My advice is to find a good butcher, many make their own sausages in store and they usually have good variety. My local one has quite a few and one is an actual authentic Italian style sausage which is excellent, you mileage may vary but it's worth shopping around.


How to keep pork crispy during transport to venue? I want to cook Lechon Kawali (filipino food) for my officemate for lunch but I'm worried the pork skin won't be crispy when we eat it. I'm going to cook it in the morning. Any ideas how I can make the pork stay crispy in time for lunch?

It's going to be eaten around 3 hrs after cooking. I'm going to put it in a container to bring it to the office.

Being Filipino, I totally applaud you for such an excellent choice of an entree. The enemy of all fried food is moisture. Think of...potato chips. Immediately after you fry, make sure you let the food cool at room temperature before packaging. I would store the lechon in a non air-tight container, like a KFC bucket/box with parchment paper. Paper bags are good options as well. After the food has substantially cooled, feel free to refrigerate. Don't put your lechon in a sealed tupperware container while hot, as condensation from water evaporating from the meat while it is hot will often form and make your food soggy. Bring on the Mang Tomas and have at it.


Does it help to allow veggies to lose moisture before frying? Frying gets rid of the water in food, and salt is added to remove water from onions while frying. Since getting rid of water is the objective, if one has sufficient time, will it help reduce frying time or reduce the amount of oil sputtering if veggies like onion or bitter gourd are thinly sliced and left in the kitchen at room temperature for an hour or two to dry out a bit? I've noticed they get a bit wrinkled, which probably means they lost some water. Alternatively, chopping them and leaving them in the fridge in an open container seems to produce slightly similar results, but is it useful to prep it like this before frying?

Yes, it helps to dry veggies before frying them.

In fact, many recipes for fried and deep-fried vegetables contain explicit instructions for drying them, including salting, blotting between paper towels, or wiping down and dusting the surface with starch.

The reason why simply leaving veggies out on the counter is not a frequently seen instruction is that (a) that's a very slow way to dry them, and (b) it may cause them to oxidize or otherwise develop undesireable flavors or colors.  But if you live in a low-humidity environment, there's no reason it wouldn't work.


Why would a pregnant woman not be able to eat soft cheeses? I just finished preparing a wedding today and one of the specs was that the bride (who is pregnant) was unable to eat certain types of cheese. Goat cheese, Brie, and Camembert were all no-no's but hard cheeses were OK.

I should know why and I suppose I could google the info also but I'd prefer to put it to the floor.  Why could this lady only eat certain types of cheese?  I'm assuming the fact that she is pregnant holds a clue.

Everybody has different rules for what pregnant women should and should not eat, and you definitely should clarify with the individual.

Usually the concern with cheese is over bacteria.  The typical rule about cheese is to avoid softer, raw milk cheeses for fear of listeria, which can affect the baby.

There is more information here: http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/listeria.html


Help with rubbery roti/chapatti I have been trying to master the roti for about a year now, and I've only made perfectly soft roti a handful of times. Otherwise they come out rubbery.

The problem is NOT the dough.

I make the dough with atta, water and about a teaspoon of oil. But my mother-in-law uses the same dough and achieves perfectly soft roti every-time. She has watched me making roti and can not spot the problem.

After I roll out the roti (not too thick, not too thin, but not always in a perfect circle), I place it on a preheated tawa on high gas. I wait until bubbles come up on one side and then I flip it. Once brown spots start to appear, I flip it onto the gas. Usually they bloat, but even the bloated ones come out rubbery. I then place them in a box with paper to keep them warm.

Another thing is that these rubbery roti give stomach aches, which might mean they're undercooked. But when I cook them longer on the tawa, they get crispy and hard.

I've tried the style of dabbing the roti with a cloth (no significant change, only slightly softer), I've tried putting less flour when rolling (slightly softer but almost impossible to roll). I've tried making only small roti, and then making bigger roti. Nothing has worked.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what's wrong.

EDIT: My mother-in-law and I suspect it has to do with the cooking on the tawa, primarily because when I roll but she cooks it, it turns out fine. She can't tell what I'm doing wrong though then I'm flipping it.

My roti ends up slightly brownish, while hers are more white. I'm guessing that means its undercooked, but when I cook it longer it tends to get crunchy and hard.

Flips: 1st when there are bubbles and the sides start to turn up. 2nd when there are medium-brown dark spots on the roti. 3. I let it bloat for a few seconds both side on the open flame.

If you are using the same dough then the issue lies in your preparation of the dough. There are too many variables to this, I would approach this systematically, eliminating variables as you go by watching your mother in law and measuring how she does things. Specifically I would look for:

Maybe your roti is too thick or too thin, measure the weight of the dough she uses for a single roti and how big she rolls it out, then replicate that yourself
under-cooking or over-cooking, see how hot she makes her pan and how long she cooks the roti
After cooking what do you do with the roti? Does your mother in law seal it in a container and keep the steam in?

