Cooking potatoes curry I use my method which is i peeled potates and washed them with water. Then, i cut them and washed them with water again before cook them. Is it right or wrong? Because my aunty said, don't wash them again after cutting. Can you give me suggestions?

When you wash or soak cut potatoes, you are rinsing away a good deal of starch that has come to the surface during and after the cutting process (it's the white stuff that gets on your knife and fingers when cutting).

In a potato curry, removing this starch by washing the cut pieces can result in a broth that's not as rich or thick, but I would try it both ways to see if it actually makes a notable difference - if your curry tastes watery, washing away the surface starches of the prepped potatoes is to blame.


How much kale is a "bunch?" The recipes I find for kale chips all call for a "bunch" of kale. Volumes and/or weights of seasonings, etc. are given, but the amount of kale seems to be up to the vendor (or, in my case, the gardener). Can anyone point me to a reference indicating a measured quantity for a "bunch" of kale?

Google returns some links saying that it is around 7 ounces.
I'd say a big handful of chopped kale would be about it.
But in the case of Kale Chips, you can make as much or as little as you want.


What is the proper way to use polysorbate to create an emulsion? I am looking for an emulsifier that will bind my flavouring oil and syrup, but will not destroy the taste. I was told to try  polysorbate 20 and 80. I have mixed the oil and water, and added some polysorbate 80. There is a layer still on top of the syrup that u can't see through, and the bottom 2/3 is cloudy. I can only feel that this hasn't worked. I also thought that polysorbate is supposed to be tasteless, but the stuff in front of me taste disgusting, even a pea sized drop. Am I using polysorbate correctly?

From what I have read, the process is to mix polysorbate with the essential oil, in a 1:1 ratio, until a clear solution is achieved.  Then, add that mixture to your water or flavor syrup. As I understand it, there are several variables, such at pH, temperature, and the other ingredients that might be part of your final product, which could impact the effectiveness of polysorbate.

You could also look into soy lecithin as a potential emulsifier for your situation.


Mung beans take 10+ days to sprout I am trying to make mung bean sprouts at home, as they are rare to find in a store where I live. After I soak them for 12 hours I place them in a spin dryer basket whose mesh is fine enough to hold them, so they have drainage, and place it in a quite larger bowl, in the kitchen, away from direct sunlight. The beans do sprout, but the process is so slow that by the time (10 days) I can see some leaves peeking out the seeds have developed brownish stains here and there. I rinse them two to four times a day. Where am I wrong?

Most seeds need warmth to sprout.  When I'm starting beans at home (to grow, not to eat directly), I either use a 'seed mat' (electrical heating pad), or a lamp set realy close to the soil.  In both cases, I keep the seeds in a clear-topped container, so that they don't dry out -- the moisture gets trapped in and makes a mini-greenhouse.

You can likely rig up a similar system using household items:

Place a couple of damp paper towels in the bottom of a baking dish (9"x13" if you have it)
Spread the seeds on top of the towels
Cover the baking dish tightly with plastic wrap (aka cling film)
Set it in a sunny window
Wait

After a day in the sun, you should see moisture forming on the inside of the plastic wrap.  Tap it a few times to get the water to drop back onto the sheet (and let the sun through better).

If you have a heating pad, you can try that, too, but you don't want to leave it on all day, as you need a 'day' and 'night' time for most plants to sprout.  (and I don't know how hot they get ... they might get too warm.)


3 piece Cocktail Shaker Question I never owned a cocktail shaker before and my friend gave me a mini cocktail shaker set from crate and barrel. From what he told me, I have a 3 piece shaker, a jigger, and a Hawthorne strainer.

My question is why did the set come with a Hawthorne strainer if the 3 piece shaker has the strainer in the lid?

The Hawthorne strainer fits in the bottom biggest part of the 3 piece shaker so am I supposed to remove the top and use the Hawthorne?

Is the set more for display instead of use?

This is just my experience, but sometimes you can't get a decent pour through the built-in strainer in the top of a Cobbler Shaker, so taking off the top two parts (the little lid and the piece that has the strainer) and using the Hawthorne strainer is just easier. This is especially the case when you have things inside along with your ice and booze like muddled mint leaves, etc.


Making Tamales using a corn meal alternative What can I use to make tamales other than corn meal? My son is allergic to corn.

In some cuisines, the masa isn't usually corn at all. Sometimes it's rice, sometimes it's plantain and/or other starchy fruit. The tamale-like dish is actually called pasteles, but the difference between tamales and pasteles seems to be primarily the corn.

Check out this informational link and these recipes from Epicurious and The Polynesian Kitchen; and this video.

Making these wouldn't be like substituting a less than ideal ingredient for corn, because it isn't. Pasteles are a well loved dish in their own right. But once you know how to make the masa, you could certainly make a tamale recipe you like, but with the pasteles masa.


Chocolate won’t harden up on my cookies I melted chocolate chips and a small amount of oil and coated cookies. Here's the problem: the chocolate won't harden up. Is there anything I can do NOW to help the situation, or is this just a sticky, melty, lost cause?

The problem is the “small amount of oil”. If you measured wrong or just eyeballed it, you now have a chocolate spread instead of a solid coating.
Storing the cookies in the fridge may or may not be enough to solidify the chocolate coating, but apart from that, there’s nothing you can do to change the chocolate. Depending on what matches the cookie flavor, dipping the sticky part in something like grated coconut or ground almonds may at least protect your fingers somewhat.


Are my cookies cooked? I've just recently started baking and I'm finding it quite enjoyable. I am now changing some of the recipes a little bit to suit my tastes better.

A problem i am having is that the ingredient swaps often cause the texture to change slightly so some may need more or less baking time than before to get to a good consistency.

Is there an easy way to check if a cookie/biscuit is ready to be put on the cooling rack? So far i've been tapping them with a fork to feel how firm they are.

There isn't a universal way to tell. It's going to depend on the type of cookie. For chocolate chip cookies, I watch for a slight amount of browning around the edges. If you're using a chocolate flavored dough, that won't work because the dough is already dark.  So you'd have to watch for changes in the surface, such as cracks or dullness. The bottom line is that you're going to need to read the recipe and then experiment with it until you learn how to get it right.

As a general rule, the cookies will still be very soft and appear slightly underdone when you remove them from the oven. Leave them on the baking sheet for at least five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They'll set up during this time due to residual heat.


What temperature should eggs be when I beat them? When I beat egg, I notice a difference with the surrounding  temperatures. I have heard that we should beat eggs at room temperature, but in my country the  temperature is high and I can't  follow the tip! Will I yield a fine result  if I beat them when cold?  What should I do?

**my experience  **

I noticed that cold eggs beat better, but it is against the baking rule.

Assuming you're talking about beating egg whites, the best results are obtained with fresh, cold eggs (as you noticed).

Warmer (or older) eggs will gain volume quicker, but the resulting foam will be less stable. Since nowadays everybody will likely beat the eggs using some form of mechanical mixer, the time factor is now irrelevant, while the foam stability appreciated.

The "baking rule" probably originated when refrigeration and mixers weren't around.

Here's a list of things influencing max volume and stability:

Age: as eggs age, their pH increases: around 7.6 when laid, 9.2 after just three days. Lower pH is better for stability.

Temperature: temperature at the time of beating does not really make a difference, but if you refrigerate the eggs you'll delay protein denaturation, increasing stability. Heating the white to 58 °C for three minutes increases the foam formation ability, but over that protein denaturation will ruin everything.

pH: adding a bit of acid (citric, tartaric) will help both volume and stability. Citric acid can also help with keeping the foam white.

Water: adding water (up to 40% of weight) will yield a less dense, slightly less stable foam

Sugar: adding it will slow foam formation, and yield a denser, stabler foam.

Yolks and fats: Avoid. A single drop of yolk can reduce the final volume by two thirds.

Copper bowl: lengthens the time needed, but will yield a stabler foam.

Salt: shortens the time need, but will yield a less stable foam and increases syneresis (weeping).

On a side note, there also is a myth that older eggs are much better for macarons, but it has been debunked.


Why did my peanut butter sauce split? I made a peanut butter sauce/marinade for some tofu bits, with peanut butter, soy sauce and pineapple juice. It tasted good and was the right creamy texture when I put the tofu in it.
After a couple of hours it was still fine, and then I tossed it all in the frying pan.
Within a minute or two, the sauce had split, and had lost most of its flavour. What parameter of the cooking am I getting wrong?

You need to 1) increase the emulsification, and 2) reduce the amount of time the sauce is very hot.

You can try adding honey or mustard to the sauce, that will improve emulsification. You can also hit it with a stick blender which will do a much better job of breaking it up than can be done by hand.

Also it may look ok after a few hours but who knows how much separation is starting to happen at a very small scale and will accelerate when it hits heat.

Add the sauce at the last possible moment before plating. It isn't going to benefit from cooking, and it isn't going to marinade into the cooked food, so don't have it in any longer than it takes for it to warm up. 20 seconds is probably all it will take.


Why is lettuce rarely cooked? Most, if not all, of the lettuce I've seen has been uncooked, usually as a salad, wrap, or garnish. I don't recall ever seeing it being heated, even though visually similar leafy vegetables, like cabbage or kale, are often cooked. I have a feeling that this has something to do with the lettuce's water content, but that's just idle speculation.