I suspect your roti is too thick, and/or maybe you are cooking it too long at too low a temperature. If it's too thick it needs a longer cooking time and you either have one that's undercooked or one that's rubbery. If your pan is too cool then your roti won't cook quickly enough to trap the air in, letting it deflate and get rubbery. Try rolling them thinner and getting the pan hotter.


Steaming oysters without shucking meat v. just shucked oyster meat? Before COVID, I asked Chinese restaurants and they said they steam oyster wholly.

Some Michelin Restaurants serve cooked oysters in shells.
What are advantages and disadvantages of steaming oyster whole v. steaming just oyster meat?
How To Make Poached Oysters - Best Recipe | Charleston Magazine

DIRECTIONS:
Shuck oysters, separating meat into one bowl and juices into another. In a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat, melt one tablespoon each of butter and truffle oil. Add shallot and garlic. Sweat until tender. Add next four ingredients. Sweat mixture for three minutes.
Add lemon and oyster juices and reduce liquid until almost dry. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining butter. Pass liquid through a sieve, pour into a small heavy-bottom pot, and heat to 135°F.  Add truffle and oysters. Poach for 10 minutes. Place oysters into shells and spoon liquid onto each.

These two recipes don't clarify if they steam oysters wholly? Or if they shucked meat first, steamed just  meat, then placed meat back into shell.
Poached Oysters and Artichokes with Champagne Cream recipe | Epicurious.com

Prepare oysters and sauce:

Pour oyster liquor into a nonreactive 8-inch heavy skillet and add Champagne, shallot, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and boil, skimming foam, until reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 5 minutes. (Reduce heat if necessary to keep from boiling over.) Pour liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a measuring cup, pressing on and then discarding shallot. Return liquid to skillet, then add cream and oysters and cook over moderate heat, turning oysters over if not completely covered, until edges curl, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Poached Oysters with Pickled Cucumber and Caviar Recipe - Stephen Harris | Food & Wine

Step 3
Arrange the oyster shells on a platter. In a small skillet, simmer the oysters with their liquor over moderate heat until the edges begin to curl, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer each oyster to a shell. Spoon some of the beurre blanc on each and top with
pickled cucumber and caviar. Serve immediately.

As long as you make certain you keep the oyster whole and you keep water/liquor form the oysters, one way or the other is more or less equivalent.
The shell, at that point is just a small dish.
Lot of high end restaurants (L'atelier Robuchon for example) will shuck the oyster and prepare them separately and then plate the dishes by placing back the prepared oysters on the cleaned shells for presentation; this help them perfectly prepare the oyster.
Lot of restaurants will also shuck the oyster and just add some ingredients directly on the shell with the oyster before steaming (or broiling)


What is the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce? The title pretty much says it: What is the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce?

I Googled and got a bunch of hits but none of the answers left me feeling like I actually understand the difference. If anything, I'm more confused now than when I started. The one thing that a few of the answers I found had in common was the idea that marinara sauce is simpler, with fewer ingredients than other tomato-based sauces. Still, the idea does not present the full picture. I guess another way to approach this question would be to ask: What would one add to "marinara" sauce to make it "spaghetti" sauce?

Thx

Marinara is a style / kind of a sauce that originated in Napoli usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions. A spaghetti sauce only says where to sauce is used (obviously on spaghetti) but doesn't say anything about what the sauce is exactly like.

There are many dishes which are basically spaghetti + sauce:

Spaghetti alla marinara – which literally translates to "spaghetti mariner's style"
Spaghetti aglio e olio – "spaghetti with garlic and oil", originated in Napoli
Spaghetti alla puttanesca – "spaghetti whore-style"
Spaghetti alla Carbonara – "spaghetti coal worker's style"

and, uhmmm...

Spaghetti with meatballs – an Italian-American invention


My chutney will not freeze, help! Weeks ago I made a chutney of local ground cherries with onions and raisins. It came out very syrupy but I figured it will still be good in small doses with meats.

I was recently on vacation when hurricane sandy hit our east coast home -luckily nothing major occurred to our home-, and we were without power for several days. Anyway, I got back yesterday and noticed today that my chutney is not totally frozen.

I'm wondering

If chutney can spoil in the freezer if not totally frozen, and also what would cause the chutney to not completely freeze?
What are the signs of a spoiled half frozen chutney?

Any thoughts are welcome, thank you :)

It's doubtful that you'll get any spoilage in your freezer. Not much grows at -20°C, with or without liquid.
Your chutney is likely not freezing because of its high sugar content: Freezing Point Depression. That's perfectly normal behavior.


Are refrigerated hard boild eggs really unsafe after a week? Most sites that I've googled (such as http://www.ochef.com/1009.htm, and http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/eggs2.htm) say that refrigerated hard-boiled eggs need to be eaten within one week.

I'm a little skeptical, and I know that many are very conservative where eggs are involved.

Can anyone point to an authoritative source that explains why, say 10-day old, refrigerated hard-boiled eggs would be unsafe?

Yes, they really are unsafe after a week.
According to the USDA (similar information can be found from other food agencies):

Why do hard-cooked eggs spoil faster than fresh eggs?
When shell eggs are hard cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving bare the pores in the shell for bacteria to enter and contaminate it. Hard-cooked eggs should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking and used within a week.

Simply put, you're damaging the shell, and that expedites spoilage.  Some secondary sources such as StillTasy (who use the agencies as their primary sources) are more liberal and say up to 2 weeks, but I'd at least give it a very thorough sniff test before eating hard-boiled eggs that old.  (And note that the sniff test will not necessarily alert you to bacterial contamination, only the more conventional forms of food spoilage like rancidity).


Are these vestigial seeds in a "seedless" orange? Two recent organic navel oranges had a lot of these 2-x-head-of-a-pin-sized seed-like things. Each orange had maybe 25 of them clinging to the very center membrane in the orange. I allowed them to dry overnight and they do seem to feel like seeds, but obviously very small for orange seeds. They were also at the very center of the orange, not just off-center where orange seeds would be expected to be. What are they?

It seems pretty obvious that they are seedy things. But are they typical? Why have I never seen them before? Is it some kind of mutation trying to make our seedless oranges seeded again? What?

Strangely, these were the most flavorless oranges that I have ever encountered. Even the zest lacked any kind of orange flavor.

A US dime is 17.91 mm in diameter.

I'm from the garden/landscape section of the site, but post your question there anyway, regardless of my answer - you may get a better/different one!
Navel oranges, technically, are parthenocopic, which means they produce fruit without fertilisation, and that's why they are seedless. However, if the blossom is pollinated by a suitable donor, then seeds may form. These are usually, as you've discovered, vestigial seeds and may not even be fertile. The cause of the pollination (if the fruit is grown in the States, usually) is beekeepers bringing bees to orchards where other varieties of orange may be growing, or other varieties growing too close to parthenocopic varieties, usually out of ignorance by the grower when planting. Quite often, the navel fruits with seeds are of a smaller size, though not always.


Adding Noodles to Soup If it takes 10 min to boil regular noodles if you drain the water after, give or take, how many minutes before the end of soup cooking should you add them in the pot considering they will keep on cooking in the hot soup after turning heat off so they are not overcooked?

Whether you choose to cook the noodles in the soup, or separately, once they are in the soup, you want to serve it immediately.  Either way, they will continue to absorb water and begin to grow mushy.  (this is why it is better to refrigerate or freeze soup without the noodles, and add them a la minute when you are heating it to serve later).

Because of this, if you do choose to cook the noodles directly in the broth, you would do so about the same amount of time before it is done, and then serve the soup immediately.

As long as the soup is above about 180 F / 82 C the noodles will be cooking at close to full speed, so if you are going to have hold time before service, you should count this in the cooking time.


how do i make a regular chocolate syrup get solid? I'm using Santa Cruz ORGANIC Mint Chocolate flavored syrup and I put it in an icecube tray with 1 raspberry with each one and I put it in the freezer and a bit later I took it out and it was a paste. Do you know how I could change that?

You'll have to get it pretty cold to get it to freeze. Due to freezing point depression, all of the dissolved sugar in that syrup will give it a freezing point of well below 32F. There are a variety of freezing point calculators available online, most of which probably call for more chemical knowledge of the solution that is available. I can find one source claiming that simple syrup freezes at around 18F though.


A recipe inspired by Brat cheese sauce/Cooking in Wine I followed a recipe to the effect of:

boil Brat sausages in 24 ounces of beer
remove sausages (do not drain the beer), pan fry or grill them
add 2 c. sharp cheddar, and 1 package cream cheese to the remaining beer, whisk over heat until you get a nice creamy cheese sauce.**

It was very simple. Very tasty. It was like a good Welsh Rarebit sauce.

Do you think this could be adapted to wine and white cheeses, to the effect of:

boil sausage or chicken in a dry white wine
remove meat; grill or pan fry it
add 2 cups motzarella, 1 cup grated parmesan to the boiled wine--whisk over heat until you have a smooth sauce.

Do you think that would work?  I've never cooked in large quantities of wine. I don't recall recipes that have done so. Any recommendations on the cheeses/quantities?

** I used store brand cream cheese. It didn't melt completely. Next time I will use a higher quality cream cheese.

I wouldn't use mozzarella, it won't melt smoothly into a sauce. Look at recipes for white (or whitish) smooth cheese sauces, or Mornay sauces. Consider:

Monterey Jack
Swiss (Emmental)
White Cheddar
Gruyere (that would be my choice)

Instead of boiling chicken (or sausage) in the wine, consider browning the chicken in the skillet (preferably not non-stick) and then deglazing with the wine. After all of the brown goodness is mixed into the small amount of wine used for deglazing, you can add more wine (as much as you want to use for the final sauce) to allow it cook out a bit. You might want to use 1/2 or 1/3 wine, the rest chicken broth and possibly cream.

Look at white wine cheese sauce recipes to get an idea of quantities. To get a thick, smooth sauce, you might get your best results by thickening your liquid with a roux before adding shredded cheese, much like the recipes above for Mornay sauce.