Why isn't lettuce usually heated as part of the cooking process? I'm mainly looking for what happens when it is cooked that discourages people from cooking it, but I'd also like to know the scientific explanation. Instances of successful lettuce-cooking, if such exist, would be welcome, as well as explanations about what makes the cooking work in that particular situation.

Cooking lettuce is not as unusual as you think. It's kind of trendy to grill romaine,

and iceberg lettuce is often cooked in Chinese cuisine, both in soups and stir-fries.

There is a recipe for braised lettuce in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking,

and Lidia Bastianich, who specializes in Italian cuisine, recently did a stuffed and cooked lettuce (escarole) on her show.


What are the triangular shaped markings on asparagus called? An Asparagus shoot has triangular shaped markings on it. I'm wondering what they're called and why there there (if possible)

They're something leaf-like. If you look closely, you'll find that they aren't just markings, they can be pulled away from the stem.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of agreement about the best name; you'll see "scales" and "leaves" in plenty of informal contexts, and "bracts" in some (but not all) more formal contexts.

On Food and Cooking says they're bracts, and actually mentions why they might be there:

  The stalk doesn't support ordinary leaves; the small projections from the stems are leaf-like bracts that shield immature clusters of feathery photosynthetic branches.

That cluster inside them is what makes them bracts:

  In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale.

Brittanica says "True leaves are reduced to small scales.". That's a bit vague about where it actually is on the plant, but there's an image later in the article making it clear what they're referring to:

Oddly, Brittanica's article about shoot-stem modifications goes into a bit more detail:

  In asparagus (Asparagus officinalis; Asparagaceae), the scales found on the asparagus spears are the true leaves. If the thick, fleshy asparagus spears continue to grow, flat, green, leaflike structures called cladodes develop in the axils of the scale leaves.

That does match the definition of bract. Asparagus is only tender enough to eat when pretty young, though, so perhaps when you eat it those cladodes haven't developed yet. That's still the purpose of the scales, though. In any case, it sounds like "scale" vs "bract" may just be a difference in precision and perspective.


What type of flour is this? I asked for "brown" flour at my bakery and they gave me this but I am not sure if it is whole wheat flour since it isn't white enough like I thought it would be. Is this whole wheat flour or something else, it's also pretty coarse compared to other flours. Any thoughts?

I'm not sure what you mean by "whole wheat" flour.  If you truly mean wholemeal flour where all the germ and bran are left in, then it can definitely look this color and texture.  The variety of wheat can also influence the color (e.g., harder wheats are sometimes darker).

The term "brown flour" is ambiguous, but I know it can sometimes refer to a ~85% extraction flour (see here and here, for example).  85% extraction means that 15% of the "whole grain" elements are removed (like bran and germ), compared to normal "white flour" which is typically around 70-75% extraction.  Such "brown flour" is sometimes referred to as "whole wheat" too, but it's generally lighter in color.

Assuming they gave you wheat flour, my guess is that it's just a higher extraction rate than typical 85% "brown flour" and/or a different wheat variety.  If you asked for "whole wheat," they could potentially have given you a 100% extraction (wholemeal) flour, which could definitely be this color.

As for the coarseness, that just depends on the milling.  Frequently whole grain flours are milled somewhat coarser (even "stone-milled" in a more traditional manner).  Aside from a rustic texture, it's more practical, as finely grinding the bran and germ requires more effort, and it's counterproductive as it causes the flour to become stale faster.  (The bran and germ will spoil faster than the endosperm/white flour portion, and increasing surface area through fine grinding will increase the rate of staling.)  Also, even in a relatively finely ground whole wheat flour, the rough edges of the bran and germ can make the flour feel coarser, even with a similar particle size.


How to store cheesecake for long-term? My wife and I decided to have cheesecakes for our wedding last weekend.  We'd like to store some for at least our one-year anniversary.   What is the proper way to store it, and how long can we expect it to last and still be worth eating?   Once she gets completely moved in, we'll have a deep freeze, but we currently just have a couple of refrigerator freezers, though one is rarely opened.

Still tasty gives you 2-3 months on cheesecake in the freezer.  It will be safe indefinitely at freezing temp, but the texture will change somewhat.  As @ElendilTheTall says, foil and plastic wrap are your best bets.  Additionally, I might try freezing it for a day to get solid, and then sticking it in a vacuum sealed bag.  If your seals aren't airtight on something else, then cheesecake will pick up any funky odors in your freezers.

Congrats btw, and I'm gonna let you in on a secret about the eating the wedding cake at 1 year - it all tastes worse and some tastes really bad.  Normal or cheesecake or whatever, the cake is pretty much always bad by then, but luckily it's not about the cake taste.  It's about reliving the memories and laughing over bad cake.  So don't worry too much about if the cake is not that tasty then - take a bite,remember the wedding, and have a good chuckle.


leaving oil on a frying pan for use later I live alone, so I cook for myself. And often times I cook steaks/burgers on a pan, and later in the same day would return to use the same pan/oil without washing/using new oil.

Is this safe, or should one wash and use a new pan before cooking every steak/burger patties? I've actually done this for more than a day once (cooked burgers in the morning, steaks later that afternoon, and then burgers for the next morning).

If you preheat the pan then you should be perfectly safe as the high heat should kill anything 'dangerous' before you add your meat for the second meal.

That said, I would point out that those oils left out are likely to begin to degrade immediately, causing your steak to take on some potentially undesirable FLAVORS.


What is an appropriate water to yeast ratio for hydrating yeast for bagels? I've been doing a lot of bagel making lately... my bagels are "on point", except they aren't rising as much as you would see in a typical bagel shop... in fact, I've noticed they kind of "deflate" a little as time goes on.

Is there a liquid/yeast ratio I should consider when "hydrating" or "waking" my yeast? I'm thinking about adding another gram or 2 of yeast, but I don't want to "drown it"... I don't even know if that makes sense as a thing, but I thought I'd ask before I start wasting flour.

540g High Gluten (12-14%) Flour
140g Cold Water
7g Malted Barley
7g Fine Kosher Salt

-- Yeast Mixture--

7g Active Dry Yeast
20g Sugar
150g Warm Water

I let the yeast, sugar, and water "activate" for 20 minutes.

I put the "dry ingredients" into the mixer and mix them up... then I up the speed to medium and add the yeast mixture and the cold water... I mix for up to 4 minutes... then when a cohesive ball is formed I put it on a granite counter top and knead by hand for a further 3-5 minutes...

After that I let it rest covered with a damp dish cloth for a least an hour...

After resting... I punch down the dough... measure out equal portions... then I make rings...

I boil each bagel on each side for 1.5-2 minutes...

After boiling... egg wash, toppings, bake for 25-30 minutes on 425.

You're missing a step. You have to let them proof after forming them into rings. Just like how for bread making you always have to double proof, or else it'll be like pizza or pita dough.

After that they should be fine, just take care not to handle them too aggressively while moving to and from the boiling water (Again, just like bread. You deflate the first proofing intentionally but after the second proofing you have to maintain the air bubbles that make up your crumb)


Can I cook with cosmetic coconut oil? I have this jar of coconut oil from NOW Foods that my wife found in the beauty isle. She wasn't using it, and I'm wondering if I can use it to make pancakes. The jar is labeled "skin & hair / revitalizing" but the only ingredient listed is "cocos nucifera (coconut) oil". It tastes very plain. Is this the right stuff? Or is there a special quality to coconut oils found in the baking isle?

Yes, I think you can.  The page you link does list the oil as "food grade", and specifies no added solvents... so there's probably nothing dangerous in the jar and it can be safely used for cooking.

In general, though, you usually shouldn't equate cosmetic treatments and edible substances, even if some of the ingredients are the same (soaps often do this, list all food sounding ingredients until a second glance reveals it, well, soap), or even if the base substance is the same but may have undergone different processes (like coconut oil or cocoa butter).  If the coconut oil had been processed with some non-food grade solvents or processes, it might be perfectly safe for topical application, and still be quite dangerous to consume.

If you are questioning whether a substance might be an ingredient as well as a cosmetic treatment, look up the information, and I mean brand-specific product page, and see if it mentions "food grade" - that means exactly the bit of information you're looking for, that it is of a high enough quality that it passes the tests they use for product meant to be eaten.


For Pressure Canning, can I use any other jar than Ball’s Mason Jar? So Ball’s Mason Jar is not as common in my country but I want to try my hand at pressure canning sambal (chili, garlic, fermented shrimp paste, no vinegar). Is there any alternative to Ball’s Mason Jar that is gold standard for pressure canning?

The important part of the system are the lids. The ideal lids are the Mason-type (no matter which company produced them), with a flat top and a separate side piece with thread.

Another type that works is the older Weck style jar, which consists of a glass jar with glass lid, plus rubber steal and metal clamps, no threads. This system is as safe as the Mason style lids. It might require frequent rubber replacement when pressure canning, because the gasket gets quite deformed in pressure canning as opposed to water bath canning, and in the extreme cases, some jars don't seal properly because the gasket gets sucked inside. This is not a safety issue, because it is easily recognized when it happens, and you just remove these failed-to-seal jars from your batch.

What you cannot use is single-piece twist-off LIDS as in your picture. They are not suited for pressure canning at home.