What to place beneath the vegetables before placing them on the baking tray? In order to prevent their surface from burning, what can be placed beneath vegetables to be roasted before placing them on the baking tray?

I am thinking of applying oil to the tray, but I'm not sure if that's enough.

I usually put tinfoil down and then lightly oil it. If done carefully, the tray stays clean and doesn't need to be washed and the foil can be thrown out (or used for a second batch of veggies if you have one).


Why do the Japanese eat a lot of raw fish? Was trying to answer this question for a school age child writing an essay about Japan. Short of Wikipedia's "hundreds of years ago, you arranged for fresher fish by transporting it live" nothing meaningful popped up in my searches - and that doesn't offer explanation because of course you can cook fish after you transport it live.

So, is there some reason why eating raw fish became so popular/prevalent in Japan's seaward areas specifically (compared to other sea-adjacent areas of other nations)? Was it some specific quality of fish native to Japanese sea waters? Or just an accident of culture?

I did a little bit of digging on the topic and found this TapTrip blog post: A brief history of Sushi: why do japanese eat raw fish?
It also references a Cultura Bunka article in Portuguese called Uma breve história do sushi.
To quote:

During Muromachi Period (1336-1573), japaneses [sic] used to transport the raw fish inside of baked rice to keep it conserved during long trips. Then, they started to eat this meal which was called sushi.
[...]
But, making sushi was hard because took a long time and was a little expensive. Only during Edo Period (1603-1868) japaneses started to eat the raw fish freshly caught from the ocean with rice thanks to a sushiman called Hanaya Yohei.

So it appears the short answer is indeed "just an accident of culture" (or history) so-to-speak.
I will also quote from a short article Japanese Food Culture of Eating Raw Fish *

Raw fish dishses have been eaten since the Nara-era. At first,
people ate raw fish pickled with vinegar as "Namasu". Then, from the Muromachi-era, people
started to eat "Sashimi".

And a bonus small bit on careful preparation of Sashimi:

Sashimi is the main dish in the Japanese cuisine,
and the cooks consider carefully the best way of
cutting the fish, arranging the fish, shellfish and
squid, give importance to the proper use of
condiments, and the best combination of fish species when serving. The thickness of sashimi is
determined according to the collagen (main protein
in the connective tissue)
content of the fish
used.

* [Foods Food Ingredients J. Jpn., Vol. 212, No.8, 20]
Keiko Hatae
Wayo Women's University
2-3-1, Kohnodai, Ichikawa-shi, Chiba 272-8533, Japan


Can I take off the gas deflector on my stove for cooking with a wok? This question might be Off-Topic, due to the gas involvement, although it is equipment related, but I'll see what people think.

I have a gas stove top, and I like to cook with a wok.  But the gas deflectors that are used to make the nice 'ring' of gas for flat bottoms pans mean the heat source is dissipated for my wok, and when I have worked in chinese restaurants in the past they generally have a single ruddy great flame in the middle that their woks go over.

Could I remove the deflectors and just burn the gas coming directly from the hole underneath so I got the single large flame under my wok that I'm after?

I've never heard of anyone trying this. I think its very unlikely though. Those gas deflectors are actually specially designed to pull in the appropriate amount of atmospheric air for a proper flame. This is why the flame you see is so blue and has very little orange.

I'd look into seeing if there is some way to get a replacement deflector that is better suited for wok cooking.

You could also do what Alton Brown does and use the bottom half of a turkey deep fryer, outside preferably, and not over any pipes or electrical wiring or gravel.


Perpetual stew-like stock using the fridge: is it a good idea? I work in the science behind nutrition and one of the first things you learn is that a huge amount of nutrients from your food goes down the drain when you throw out the cooking water. In the water you use to cook broccoli, chickpeas, tomato, basically any vegetable, you will find a significant fraction of the vitamins as well as some carbohydrates and fats.

I once read something about a "perpetual stew", a stew that people in the Middle Ages were keeping all year long on the fire. Whenever you needed to cook something in water, you threw it in the stew: not only it added the flavor of the stew to your meal, it also changed the taste of the stew.

I like this concept, and I was thinking that each time I cook something in boiling water, I could save that water to prevent wasting all the nutrients it contains (and likely pesticids, too, but that's another story). Keeping something on the gas at all times is a crazy ideas in this day and age, and unrealizable in my apartment. But I was thinking of buying a big jar and keeping it in the fridge at all times, filled with the broth from whatever I cook (mostly vegetables and starchy foods, the idea of putting meat in a perpetual stew grosses me out a little bit). I would fill up the jar with the water while it's still hot, and immediately close it.

Do you think it's a good idea? Would it improve the taste of my food in addition to increase its nutritional value? And would keeping it in the fridge be enough to prevent contamination and bacterial/fungi growth?

Edit: my question does not concern soup per se. I'm not planning on leaving any chunk in there, no solid food, only slightly-flavored water. This limit the amount of carbohydrates contaminants could use as food, and render it pretty low. Besides, I have specifically mentioned not wanting to elt the soup on the fire at all time.