You might be able to use these jars, if you can find ones with the proper size mouth and threads to fit Mason-style lids on them. They will either seal properly and be safe, or not withstand the pressure and break apart while being heated in the canner. You will lose some jars that way, and will have a mess on your hands to clean, but you will not get food poisoning from improperly sealed jars. See https://www.healthycanning.com/re-using-bottles-from-store-bought-products/ for some expert opinions on that.


How long should pizza dough rise? I have seen different recipes for pizza dough, some of which let the dough rise for about an hour at room temperature, others which recommend an 18-24 rise in the refrigerator. What are the differences between each method, and is one inherently better than the other?

The warmer the dough is during fermentation, the faster the yeast multiply and produce carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide production rate maxes out at around 90°F). So with very simple recipes, this entire process can take place in just a few hours.

Experienced bakers and pizza-makers know that this is not the best way to make dough. Though yeast produces carbon dioxide rapidly at high temperatures, it also produces undesirable flavors. Rather than tasting rich and complex, hastily made breads have the one-dimensional flat flavor of the flour, and sometimes even develop off flavors, like sour milk.

Retarding a dough is the act of placing it in a cold environment after it's mixed in order to slow down the activity of the yeast. At cool fridge temperatures, yeast behaves differently, producing more of the desirable flavor compounds and fewer of the sour ones. It also produces carbon dioxide more slowly.

Texture is also improved: Long fermentation times give the enzymes present in the flour more opportunities to cleave proteins (a process known as autolysis), making it easier for them to untangle, straighten out, and link up into gluten. Gluten structure is improved. Finally, the colder the dough when you shape it before the final proof, the fewer bubbles are forced out of it.


Fresh or dried Garlic I'm making kosher dill pickles which calls for one clove of garlic.I have some fresh and wonder if fresh or dried garlic cloves is stronger in flavor

When a recipe calls for a clove of garlic it almost certainly means fresh. If it was asking for dried it would call for a weight or a volume measurement as dried usually does not come in cloves. One clove isn't particularly helpful though, as garlic cloves vary widely in size depending on the variety of garlic and which part of the bulb you get the clove from. I'd say pick one clove from the outside of a bulb, or 2 small ones from the inside.

Although drying fruits and vegetables usually intensifies flavors, for me drying garlic doesn't do it any favors - it seems to lose power and complexity of flavor, so I'd go fresh every time.


Is the SS Stovetop Espresso Maker from CafeCoffeeDay a Moka pot? Is the SS Stovetop Espresso Maker what's called a Moka pot? They haven't named it explicitly a Moka pot, hence the question.

If not, can a Moka pot style coffee be prepared in that instrument?

Yes, It's a Moka Pot.
Despite the name, you can't prepare espresso coffee in that pot.

The coffee that you can prepare with the Moka pot is not even close to an Espresso. The pressure is key to extract the coffe aroma and to produce the cream. The Espresso requires 7 grams of coffee powder and high pressure 90°C water to produce 25ml coffe (cream included). There's no way to do such a thing with a Moka pot.

With a Moka pot, you will get a coffee, which is not Expresso but is also a coffe which is widely drink in Italy (at home, usually). It's different from Espresso but, in my opinion, good. It has it's own taste. The closest thing to an Espresso you can get, if you woUld like to go that way, is a small amount of coffee, but you won't get the same flavour, nor the density.


Can some dishes be washed with only water? How can you know when washing something with soap is a waste of time?

If a quick rinse removes all residue - is water needed?

Not using standard practice might violate safety standards in a professional context.

Technically, the important factor is whether the residues are made of something perfectly water soluble (sugar, salt, fat-free watery or alcoholic solutions, insoluble but not sticky solid particles...) or of something that is not water soluble and that will adhere to the dishes (about anything containing oils/fats). If you couldn't properly get it off your hands without soap, you won't get it off the dishes without soap.


Hints on storage of vegetables and fruit Different fruits and vegetables require different treatment in order to preserve their integrity, micronutrient contents and especially taste over the longest period possible.

Time and again I am confronted with new insights like tomatoes should not be kept in the refridgerator, because they lose their aroma in cold climate, but I have yet to find a unified resource to learn about best practices in storing these goods.

Are you acquainted with such a resource or have knowledge yourself about this topic?

Thank you for sharing.

This can actually get into a lot of detail. Especially if you consider that advice for your home may not work for mine. In England I could store butter on the counter, whereas here I need to keep it in the fridge lest I come home to a small puddle.

Some of the very basics off the top of my head:

Leafy greens are best stored at 12 degrees Celsius. For those in warmer climates, better 4 degrees than 24.
Salad vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, carrots etc.) can be stored in the fridge for longer life. In my experience this doesn't affect their flavour.
Root vegetables (onions, potato, beetroot etc.), except carrots, can be stored at room temperature, even when it's warm.
Potatoes should be stored in the darkest place possible.
vegetables from the solanum family (tomatoes, aubergines and peppers) should be kept apart from the squash family (cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins). I can't remember why this is, though it causes the squash family to spoil faster.

There's plenty more, but I can't think of them right now.


What would cooking chicken at 140 degrees F for a prolonged period do? A couple of times I've cooked chicken at 140F in the oven (i.e. with the oven temperature set to 140 degrees). Both times I've followed the advice to cease cooking when an internal temperature of 140 degrees has been reached and maintained for a few minutes.

I wonder what leaving it at that temperature for longer than necessary would do. I'm partly interested because it would be convenient if I could leave the oven unattended overnight. And partly because on the second occasion I tried this, the meat was pink close to the bone despite the temperature probe reading.

For all I know, the meat could taste better the longer it is cooked. Does anyone know?

Well, on some level, this is exactly what sous vide cooking aims to do--very gently bring the food up to the target temperature and no further. In theory you wind up with something that's more or less perfectly cooked all the way through with no part overcooked or undercooked. But of course this is typically done in vacuum bags in a water bath, which is very different from doing it in an oven, because the bag keeps all the natural juices in contact with the meat, preventing drying on the outside.

When doing this in the oven, it's unavoidable that some of the outside will get dry. Even at temperatures lower than boiling, some evaporation will occur and the longer you cook (a side effect of low temperatures) the more drying you can get. Beyond that, about the only downsides are that the fat renders very differently so the skin doesn't get crisped, and there's little carry-over cooking that goes on after the bird is removed from the oven.

I think it's definitely a matter for debate whether this kind of method results in better taste. By not getting things hot enough for the Maillard reaction (browning, basically) I think you're leaving a lot of flavor potential untapped. However, it's undeniable that, ignoring possible air-drying that happens, you'll have little to no risk of overcooking. That alone will increase your chances of a good result because overcooking has to be the most common mistake people make.

As to why you got your 140 degree reading when the meat near the bone was still pink, I think there are two things at work. One is that I understand that the meat near the bone is just naturally more pink and that it's fine to eat in that state if the temperature is right--there's some science behind it but I just can't find the article right now. The other thing is that there's always some variability to sticking a thermometer into a roast, and you might not have gotten your probe into the least-done part.


Can water cause fermented pickles to spoil? I recently learned about Indian lemon pickles.

There is a lot of variation between recipes but the ones I am trying consist of chopping lemons or limes, adding salt, and letting them ferment for a period of time before adding spices.

A large number of recipes have included a warning that the lemons, utensils, and jar must be completely dry or else the pickles will spoil quickly.

Here is one example
"Even a small drop of water makes this pickle spoil soon."

This doesn't make sense to me for several reasons:

There is, of course, already water in the fruit
A tiny amount of water won't be enough to significantly dilute the acid or salt
I have never seen such a warning in fermented pickles from other cultures

Admittedly none of these recipes have come from an authoritative food chemist. They are all traditional recipes.

Can water actually spoil fermented pickles or is this an Indian old wives tale?

ANY amount of water on the jar or the ingredients does result in the formation of whitish fungus at the affected spot. This will later turn black and the pickle will sour giving off a fermented smell.

The only exception is if that spot is well immersed in oil- but no guarantee it is off!
The "water" in the fruit, being juice, fights formation of fungus and mold.

I'd tried to cheat but the punishment by the pickle is heavy!! -and I am a cookaholic going on 60 years.

Note: This precaution applies especially to hot climates where the reaction is in hours and max in a couple of days--- hv observed it in u.s in Florida and California.
Try your bravery.


What is the difference bewteen stewing and boiling? I've read different definitions for what stewing is.  I've read that it means to cook at a simmer(i.e. below a boil) but I've also read it means to cook in water in a pot with a lid.

If the latter that could still mean it is boiling since the water has been added to the pot of food, it s cooking on high heat and so still being boiled.

Technically speaking, its not clear to me what the difference between stewing and boiling is.  I've read that stewing means less mineral loss so it helps to understand in that context also.

‘Boiling’ usually means a rolling boil, where all the liquid is at the boiling point. In a simmer, small bubbles of steam will occasionally rise from the bottom of the pan, but the liquid as a whole is below the boiling point. Stewing entails cooking for a long period of time at a simmer.


How to get more flavor out of dried herbs? What is the proper way of bringing the flavor out of dry herbs like oregano and basil?

In the US I use fresh herbs to make my pizza sauce. But since I've moved to Norway they don't have any fresh herbs that even resemble the flavors that I'm used to in the US. After recreating my pizza sauce I found that sweating the herbs increased the flavor of the sauce.

Dry herbs are slower to release their flavors than fresh herbs; they will need extra cooking time to impart their full flavors, so add them to the dish sooner.  Since they are less delicate and need the moisture, you may also want to add them along with a liquid, to help extract out the flavors. Crushing the larger-leaf herbs up a bit may also help. Use less dried herb than you would with fresh, because they are more concentrated.

Although these will help, the sad truth is that even the best-dried herbs will not have the subtle flavors of fresher ones.

Edit: One other technique you might use (if there's minimal cooking of other ingredients) is to soak them in oil for a long time to extract flavors.  I would suggest an overnight soak in olive oil.  You can get more flavor out if you heat the olive oil before letting it sit to soak; something like 50C/125F is a reasonable temperature to dissolve more flavor compounds, without damaging the more delicate ones.


How to properly store a Chinese new year cake and how long will it last? I've received a Chinese new year cake, my question is how do I properly store it? Do I need to refrigerate it? Also, how long will it last assuming that I properly store it.

I hope you ate the Nian gao cake already. If you are going to eat it in less than 10 days, just leave it in the fridge, tightly sealed in a ziplock bag.  But for longer storage, say a month or so, you could wrap it in plastic wrap, then a paper towel, then inside a freezer bag.  I would also cut up the cake so it is easier to defrost when you want to cook it.  I would not eat it after about a month.  I think that the texture would be too different after that.  But best of luck.


Wok patina; when to redo seasoning? This is a new carbon steel wok, seasoned on a gas stove with oil and had one stir fry made in it:

I've seen other posts where advice was given to let the scratches repair themselves over the many dishes to be made. While others said to scrub the whole patina off and redo the seasoning.

In the case here and referring to the condition in the pic; would you scrub/scrape off and redo seasoning? Or just let the fat from all the cooking do the work?

(Also, is it normal to get so dark from just the seasoning alone and one stir-fry? I thought it would take at least a few months to get to this)

A new patina is vulnerable to scratches and even washing off into liquid boiling on it.  I've found that even a well-established patina is vulnerable to washing off this way.

If I were you, I'd would NOT bother to remove the remaining patina and start over.

Rather, I would re-season the wok on top of the existing patina at least once.  Actually, I'd probably re-season it about three times.

But that's just me.

Perhaps others will have more authoritative suggestions.

Good luck

nello


whipped cream icing beforehand vs right before serving I found a recipe of a chocolate poke cake with chocolate ganache in the holes and a whipped cream icing that it's supposed to be only on top, and then with pecans and chocolate flakes and dulce de leche.

The direction say the cake should be served right after making the icing. Is there a particular reason for this?

I'd like to eliminate the dulce de leche and I wonder whether the cake can be done (decorated I mean) a few hours before serving and kept in the fridge.

Can the addition of confectioner's sugar to the whipped cream improve its lifespan of a few hours (and compensate the absence of the supersweet dulce de leche)? thanks

Whipped cream can be made with unflavored gelatin, so that it will hold its shape for hours; that is how bakeries do it. I did not find it difficult to do the first time I tried it, and was really pleased at how reliably it held up.

http://ourbestbites.com/2015/11/how-to-make-stabilized-whipped-cream/

There are other techniques, but this is an example of how to do it.


Why is my sushi rice too sticky? I'm on a quest of learning how to prepare a more than edible sushi. I figured that with enough practice I can achieve the goal of being able to make sushi. The most important part of sushi as I see it is the rice, and that's where I'm not really sure what I am doing wrong.

Although I'm making progress with the rice, it still comes out wrong, too sticky - ie not brittle enough - after it sticks it very hard to break, becomes a sort of Plasticine.

My question is, what variables should I try to change in order to make it less Plasticine? Cook it less, put less oil, boil it less time, let it steam on low fire more etc... Or more generally put, which parameters influence the texture of the rice and how?

In general, the stickiness of rice can be reduced by removing some of the starch by pre-soaking and/or washing the rice.  For sushi rice, chewiness can be increased by reducing the amount of cooking water.

For what do you use oil?  I don't believe that is a traditional ingredient in sushi rice.


Silverside Beef Roast - tough to cut on the plate and chewy I recently roasted a Silverside joint for a typical English Sunday dinner.

It was a pretty standard job. I got it to room temperature, rubbed it with salt and pepper and give that an hour to mesh. After that I seared all side in a cast iron pan, lifted it on a trivet of carrot, celery, garlic & onion  and cooked it at 180C (electric fan) until the middle reached my desired temperature, in this case 50C rising to 62C  when resting (20/30mins) - came out medium rare.

...anyway, the issue is that after slicing it and plating it up, it was still pretty difficult to cut on your plate - although it had tones for flavour and was very 'juicy'.

I did experiment slicing it more thinly and that did help a bit - but it can of seem rather odd to be eating ultra thin sliced beef.

We used to eat Silverside all the time when I was a kid and I don't remember it being this bad, but then again my parents would have cooked the crap out of it and it was probably pretty dry.

So is this just how Silverside is? (and presumably topside) and I should by a more premium cut (like Sirloin joint) if I want to it to cut more easily or am I missing a trick - do I need to buy a better quality (from a good butcher)/longer aged joint?

Silverside is one of those cuts that varies a lot, I've had topsides and silversides that came out reasonably tender and juicy, and I've had ones where I need power tools to cut them, even when I do everything right. They're cuts I avoid as a result.

Silverside is a cut that comes from the rear of the animal, it doesn't have much marbling and does a fair amount of work, so has lots of connective tissue which toughens it. Cattle breed and how the animal was raised make a big difference in whether you'll get a good result. If you do want to buy it then be selective, look across the cuts the supermarket has for marbling. Stick a thumb into them to see which one is most tender, and pick that.

Tweaking your method would help you get a better result. 180C fan is too hot, you will overcook the outside before the middle is done, and you will have less time for connective tissue to break down and make the result tender. I like to start mine hot to get a good crust, but after 10 minutes I would turn it down to 150C at the highest, 140C would be even better. Next you need to rest it for much longer than 20 minutes. When you rest the meat it continues cooking, connective tissue keeps breaking down, and the meat relaxes. This takes time, especially for tougher cuts. Some professional chefs say you should rest it as long as you cook it, I'm not in that camp myself but I'd say wrap it tightly and give it at least an hour before you cut it.


What's the proper way to muddle mint for a julep or mojito? Not a huge fan of the mojito, but my wife loves 'em. A good julep is another matter... But mine have a bad tendency to end up with lots of little mint pieces that get stuck in my teeth. So what's the proper way to prepare the mint in these drinks without ending up with a green leafy mess?

The classic mistake when making a Mojito or a Julep is to over muddle the mint. Pounding away at the mint will release so much flavour from it, that you won't taste any of the other ingredients. A perfect Mojito should comprise a balance of flavours. The other main constituents do not have a particularly strong flavour, so its very easy to swamp them with mint and end up with a glass of alcoholic toothpaste. Mojito = Rum, Mint and Lime. Julep's are a little more tolerant, due to the richer flavours of the other ingredients, but the same basic principles still apply.

Don't overdo the amount of mint you add. Leaves from one decent sprig of mint will do. Muddle the mint gently for about ten seconds. You want to bruise the leaves and release a little bit of flavour, but not grind them into a pulp.

Finishing off a Mojito properly is also essential. You only need a splash of soda. Adding more than a shot will just dilute the ingredients and destroy the subtle flavours. Most importantly, don't forget to taste the drink after you've made it, even if its for someone else! This is the best way to learn and improve your mixing and muddling techniques. It is also sometimes possible to rescue an imperfect drink (eg. by adding a touch of extra lime juice if its too sweet) if really necessary.


Caramel with their 3 stages (liquid, soft, chewy): What is the key difference when cooking? I want to know what is the extra step that make the difference between:

Caramel Sauce;
Soft Caramel;
Chewy Caramel.

I will take Christophe Michalak recipe:

100 g sugar;
100 g cream;
20  g butter.

What is the key step that will make the difference. And what if we added less cream, so we can be aware from slightly oily caramels.

There is no "extra step". The recipe proportions determine which type you get. Standard caramel is just chewy. If you add fat or milk proteins (insider tip: try milk powder), it becomes soft. The more fat, the softer.

Also, if you add liquid, it becomes liquid, and can be used as a sauce. The more liquid, the lower the viscosity.

Also, it is a continuum, there is no hard divide. You can't say that up to 30% cream it's a soft caramel, from 31% cream it's a sauce" or similar.

A recipe should tell you which kind it produces. The one you posted looks a lot like a sauce to me, although I don't have ratios handy to say for sure. I tried searching for it, but the only one I found was https://djoudjousemetauxfourneaux.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/sauce-caramel-maison-recette-de-christophe-michalak/, which has much less liquid and more butter, and is still supposed to be a sauce.


Does it take more energy to maintain a higher cooking temperature? This is just the curious cat in me. When heating water on a stove top in a covered pot, once the desired temperature is reached, does it take more energy to maintain the temp if it is higher (say 200F) vs if it is lower (say 150F)?

The limiting case would be a pot that is only emitting energy via thermal radiation, because it is (in the imagination) perfectly insulated and so not losing heat into the air via escaping vapor through the lid, or conducting heat through the pot material into the air.