In the comments of the first answer, I have concluded that I will probably be cleaning the jar every time I use the broth, and boil it before placing it in the jar again. This makes my question really different from the soup one.

I like this idea, a  lot actually, it would be an interesting experiment, but you would have to keep it on the gas.

Ignoring the safety concern of accumulating pesticides, which you mention, this would be like any stew which a quick Google search tells me should last about 3 to 4 days in the fridge. At least you don't want to cook meat in it.
Bringing it to a boil over and over again might help but you're also adding a new risk of contamination every time. Definitely not a long term solution.

In terms of flavors, you're basically making a stew out of anything; it could turn out great or horrible depending on what you cook but over time it would surely develop some strange off-flavors.

If you want to reuse your cooking water, I would do so in the same dish; for example, in the sauce. Or maybe you could keep it for a soup you want to make in the next day few days.


I am making momos at home and want to store them too I am making chicken momos at home for the first time.My question was that if I want to fry the momos do I directly put them in the fryer or steam them first and then fry it.What will be the difference in taste and texture?I also want to store them for later use but I am finding that they stick together and become limp.

The first recipe I found online says steam, then cool, then fry. What they don't say - and I think they should - is that they should be cooled without touching each other (and in fact touching as little as possible). I'd cool them on a rack but you might be able to use paper towel (it might stick).

If you're storing them for a little while after that and want to pack them together, a dusting of flour after they're cool should help. They should be dry to the touch by this point but the dough will still be a little sticky. Alternatively you could possibly brush them with oil before storage.


Which baking dish is best to bake a banana bread? When I bake a banana bread or cake at home, I always use a square Pyrex(about 20cm in width and 7 cm high) dish.  The batter only fill the dish at half its height or less and I set my oven to 350F.  I bake the banana bread for 30 min in the middle of the oven and when I check for doneness, the middle part is a bit wet(about 90% done) while the surrounding area is perfectly done.

Is a square Pyrex a good way to bake banana bread and cake or should I get a loaf pan or bundt shape one?  Does a loaf pan bake the banana bread or cake evenly in a set period of time?  From this recipe, the baking time in the load pan seems to be 1 hour compared to 30 min in the Pyrex.

"Best" is subjective.

The different choices of baking pans will effect texture and baking time. The more surface area the more crust and the faster the baking time.

Recipes call for a bread pan simply because then it looks like bread and is easier to slice. As you noticed, it does require longer to bake.

Muffin pans are also very popular because of the convenient shape and faster baking time.

If you like the shape and texture of your bread in a baking dish then by all means keep using it. I won't criticize you for it.


How do I make this quick-bread recipe less moist? I modified a Paleo quick bread recipe so I could make it without any flour - coconut, nut, or other alternative. It is really good but super moist. Grilling it helps, but is there something I'm missing in the recipe? I haven't yet tried to pat dry the shredded carrots. Thoughts?

Coconut Carrot Quick Bread

2/3 cup processed dried flake coconut
1 tsp. cinnamon
dash sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2.5 cups shredded carrots (medium grate)

Combine coconut, cinnamon, sea salt, baking soda. In separate bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Add dry to wet, mix thoroughly, add grated carrot. Pour into glass bread loaf dish greased with coconut oil. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 1.25 hours or until done. Best served grilled in frying pan, warm. (recipe by ZeraMarie)

Not sure what done is for this; maybe you just need to bake it longer? That should drive out water—though possibly it will cause other problems. But probably it'll be OK since you can grill it.

I think getting some water out of the shredded carrots is the first thing to try—they have a lot of water (like all vegetables). Patting them dry will remove some. Pressing them between dry towels/paper towels will remove more. Roasting (or sautéing) them can remove even more (and will change the flavor). Or you could use a food dehydrator or low oven to just dry them.

Reducing the amount of carrot may help too, but that will again alter the flavor.

Another thing that might help: I suspect you have the eggs for binding & richness. That's mostly the yolk—you could try leaving out some or all of the whites (using the yolk only).


Pickle Accompanying Hotdogs, Burgers, Sandwiches in the US The following was observed in the US --- it may be an American phenomenon.

I have recently observed in my restaurant visits that more often that not, if I order a burger, sandwich, or a hotdog, I am often served, in addition to the dish and side-dish, a single quarter-slice of a long pickle. Why is this done? The pickle is obviously much too large to put on my sandwich or burger --- slices of pickles would be better for this purpose. I also can't squeeze the juice onto the dish. All I can do with the pickle is essentially eat it raw and whole. This strikes me as curious. I don't see why it is included.

Intuitively, it seems to me that this must be a traditional custom. What is the origin of this custom? Why do restaurants do this so frequently?

Yes, you eat the pickle, if you like pickles - plenty of people do. You certainly won't get a pickle everywhere, but it's pretty common in deli/sandwich/burger type places.