In that case, the energy loss from the pot is only that of the black body radiation, which is a function strictly of temperature.   Energy radiates away at a faster rate at higher temperatures.

Even if you relax these stringent imaginary conditions, all heat engines are based on a temperature difference.  All of the heat loss mechanisms on the pot (such as losing heat to vaporization, or conduction through the surface of the pot into the air) are also driven by temperature difference between the contents of the pot and the surrounding air.  The larger the difference, the faster the transfer on an absolute basis.

So yes, maintaining a higher temperature in equilibrium requires more energy per unit time than a lower one.   But you would need someone far better at physics than me to give you the absolute mathematical models.


Almond Flour pancakes I have this really tasty recipe for pancakes that use almond flour and whey protein (along with Ricotta cheese and lemon).  However, the problem is, these pancakes don't "flip".  Does anyone have any advice on what could be done to improve this tasty breakfast treat?  Oh, and I have also tried to make it in a waffle maker, and that doesn't work right either.  We lovingly call this recipe "Scrambled Pancakes".  :)

Here is the list of ingredients:

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cups sour cream
4 packets Splenda, stevia, or erythritol
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup natural or vanilla whey protein powder
Pinch of salt

It is no wonder you can't keep them whole. There isn't anything in the recipe to give them integrity.

A normal pancake has lots of egg and lots of flour. When you are frying them, the proteins of the egg uncurl and connect to their neighbours to set in a loose, weak mesh. You know how the egg white sets when you fry an egg without whisking it? That happens in a pancake batter too, but much weaker, because there is a load of other stuff swimming around, so the protein molecules have less neighbours to build their connections to.

Then there is the flour. As usual, when you heat a batter, the gluten proteins in flour do the same thing as the egg white proteins, building their own mesh which permeates the whole pancake. While there is less gluten building than in a well-kneaded dough, it is enough to make the pancake hold together.

In your recipe, this just doesn't happen. You have no gluten content at all. So the stronger holding-together-part falls away. Unlike wheat flour, almond flour has no gluten. So it isn't contributing to holding the pancake together.

So what about the whole other protein you have in there? Well, the point is, it is already set. Ricotta, whey protein are both cooked proteins. They can't uncurl and connect a second time. So instead of helping the binding, they are inhibiting it. Every egg protein molecule which could have connected to a neighbouring egg protein molecule in a more fluid batter now keeps bumping into almond, ricotta and whey particles, to which it can't bind at all. So what you have here is a mixture of wetted powders without a binding agent. No wonder it can't hold together.

The best way I can see here is adding wheat flour back. You don't have to sacrifice all of your almond flour. Make a partial substitution, and also substitute part of the whey protein. This will keep the proper viscosity of the batter, while preserving the almond flour taste.

The way the recipe is constructed, however, it looks like somebody decided to exterminate all the carbs in it just because. If you are determined to keep your pancakes zero carbs, you can try throwing out all the whey powder and adding egg white instead. I can't guarantee this will be enough to do the binding, but if you insist on "real pancakes", this is worth a try.

I don't think there are any other traditional techniques you can use to improve your "batter" bonding. Of course, nowadays you can experiment with additives. Transglutaminase looks like your best bet. You'll probably need lots of tries until you get the recipe right, but it should bind the cooked ricotta proteins well enough. You don't want a superstrong binding for this application.


Can't Get That Grilled Cheese Done Right I've been trying to make grilled cheese on the grill for a while now. While at first this sounds funny, but I believe that it is 100% possible to do. I just have no idea even how to approach this meal. Also, please keep in mind that this is my first post here so apologies if this has been asked before or seems like a joke.

Prepare your sandwich [buttered/dry - cheese - dry/buttered] and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on the grill (or directly on the coals), turning to toast on both sides of the bread. Timing is going to be a trial and error lesson. My thought is 2-4 minutes per side, but this will be largely dependant on the heat of the coals.


What animal parts can be included in head cheese? I know that head cheese is traditionally made with flesh from the head of a large animal but I have read that sometimes other scrap meats are included.

Are there any portions of an animal that are more or less suitable for making head cheese?

Can I make head cheese with chicken feet?

To address this, I think we should examine why head cheese is made from a head in the first place.

There are two main reasons, the character of the meat attached to the head: paucity, toughness, and (lack of) accessibility; and the large amount of gelatin that can be obtained.

The meat on a head is well-exercised, and, with the exception of cheeks and jowl, thin, full of connective tissue, and wrapped around an oddly-shaped skull. It's difficult and not exactly worth the effort to try to remove it raw; after a good deal of work, you would end up with small shreds of meat that would probably best be braised anyways. Much easier to braise the head in its entirety and pick off the meat once it's soft.

The potential for gelatin is abundant in a head, especially assuming that the skin is left on (which it is for pig's heads): the skull of course contains plenty of albumen, the ears and snout are made of cartilage, and there's tendons around the jaw and heading into the neck.

Considering this, to make a substitution for a head, we should look for other parts of the animal that have these characteristics. The most obvious choice is the lower legs: pig trotters are in fact often added to the pot when making head cheese. Shanks all the way down to the ankles, and clean hooves from other animals, if available, would be perfectly suitable. The chicken feet you mention have the characteristic of yielding a good amount of gelatin, so they are a candidate. Tails are also a fine source of gelatin, with skin and plenty of connective tissue. Skin on its own would also be useful. For the meat, any of the usual well-exercised cuts should be suitable; a jowl on its own, the shoulder, possibly a diaphragm (hanger) from a cow.

In fact, one could very well make a delicious head cheese-like terrine using commercially-prepared gelatin with a full homemade stock, and any flavorful cut of meat that was available.


Dishwasher with side brackets for on top shelf: what are they for? I have a new dishwasher and the top shelf has several movable brackets on the side. I just don't know what they are designed to do or hold. I'm guessing they are somehow supposed to hold something in place. I just don't see how. Can anyone help. My dishwasher is a Zanussi ZDT21001FA The brackets are on booth left and right sides.

They are for holding wine glasses upside down by the stem, safely, so they don't fall over and break during the washing cycle.


Vegan crepes that don't fall apart when turning When I make crepes I use eggs, flour and milk for the dough and tiny amount of oil for the pan. I usually use whole wheat flower. Sometimes half-white half-whole wheat.  They always end up very thin and perfect.
Replacing milk with various liquids (soy milk, almond milk...) seems to work fine.
I would like to stop using eggs, so I made several attempts with various egg substitutes, and I can't make it work for crepes.  They always fall apart when I try to flip them.
Which ingredient would help with with that?
So far I have tried:

The Neat Egg
Ener G Egg Replacer
flax
extra oil
applesauce
bananas

Those all work for thick pancakes, but (at least not for me) for crepes.
There are questions related to replacing eggs, but are too generic:

How to make pancakes/crepes without eggs nor any liquids besides water? -- not limited to vegan
What can I substitute for eggs in a pancake recipe? -- pancakes, not crepes
With what can I replace eggs? -- a few answers mention pancakes, but not one mention of crepes

First be wary of language barrier. In some regions/countries people are making crepes and calling tham pancakes. What in US is called pancakes in some regions/countries call for buttermilk and is called (for example) "Racuchy".
Anyway - use aquafaba. Just yesterday I made some crepes with it. They are nice, soft, "rolly" and apart from a little darker color there is almost no difference in texture. There is a little in taste but if you add any flavouring agent it's not palpatable.


Do you need to cook tomato puree? I'm making a tomato sauce cold from tinned tomatoes and I was going to add tomato puree to thicken the sauce. Is it ok to use tomato puree without cooking it?

While it is perfectly safe to eat tomato puree without cooking it, it is not generally recommended.
Uncooked tomato puree in a sauce can be undesirably sour and have a rather raw, rough flavour.

If you don't mind this then go ahead, but I would recommend simmering the sauce for at least another 10 minutes after adding the puree.


Why are there bitter bits in my cake? I made a vanilla cake from scratch using this recipe and when I removed it from the pan, I noticed little brown lumps along the bottom and edges the size of BB pellets.

I tasted one of the spots, thinking it was burnt sugar, but it was very hard and very very bitter. I think it tasted like baking powder but also lemony. This is the second time this has happened to me using different recipes. It never happens when I make a chocolate cake.

All the ingredients today were fresh, everything was at room temperature, and the pan was clean. I greased it with Pam and then placed parchment paper circles. I did not have cake flour, so I used AP flour. The batter looked fine and had no lumps in it, I scraped down the sides of the mixing bowl, and nothing tasted off when I licked the spoon. I think it has something to do with adding the baking powder.

What would cause this?

It may have been baking powder but it doesn't matter what it was.
Cake methods produce a homogeneous batter. There shouldn't be lumps of anything.

The sugar is creamed with the butter until it is smooth. The dry ingredients are mixed together and most recipes call for sifting them into the wet to prevent exactly these kind of lumps. I will admit that, unless my dry ingredients are obviously clumpy, I will often skip the sifting step to save another utensil to clean.

Make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure there are no unincorporated ingredients.

Some baked goods, like pancakes or biscuits, intentionally under mix to keep things tender. Cake instead relies on low protein flour and lots of fat to keep things tender and the batter should be completely blended.


tiny quantity of egg in a cookie (In the United States,) Keebler chocolate-chip cookies list egg as an ingredient. But they list it after salt, meaning that the amount of egg in the product is less than (well, not more than) the amount of salt. From the sodium content one can figure out that the amount of salt is not more than about five-sixth of a percent (or less than four grams per pound of cookies), so the amount of egg is also not more than that.

Why would they put in such a small quantity of egg? What does adding that small amount of egg do for the cookies, that they couldn't leave it out?

One thing to keep in mind is that they are in the "Contains 2% or less" section, which means they are exempt from the "descending order requirement". So all we know is that they are less that 2% of the total weight. I just looked at one typical chocolate chip cookie recipe that gave weights in grams, and it was 8% eggs by weight (114 grams out of 1419). So 2% isn't totally off the map - it probably is still enough to provide some binding and richness.


Baker's Math Formula System - Why Isn't the Flour Mass in Corn Bread Formula 100%? I am currently in the middle of a challenge to bake every formula in the Bread Baker's Apprentice book (BBA). This book describes a principal called the Baker's Math Formula System where all ingredients are compared to the total flour weight in the formula as a ratio. (BBA referes to recipes as formulas.) By definition (or so I thought), the ratio for the total flour weight in a given formula is always supposed to be 100%.

The author includes this analysis for each formula in the book.  Just last night, I looked at the Baker's Percentage for the Corn Bread formula in more detail and found that the ratio listed for the flour is actually 51.1%.  How could this be if the total flour weight is supposed to be 100%? Would this have anything to do with the fact that this is a chemically leavened bread?

I decided to try to e-mail my question to the author, Peter Reinhart.  As it turns out, there is a typo in the book!

  "Together, the flour and cornmeal should equal 100%. It's the flour %
  that's listed wrong, not the cornmeal, because the total is 14 oz and
  the flour is listed as 8 oz. If you divide 8 by 14 you get 57.1%,
  which means the cornmeal is correctly listed at 42.9%  So change the
  flour percent -- that's a typo I can see can easily happen since 1 and
  7 are kind of similar looking and easily overlooked."


What soy sauce is Tamari closest to? There are a great many variations on the theme of 'Soy sauce'.
And whilst there are lots of descriptions of the difference, I can't find the answer to this question:

Which other soy sauce(s?) is Tamari closest too.

My specific scenario is this:

I use and intend to continue using Tamari as my go-to "soy sauce".
But I've been seeing a lot of recipes asking for Chinese light AND dark soy sauce. So I'm thinking of buying 1 other "actual" soy sauce to complement my tamari in these recipes.

Which other soy sauce should I buy, light or dark.
(Just in case ...) Is this actually a good idea or will it Not Work, for some reason?

Thanks!

Your typical Tamari is, to my understanding, going to be closer to dark than light soy sauce. So you'd want light as a second soy sauce.

Inside Japan, there are five kinds of soy sauce:

Koikuchi, which is your most typical soy sauce
Usukuchi, which is lighter because it has fermented rice in it
Tamari, which has more soy than wheat and thus is a bit darker
Shiro, which has more wheat than soy and thus is a bit lighter
Saishikomi, which is "twice-brewed" and thus twice as dark

In China, you have two: regular "light" soy sauce, and "dark", which is the light stuff processed further and aged. Therefore, "sashikomi" is the Japanese equivalent to dark soy sauce, if you want to stick with Japanese classifications.

If your recipes are aimed at english-speaking audiences, however, the terms are likely to be used a lot looser and less precisely than in Japan or China. Kikkoman, which is the biggest name brand I've seen in the US, brews a regular, a Tamari, and a gluten-free (Tamari can have some gluten in it). Therefore, I would normally assume that to an American chef, "dark soy sauce" is Tamari. "Light soy sauce" might mean the low-sodium stuff, or it might mean Shiro or Usukuchi. Your basic unqualified "soy sauce" is Koikuchi.


how to break up a bread recipe? I found this recipe for a pull apart cheesy bread that I love. It turned out ok the first time, and I'd like to try it again for a dinner I'm having this week.
However, I don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner after work (hopefully 1-2 hours max), and I was wondering how to break up the recipe to have it ready for dinner on time. I need to take about a half-day to one-day break in the middle; where/how do I split this recipe up??
Thank you so much for your help!!

That looks pretty tasty.

If you only need a few hours you can just put the dough in the fridge when it does its first rise.

The cold will make it rise more slowly and buy you some time. Make sure to put the dough in a little bit over-sized bowl so it doesn't explode out if it rises more than expected.

In general letting dough rise for extra time like this will result in a more open texture. This can be good or bad depending on the style of bread but it seems like it will be fine with this particular bread.


Cans are all sealed, but I forgot to boil the closed jars - should I boil them now? I am relatively new at canning.  Last night I made a batch of peach butter using a trusted recipe that I have made and canned before.  I sterilized my jars and lids, ladled the boiling peach butter into each jar, and put the lids and bands on.  Within a couple of hours, all of the "buttons" popped in indicating to me that they have sealed.

However, what I realized this morning was that I never actually boiled the closed jars.  Since they are already sealed, should I boil them again?  (By the time I get home, the jars will have been sealed and kept at room temperature for about 20 hours).

Thank you for your help!

I know the inversion method doesn't involve a water bath, you simply fill the jars, put the lid and band on them, and turn them upside down.  There's question on how safe that is.  (I know you didn't do the inversion method, but it's close even if by accident.)

I know marmalades can take up to two weeks to firm up and if they don't by then, it's suggested to reprocess them.  At this point, I would say you would be safe to reprocess them.  I wouldn't put what you have directly into a water bath though.  I would pour the contents back into a pot and bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, wash the jars and bands and use new lids.  Then fill the clean (hot) jars and put into a water bath.


How can I warm bread making ingredients to room temperature? My room temperature is 65°F (18°C). The recipe calls for the ingredients (milk, egg, butter, etc.) to be at room temperature, 75-90°F (24-32°C).

How should I warm them? Can I use the microwave, or put them in a water bath?

My bread right now tastes good, but is very dense.

To answer the question as stated: please don't use a microwave. You risk overdoing it. You don't want to cook your eggs or melt the butter. A water bath should work well. You can also set your oven to the lowest setting (should be around 50°C/120°F) and put them in it (no preheating), but then you must really check on them very frequently. Out of the two, I prefer the water bath. @Elendil's suggestion for a thermometer is also great.

A side warning: I doubt that the dense bread is due to such small changes in ingredient temperature. You can easily start with cold ingredients, you just have to give the bread more time to rise. And kneading will easily raise the temperature of your dough from 65 to 85 °F. It is OK to warm the ingredients if you want to, but I suspect the problem is somewhere else, probably either in an incorrect raising/proofing process, or in a bad flour ratio (which could be due to a bad recipe or to measuring by volume instead of by weight).


Is it ok to ignore the skin on top of my stock? When I make a stock, I generally skim the foam for the first few hours, and usually it stops showing up.  But as I've increased my cooking time, I've started to see a clear skin forming on top of the stock. Usually around 14-24 hours in. Unlike the foam it's pretty difficult to skim out as it wants to stick to the meat, vegetables and herbs floating at the surface.

I tasted some of it and it didn't have a terrible flavor. Mostly just tasted like the fat floating on the stock.  What is this stuff, and is it ok to ignore?

It could be gelatin from the broken down bones and connective tissue.


Why does tea with hard water (lime) taste different? It seems that tea with lime water (hard water) tastes different.

Different enough that tea manufacturers have a different product to cope with the difference in taste.

My question is: Why does tea with hard water (lime) taste different?

This seems to be answered directly on the Yorkshire Tea page.

  Before we get cracking, here’s some background about Yorkshire Tea and hard water to bear in mind. When deciding which teas our buyers will select to put in the Yorkshire Tea blend, they taste every single one in both soft and hard water. This enables them to create not only Yorkshire Tea, but also Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water, a blend that’s perfectly suited to… you guessed it.

Seems to imply that there are different blends of tea that taste better in hard water and soft water that they are accommodating for.

To answer the question "Why does tea with hard water (lime) taste different?", it has to do with the higher concentrations of calcium and magnesium that your taste buds will pick up on.  From the Yorkshire Tea page, it seems they make two different blends of tea with the blend for hard water stating:

  The tap water in hard water areas contains lots of minerals, which can make tea taste darker and thicker. With a few clever tweaks, we’ve made a blend to balance that out – so you can enjoy a proper brew, wherever you live.

Source:
https://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/brew-news/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-hard-water


Cleaning a moldy Ninja Blender so it is again safe for use? I have a ninja blender that was left in the fridge for too long and has a mold problem.

When I found it, I washed it with piping hot water heated by our gas water heater.   I've read some other places you have to use bleach and then let it dry out; but I want to know what to do for sure, so I'm asking the question here.

Bleach is safe to use, rinse well and air dry. I would be sure to use diluted bleach so as not to damage any rubber parts.
 You can also use vinegar but it will not remove stains as bleach does.


Crispy stir-fried mushrooms How do you prepare mushroom pepper fry? I wanted it to be crispy, but the mushroom itself was generating lot of water. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Mushrooms typically release water if they are overcooked and also if salt is added too early in the cooking process.

When cooking mushrooms, cook them on a relatively high heat until they have just developed some colour. at the end of the cooking process add your seasoning.