I could be wrong, but I doubt there's any specific origin, and if there is, I expect it's pretty unremarkable - just someone who happened to do it first. Lots of cultures make one kind of pickle or another (or a dozen), and eat them as condiments/accompaniments. It's not surprising; it's one of the easiest and oldest ways to preserve food. Pickled cucumbers have existed for a long time in Europe too, so it's not surprising they're common in the US. The dill pickle spear is just by far one of the most common ones in the US, along with slices (often sweeter, called bread and butter pickles). The fact that they're the same everywhere is presumably just a product the industrialization of food production, like everything else we eat across the country.


Frozen veggies meets gumbo = flavorless. How to add flavor? So, last time I made gumbo, I got the veggies chopped (onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic) and then realized I had prepped twice as much as I needed.

I froze the extra ingredients, labeled for future use for gumbo.

I'm making it again now, and it's pretty flavorless. (See below for exactly what I've done.) Since the last time I made it was over a month ago, I don't recall exactly whether it was this bland last time.

What might cause flavorless gumbo? Is it the frozen veggies?
Is this dish supposed to be somewhat bland? I've actually only had it once or twice at a restaurant.
How could/should I add more flavor to the current batch?

Process:

Heat 1.5 TB oil, add 1.5 TB flour to make a dark brown roux.
If I were using fresh veggies, I'd add them next. Instead, I held off.
Add 1/2 cup tomato sauce, stir until it gets crumbly & dry.
I then added the defrosted, drained veggies.
Fry 1/2 pound okra in a separate skillet until it's less sticky & less stringy, then add to the pot.
Add 1 cup fresh, chopped tomatoes.
Slowly add 1 1/2 cups water.
Add 1/2 tsp sugar, some salt, pepper, and I actually also added a dash of hot pepper sauce since it was so blah-tasting.
Simmer for an hour.
.... this is where I am now, and it's just.. blah, still.
The next step will be to add 1/2 pound shrimp, a bay leaf, some fresh parsley, and cook for another 30 minutes.

I think the problem is that in the original recipe you would have browned the veggies in the roux, which develops flavor. Since you didn't do that, you might want to saute some onions and garlic until well browned and add that in. Other possibilities:

(1) Sauce may just need to reduce and become more concentrated
(2) May need more salt
(3) May need a little more acid (a bit of vinegar or lemon juice)


How to prevent liquids from spilling when pouring from measuring cup? One problem I've had that I know others have too is when pouring from those Pyrex glass measuring cups. I just saw it happen in the Binging with Babish video:

Is there any good way to prevent this? I've tried pouring fast and slow, but it always seems to get liquid coming from the sides, thus making a mess.

Use a larger measuring cup so it is only partly full. Then the cup will be tilted more when the pour starts.


Can I pasteurize milk in a jam jar? The InstantPot manual says that I can use a bottle or container to make yogurt. It says to first pasteurize the milk (using the steam function to heat it to at least 180F/83C) then cool to 115F/46C and add starter. Can I use a jam jar for this?

I'm a bit afraid of breaking the glass - but on the other hand the jam jar should be prepared to handle some heat difference (namely between heated jam and room).

Any jar sold for home canning will work for what you want. They are designed to handle temperatures higher than 212°F/100°C.

What you want to avoid is thermal shock - a large and rapid change of temperature. Don't put cool/cold jar(s) in boiling water, don't put hot jar(s) directly on cool counter or in refrigerator/freezer. Don't fill cold jar(s) with hot contents and vice-versa.


Poached eggs at altitude? I recently signed up for America's Test Kitchen Cooking School and followed their directions for poaching eggs.  I brought my water w/ vinegar & salt to a light simmer, removed it from the heat, and gently added the raw eggs at the same time.  I covered and left it for 5 minutes, saw they were a bit feathery, gave them an extra minute before removing them, and found that they were still feathery and a bit undercooked.

My guess is that they need more time or persistent heat since I'm at higher altitude (mile high in Colorado), but I'm not sure.  Should I keep the heat under the pan?  Should I keep the eggs in longer?  Maybe both?

I live up in the mountains. Two things I do not do are: a) remove food from heat and expect it to still cook properly, because boiling points are lower at higher altitudes; and b) use the cited time in the recipe. I always add time, because the lower boiling point means more cooking time is necessary. Also, try not to open the lid of the pot unless you absolutely have to. The lid provides some added internal pressure for the pot, which helps with cooking, and keeping the lid on as much as possible provides steady heat. Other than that, I have no suggestions.


I forgot to add butter to my king cake dough I forgot to add butter to my dough when making king cake, I have kneaded it and left it to rise, will it ruin the dough to mix the butter in and then knead and let it rise again?

Unfortunately, if you attempt to combine the butter into the already risen dough, the dough's structure would most likely get ruined.
I wouldn't stress too much over the forgotten butter in the dough though, as the filling will consist of butter as well. Also, you may be able to salvage some flakyness by gently folding in thin sheets of butter into the dough.


Why is the fourth stomach (abomasum) of cows not used for tripe? Many sources will state that the first three stomachs of cows are used in tripe. The only reasoning I have found for not using one of the stomachs is listed by sciencedirect.com:

  The third compartment of the ruminant stomach is the omasum. The internal wall is in the form of deep, thin folds like the pages of a book. This appearance accounts for the popular name for the omasum, which is ‘bible.’ Although the omasum has a delicate flavor and texture, it is not commonly used as tripe because of the difficulty of cleaning the stomach contents from between the folds. The fourth part of the ruminant stomach is the abomasum, sometimes called the reed.

Is the logic the same as often not using the third stomach (omasum) but to a larger degree? Is the abomasum just too difficult to clean for use as tripe?

It is used.  It's almost hard to avoid in Florence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampredotto

If the question is, why is this stomach used less frequently than other stomachs, I have no idea.


Brown pods from tree like Carob okay to eat raw? Trees near my house have these pods covering the ground, by the side of the street. They look like Carob to me. I took a few of them.

Searching Google, I don't see other trees that grow long brown pods matching these.

Are these Carob pods and can I eat them as is? Are there other factors to consider? Maybe they're contaminated from being next to the street or infected with pathogens from lying on the ground? Or perhaps they're too old to eat? I don't know if these are potential issues.

I already bit a small piece and it did taste like chocolate.

You don't show a picture of the tree but those appear to be pods from a honey locust tree. The tree usually has thorns growing on its trunk. I've never heard of them being edible but I did find some info here: maybe but probably not best idea.Young fruits may be more edible.


Some tahini tastes very salty, other tahini does not. Why? I have bought several jars of tahini from different companies lately. All labels say, that they contain 100% hulled sesame seeds with no preservatives or artifical flavours added.

Some of the jars contained very salty tahini. At first, I even thought, the salty ones were contaminated with some inedible chemical. But then a friend from the Middle East told me, that he sees them as the original flavour and he did not like the unsalty ones, that he called "Australian tahini".

An example of the unsalty tahini is Mayver's Tahini Hulled, for the salty ones I did not find a brand, as they are just bottled by Australian local wholesalers for Mediterannean food.

What makes the tahinis so different? Do they - as I think - use different chemicals for hulling? Is the salt washed out of the tahini in the unsalty brands, as my friend thinks?

EDIT: One thing, I noticed: The salty tahini is runnier.

2nd EDIT:
After reading @Jefromi's comment, I've looked at the ingredients. Salt is not listed and I doubt, that I would taste 1/1000th of salt in the tahini. Surprisingly the less salty tahini contains 11 times more sodium than the salty one, which makes me wonder, if the salty tastes comes from another salt than NaCl.

Here are the contents of the tahinis per 100g (unsalty first - Melissa Tahini, salty second):

Energy
2728 kJ, 2924 kJ
Protein
25.8g, 31.6g
Fat - Total
54g, 63.6g
Carbohydrate - Total
17.1g,1.3g
Carbohydrates - Sugars
1.3g, Nil
Sodium
46mg, 4mg

Salty tahini

Unsalty tahini

The numbers are so different, I wonder, if they are correct.

Just toured 17 tahini factories in Palestine. The traditional process soaks the sesame seeds in salt water, first to soften the hull for de-hulling, again to separate the hulls from the seeds, and finally to obtain the desired flavor. The seeds are rinsed in fresh water prior to drying and roasting.
Alternate de-hulling processes avoid the initial salt water soak, but retain the salt water soak after de-hulling and prior to rinsing and roasting to obtain the desired flavor.


Why does instant coffee have less caffeine? I had gone completely cold-turkey on caffeine for a while due to anxiety issues, and I'm slowly reintroducing caffeine to my diet.  I have read in many places that freeze-dried instant coffee has less caffeine than the equivalent amount of fresh-brewed, but I haven't seen any explanations as to why.  Is it something inherent to the freeze-drying process which causes this change?

And, of course, how much lower is the caffeine content in general?

Caffeine is water soluble, but it takes a bit of time to be absorbed by water.

What determines the caffeine content of a coffee process is how much time it spends with/in water.

For example, a bodum French press will pick up more caffeine from the coffee since the grounds stay soaked for a while.  Drip coffee will have more than a single espresso (common misconception is to think the opposite).

It's likely that the instant coffee process passes the water through the coffee under pressure and faster than drip.  This will naturally prevent the caffeine to be absorbed in water as much.

Besides using decaf roast, what you may wish to do is get an americano coffee made with one or two Ristretto shots of espresso.  A Ristretto shot is usually pull away after 10 seconds.

Take a look at this analysis from the Mayo Clinic for the actual Caffeine values.


What is the best approach to cut carrot into thin strips? So I went to Subway™ and saw that their carrots are cut into thin strips. I can never do this with any knives. So what is the best way to cut carrots into thin strips (like french fries)?

The style of cut is called julienne.  True, a mandoline can make a julienne cut, as well as thin slices.  However, you can also use a knife to achieve a julienne cut.