What are the grey-black specks that appear when whipping cream in stainless steel bowl? When we whip cream by hand in a stainless steel bowl, with a metal whisk, small grey specks, ~0.5-1mm in size, appear in the cream. The specks are squishy and can easily be smeared out. See attached photos:

Googling does not turn up much except similar question at: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/508107

The specks appear in different stainless steel bowls ("Stainless steel" imprinted on all bowls - no aluminium or other metals involved as far as we can tell).

The same whisk used in a plastic bowl does not produce specks.

The cream is organic, 40% fat (Swedish "Arla EKO"). We cannot detect any strange taste.

It seems probable that the specks come from mechanical wear. But what is it? What could be the cause? Is there something we should know about Stainless steel bowls?

Those look like air pockets - you're using an unusual whisk, perhaps it can't get enough "bite" on the stainless steel bowl to pop them, whereas the plastic bowl's texture offers enough resistance. I'd try it with a balloon whisk rather than a spiral whisk, and see if that helps. Here's a breakdown on whisks and their uses from Craftsy.


How do I write a recipe so others (or Google) can translate it well? Many recipes online are correct, but they are very difficult to translate from one language to another.

Google Translate, for example, does not translate recipes very well.

How do I write a recipe so others (or Google Translate) can translate it well?

A. Use simple sentences so Google can translate them well.

Yes. Mix sugar and butter.
No. Mix the sugar and the butter together until completely incorporated.

B. Use grams for all weights. Spell out "grams".

Yes. 100 grams sugar. 200 grams milk.
No. 100 g sugar. 200 g milk.

C. Avoid imperial measures like cups and tablespoons.

No. About 10 tablespoons of sugar and a cup of milk.
Yes. 191 grams sugar. 245 grams milk.

D. Google will have problems translating ingredient names. I don't think there's much you can do to help with this. Link to a picture of the ingredient (or to an ingredient's Wikipedia page) instead.


Is it possible to re-use pickling liquid? I have previously pickled some cucumber in a pickling liquid of mostly vinegar, which was kept in the fridge. I have now finished the pickled cucumbers, but would like to pickle some more. Can I re-use this liquid to pickle the cucumbers?

Note: I made the original pickling liquid about 3-4 weeks ago, it is kept in the fridge, in a sealed jar.

I would say you could use it once, and probably just to make refrigerator-type, quick pickles.  The problem is that you have no way to determine acidity or salt levels once you remove the previously pickled items. Of course it should look clean and clear.  If you were previously doing a lactic acid fermented pickle, some of the liquid could be used to jump start your next ferment.


How to get frozen soup to not be chunky? I usually do this simple soup. Not sure if the ingredients are relevant here, so I might as well enumerate them: potato, onion, courgette, leek, squash and carrot.

Once those have cooked, I then blend the soup (I may add some green beans afterwards, for instance, so it has something to chew, but I don't think that's really relevant). I usually put most of it in the refrigerator, since I'm gonna be consuming it throughout the next week. However, I sometimes wanna get some of it frozen too. When I do, upon unfreezing it, it is invariably chunky — looks like that smoothness I wanted to achieve is gone, and instead I have a clearer soup, with little bits of the vegetables that have kinda formed chunks. I've tried freezing the soup when it's still hot, or waiting for it to cool to room temperature, always with the same results. Trying to blend it again after unfreezing also does not seem to return it to the state it was in before freezing.

Am I freezing it wrong? Unfreezing it wrong? Both?

Freezing from hot isn't a good idea for the neighbouring items in your freezer but shouldn't make much difference to the soup (it will start cooling down faster, but then more slowly as the freezer will be warmer than it should be).

Freezing the soup before blending it should help, then reheat before blending. If you are making it specifically to freeze, you could add a bit less liquid in the first place and slightly undercook it. Then you'd adjust the consistency when you reheat it for serving.

You might also try omitting the courgette. Even cooked, courgette doesn't freeze as well as your other ingredients. It tends to go watery. It might even be better overall (though that's pure opinion).


Does sesame seed oil taste like toasted sesame seeds? When you have sesame seeds on a toasted bun, is that what sesame seed oil tastes like?

There are two types of sesame oil you can normally buy.

Pure sesame oil (or just sesame oil) has a mild sesame taste. Refined sesame oil is used as a cooking oil and only has a hint of sesame flavour.

Toasted sesame oil is made from toasted sesame seeds (and therefore tastes like toasted sesame seeds).  Aside from the labeling, you can easily tell it apart from pure sesame oil by its much darker colour and stronger aroma. It is not a cooking oil, it's more of a condiment and used frequently in Asian cooking.

Neither of these taste exactly like sesame seeds on a bun, obviously, but the sesame flavour in toasted sesame oil in particular is very noticeable.


Nutritional value of brown particles settled at the bottom of chicken bone broth If you get rid of the brown particles in the chicken bone broth, are you getting rid of a nutritious part? If so, how much of the broth's nutrition is in them?

The brown bits in a broth are the pieces of meat and skin that underwent some nice changes, the maillard reaction, during roasting or pieces from the marrow of the bone.

The broth has been simmered for some time, so most of the nutritious and delicious compounds are in the liquid. Most, that is, but not all. Some small amount remains in the flecks.

You can strain it for improved color and visual appeal, or leave them in. You can certainly filter some and do a taste comparison, but that does not speak to 'nutritious.'

Basically, all the work to roast and simmer means the broth has the good stuff. The flecks are a little bonus.


Freeze dried blueberries vs frozen blueberries? What can I substitute for freeze dried blueberries?  Will frozen blueberries work?  This is for a bread filling.

No, they aren't a direct substitute. Freeze dried blueberries are very dry and will absorb moisture from the dough in order to re-hydrate, frozen ones are not dried or dehydrated at all so will add water to the dough.

They also have a very different consistency: thawed from frozen blueberries will be squishy and tend to get blended into the dough, dried blueberries are tough little beasties and will hold together much better. You may be able to get around that by keeping the berries frozen and working them in at the last minute - keep in mind most frozen blueberries will have lots of water ice mixed in which you don't want.

If you want to use frozen then you'll need to account for the extra moisture in the blueberries, taking the right amount of water out of the recipe. This site says:

  Dehydrating them naturally, we can use up to 7 pounds of blueberries
  to make 1 pound of dehydrated blueberries.

This means that blueberries lose about 85% of their weight when dried, so if the recipe calls for 100g of dried blueberries you'd need to add 700g of frozen ones and take 600g of water (600ml because 1ml of water = 1g) out of the recipe. If you are using volume measurements then this site says 80g of freeze dried = 2¼ US Cups.


Is it bad to cut onions and other vegetables on the same cutting board? Is it bad to cut onions and other vegetables on the same cutting board? Does the type of cutting board matter? For example, do wooden cutting boards that are regularly used to cut onions (or other potent veggies, garlic, etc.) start to smell permanently like onions?

No it isn't bad.

It's all a matter of flavor. I don't really mind getting some onion juices into my next dish, unless I'm making something sweet like fruit salad - in this case I would rinse the board before moving on.

My advice to you about boards is: Get yourself a proper wooden or bamboo board or butcher's block, treat it with care (clean it an soak it with mineral food grade oil every now or than...) and that's all you'll even need.

I've been using my favorite board for over 10 years now. And it doesn't smell of onions.


Can couverture chocolate be substituted with other ingredients? I have a brownie recipe that calls for couverture chocolate to be used. Unfortunately it is getting difficult (and expensive) to obtain this chocolate.

Is there a way to get the same effect using other ingredients?

You can use compound chocolate (the inexpensive "coating chocolate").  It's what you find used in a lot of cheap store-bought chocolate, and it has very similar melting and viscosity properties to couverture.

You can usually find it in most bulk food stores.

The important property of couverture is its high proportion of cocoa butter and correspondingly high fat content.  Compound chocolate normally does not contain any cocoa butter, so it is nowhere near as rich as couverture, but it achieves roughly the same fat content with vegetable fat and will act similar to couverture when melted.

Technically, compound chocolate is not actually chocolate, so the result will be lower quality than if you had used couverture; but if you're pinching pennies, I think that's the way to go.


Slow Cooker: Recipe says Medium, mine has high and low only I want to cook a recipe that says to cook at medium-high for eight hours, however my slow cooker only has high and low.  How do I cook my recipe so the meat doesn't resemble old shoe leather?

Thanks :)

If it's a wet recipe (casserole, pot roast) you're more likely to find the meat falling apart than tough.

Medium is non standard and there's actually quite a bit of variation between slow cookers. Medium on our current model is pretty much the same as high on our old one; high on the new one is a bit fierce for most recipes without adaptation.

I suggest that you cook it on high, but if you're around when it reaches the minimum cooking time, then turn it down to low (not warm) until you're ready for it.


How to grill potatoes? I'm having a barbecue and I'm cooking steaks and asparagus. I still have some uncooked potatoes left in the pantry. Is it possible to grill a potato?

Yes.  I par-boil them first for 15 mins, then toss in oil and seasoning, thread on skewers and barbecue for 7-8 mins, turning often.  Lovely.


Substituting cream of tartar in turkish delights? I decided that my Sunday project would be trying making some rosewater Turkish Delights... I have all of the ingredients but cream of tartar. What could I substitute it with? Or can I leave it out completely?