First, cut the carrot into manageable lengths--2 or 3 inches.  Cut a piece into 1/8 inch slices lengthwise.  Stack several slices on top of one another and cut lengthwise through all layers to make "matchsticks" or julienne-cut carrots.  It works best to have a large slice on the bottom of your stack, not a small one or the round side of the carrot.  A large slice on the bottom is more stable, so you're not as likely to julienne your fingers.  Yes, cutting carrots this way is a lot of trouble, but this is the way to do it with a knife.

There are also other ways to get a similar result without a mandoline.  If you have a food processor, try the large grating disk.  You can also use a salad shooter or other slicer/shredder--there's even an attachment for the ubiquitous Kitchen Aid mixer.  Even a plain old box grater can be used to grate carrots.  Grated carrots may not be as neat and tidy as the ones done commercially, but they're still a good addition to a salad.

Oh, if all else fails, you can usually buy the shredded carrots in the produce section, near the bagged salads.


Why do stuffed shells recipes include eggs? I'm making stuffed shells, but I don't have any eggs. All the recipes I can find call for one or two eggs. What is the reason and can I get away without eggs?

The eggs are for binding - they keep the filling together. They might also provide some substance/body to the filling. Not knowing what recipes you're looking at, it's hard to say for sure, but since you tagged this with "cheese" I'm guessing that the fillings would start to melt and ooze out of the shells if you didn't use egg.


How would you use a lot of lemons? We've got a lemon tree and an overabundance of lemons at the moment. Aside from lemonade, what should I do with them?

Well there are a myriad of nice lemon recipes of course.  A decent lemon drizzle cake usually goes down well.

However, if you really have a glut, consider making a batch or two of lemon curd, or even preserving/pickling them like the North Africans do.


Cooling gelatin without a refrigerator I have a pint of fruit juice, and some Gelatin. I want to make a fruit jelly (gelatin dessert) for after dinner, which will be in 8 hours.

Living in the city with a vegetable shop around the corner, I do not have a refrigerator. It is however cold and rainy, and from experience, 6-7 hours on the windowsill will cause it to gel almost perfectly.

Are there any additional, simple tricks I can use to lower the temperature in the bowl by a few degrees more? I will be using a relatively flat bowl.

I'd place a tray in my sink a slowly run water through it, then sit the jelly on top of the tray, such that the bottom half of the jelly mould is under water. The constant, gentle, flow of cold water will cool the jelly quickly.


How long to cook multiple food items with varying temperatures? In a conventional oven, I need to warm up a turkey for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 300 degrees, and a sweet potato casserole for one hour at 375 degrees. How long should I cook the casserole with the oven at 300 degrees?

The turkey is far more sensitive; you don't want to overcook it.  Casseroles in general just need to be heated through, and perhaps crisped up.

Therefore, I would set the oven to temperature for the turkey, and put the casserole in with it.

If it is not brown enough when the turkey is done, use the broiler to crisp up the casserole.


Can these settings bake a cake? I've tried baking so many times with this kind of oven settings but they never work. The exterior of the cake looks fine, but when cut opened, they look as if they were never cooked.
The oven doesn't come with bottom heat. I used fan settings (right top) and then turn it on to the top heat fan setting (right bottom) for the last 10mins to brown the cake.

You're baking using a convection fan.  This generally won't work unless the cake recipe is calibrated for it; you'll end up with a cake which is brown on the outside and raw in the middle (as you did).  It's remotely possible that a combination of lowering the temperature and convection would be successful, but I don't have a formula for you.

Suggestions:

If the issue with top heat is that the cake is burning on top before the bottom is done, I would suggest placing a rack above the one the cake sits on, and a cookie sheet on that rack.  This will protect the top of the cake from the radiant heat of the element, causing it to cook only from reflected heat off the sides of the oven.  This may, however, increase cooking times somewhat so make sure to check cake doneness with a skewer.

Or: Add a baking stone on the rack holding the cake as well (under it), and preheat the stone for 30 min before baking the cake.  This will give it some heat from the bottom.

Or: both of the above.

Or: get a new oven.  They make fairly nice countertop ovens now which have a bottom baking element.


PA style fried chicken with no breading or batter, just a thin amber color crisp coating When I was a little fellow I lived in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. Many diners that we ate at had a fried chicken that had just a thin crispy amber coating. The order was usually a half of a chicken. I have been living in North Carolina for 24 years now and have not come across anything close. I would like to know how to make it.

I can't claim familiarity with that particular area's style of fried chicken, but I have two ideas that may meet that description:

Korean fried chicken wings with ultra-thin crust a la http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/the-food-lab-korean-fried-chicken.html
Double fried chicken wings with no batter a la http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/the-food-lab-how-to-make-best-buffalo-wings-fry-again-ultimate-crispy-deep-fried-buffalo-wings.html

I know these are recipes for wings, but I would assume this would translate well to other pieces of chicken. Both of them start with a neutral base that you can modify with sauces etc. to your liking. I'm afraid I don't really have a good recipe for breaded fried chicken though, something about good Korean fried chicken makes everything else pale in comparison ;)