I was thinking of lemon juice, but I am not sure about the proportions.
Also, would lemon juice go well with rosewater? I would say so, but rosewater is not something I use very often.

You've certainly got the right idea - cream of tartar is nothing more than an acidifier and so any acid can be used as a substitute. It combines with water to create tartaric acid.

Two important characteristics of cream of tartar are that it is (a) dry and (b) mostly flavourless. Vinegar, lemon juice, etc. are all wet and add some flavour of their own.

The substitution ratio most often cited for baking is 3:1 - that is 3 tsp vinegar or lemon juice for every 1 tsp cream of tartar. Don't use the 1:1 ratio typically given for egg whites (meringue) - the whole point of this in candy is to actually lower the pH, not just stabilize a foam. Again, pay close attention to how much liquid you're adding, and if it's significant, adjust the water content accordingly.

(Note: Technically, lemon juice would normally have a lower pH than 5% white vinegar, but the actual pH of these is so variable that it usually ends up being pointless to worry about it. Consistency is one of the advantages of using cream of tartar.)

You could also use citric acid or ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Citric acid is far more concentrated than lemon juice, you would only need to use 1/4 (25%) of the amount of lemon juice. That ends up being about 3/4 tsp citric acid for 1 tsp cream of tartar. It's a much closer substitution and doesn't change the flavour much. I believe that ascorbic acid is the same. Both are normally sold in anhydrous (powder) form, similar to cream of tartar.

All that being said, cream of tartar really isn't hard to find, it's sold in the spice section of any grocery store. One little tin will probably last you many years, so just buy one next time.


What does flour smell like when it goes bad? I've got about 15lbs of saphire unbleached white flour left from my 25lb bulk purchase from 2 weeks ago. While preparing a wonderful zucchini bread recipe I noticed a "sour" smell from my flour.

It's been tightly sealed in the heavy duty bag I purchased it in and stored in the pantry at 70-85°F.

Has my flour spoiled?
What are the storage guidelines for flour?

The smell is of rancid fats in the flour. It is a very distinct smell, but hard to describe. I would agree that "sour" is part of it. The best way to learn is by comparison. Smell some fresh, clean flour and remember what it is like. Any kind of unpleasant odor than that is rancidity. You may have smelled it also if you opened a box of cereal that has been around too long, or even poppy or sesame seeds - anything with fats that sits around at room temp will eventually go rancid.


How to make chocolate cigarellos in a quicker way? I wanted to make chocolate cigarellos from scratch and looked it up but all I could find was this, which the author describes as being time consuming. Can someone suggest any other way to make them that might be quicker?

One thing you can do is use much longer pieces of acetate and cut the long cigarillos afterwards gently with a hot knife.  That way your spreading and rolling action is cut down to 1/2 or 1/3.


When slow cooking a whole chicken for curry, should I put the vegetables in at the same time or wait? Hi guys I need some quick advice. I am about to slow cook a whole chicken and I and one question: Should I put the vegetables in while its slow cooking or will it be too mushy?

If you're making, for example, chicken soup, you add the "flavoring vegetables" (onions and celery, in my experience) right at the outset, with the understanding that you'll fish them out and discard them at some point, after they've given up their flavors to the broth. The actual vegetables you want to eat go in quite a bit later. I'm pretty sure the same procedure should work for your slow-cooked curry, but I've never made curry, so temper this advice with your own good common sense.


How do I incorporate cucumbers into cole slaw? I am entertaining the idea of making a spicy (apple cidar vinegar, sriracha,etc) cole slaw and am looking to temper the heat a bit with cucumber. Is the best option to slice in long strips? Is so, should I keep, discard, or otherwise incorporate the skin and the seed pulp?

If you want to match the texture of the shredded cabbage you could use a peeler to get thin, long strips of the cucumber.  If you want to contrast the texture you could cut it into chunks or slices.

I would discard the seed pulp to cut down on the amount of water that will fall to the bottom of the bowl.

The skin is completely personal preference.  If it's thin and tender I like to leave at least strips of it on for color contrast.  Otherwise I get rid of it to avoid the tough, chewiness it can bring.


how do I toast oats so that they are crispy? I'm playing around with making cereal, and one of the cereals I want to replicate is the "bunches of oats" style, with crispy clusters that include oats.  Every time I try to toast oats, though, they get more flavorful but not much more crispy, until they get burnt.

My current method: I use minute oats (problem #1?) but otherwise just put them in the oven at 350F.

I'd like to avoid adding sugars if possible, but I'm not stuck on that idea if it's not possible.

We have succeeded!  The key was to use egg whites (for a vegan version, the liquid from a can of chickpeas works great):

2c. oats

1/4c egg white (or chickpea water)

(nuts and seeds if you want, but the oats will cluster and be crunchy without them)

2Tbsp peanut butter (nut butter of any kind would work, really)

Mix this all together well and lay it out on parchment in a baking sheet.  Bake at 300F for about 40 minutes or so, until things get brown and crispy.  Take it all out, put it into a bowl, and mix in spices.  I like cinnamon, vanilla, and allspice.  You'll need to let it sit (for some reason, honestly I don't know) for about a day in order for the spices to infuse into the granola, and you're golden.


Can store bought salmon be used for sashimi? Is it safe to consume raw fish purchased at the fish counter of a typical suburban grocery store? If not, do you have any tips for finding sushi grade fish. Also, are there requirements for safe sushi/sashimi beyond the use of safe fish?

Not being aware of your location, some general tips:

Buy your fish from a fishmonger, and tell him/her what you are using it for.  You want to do business with somebody whose business is selling fish and only selling fish.  They are going to know what's been stored to eaten raw standards in a way that the just above minimum wage fish guy at your grocery store doesn't.
Don't buy it early.  Buy it the day you mean to consume it or the day that you are going to prepare it. This question can help walk you through that.
Take a cooler to get your fish. You have to maintain the freshness, that means not allowing it raise in temperature anymore than you have to.


Demerera sugar vs. brown sugar Some recipes I have seen call for demerera sugar, rather than what I would normally use, which is brown sugar. Is there a noticeable difference in taste or outcome, or this likely to be somewhat of a marketing influence? Is it related to country of origin? How is demerera sugar different to other sugar forms?

Demerara sugar is a sugar made from reduced, crystallized cane juice.  That is, it is a form of brown sugar with the molasses left in during the refining process.

Regular brown sugar is actually made from pure white sugar, with molasses added back in for flavor.

They will have similar performance and flavor profiles so you can substitute freely, although demerara sugar may have less of a pronounced molasses flavor.  Your best substitute is light brown sugar.


The persimmon jam makes my tongue dry I made a persimmon jam, just like I successfully made other jams, i.e.: took 7 persimmons, added a cup of sugar and a little lemon juice, put in a bread baker and activated the special jam program.

The jam is delicious, but, after several seconds in the mouth, it gives a very unpleasant feeling that the tongue and the entire mouth becomes dry.

What happened to the jam? Is there a way to rescue it?

It sounds like the persimmons (or one of the persimmons) were not quite ripe enough.

  When you eat an unripe astringent persimmon (American or Asian) the
  mouth immediately draws up.  Sometimes you'll get a hint of sweetness
  (if it is near-ripe) but the mouth-feel is immediate.  Tannins in
  persimmons make your tongue, cheeks, and gums feel as though you're
  chewing on a cross between aspirin, alum, and chalk.  Your tongue
  almost feels like a fine sandpaper. Judging the Ripeness of Persimmons

Unfortunately, I think that specific batch of jam can't be salvaged -- I don't know any way to "ripen" a persimmon if it's already been cooked into something. Next time you try this, taste a small bit of each fruit first to see if they're ripe enough.


How can I prevent my honey cake from splitting open? I've made honey cake pretty often, and it almost always splits open in the middle. Why does that happen and how can I prevent it?

Edit: attaching a picture of the cakes I just made

Basic recipe (not so exact):

Ingredients
6   eggs
1   glass oil
2   glasses sugar
    Pinch of salt
4   teaspoons baking powder
1   cup coffee (glass of water + some instant coffee)
4   cups flour
4   Tablespoons brandy
    Pour in cinnamon - teaspoon+
1   pound honey
Directions

Mix first 3 ingredients. Add rest of ingredients besides honey and mix. Put in honey last – pour slowly as it mixes Bake for 1 hour at 350. Cover towards the end

Effectively what's happening is that the outer crust is forming before the inside has finished rising.  This is the exact reason with a yeast bread that you would slice the loaf before baking, so that we can control how the crust breaks.  (as it wouldn't break on its own, it's too strong).

In the case of a cake or quick bread, you don't have gluten, so although the crust doesn't have a lot of tensile strength.  As such, if you have sufficient internal pressure, the top will split as the inside continues to expand.

The solution is the same as the problem with too much doming -- you have to find a way to get the outside to not set before the inside has finished setting.

... but in this case, I don't know that I'd turn down the temperature.  If the cake is going to be stacked and decorated, sure, as it makes a more dense cake that's actually more condusive to stacking.

If it were to be served sliced, like you might with a poundcake for strawberry shortcake, I'd be more likely to turn up the temperature to try to get the characteristic split that you get our of a poundcake or banana bread, as it'll give you a lighter internal crumb.

If you wanted to try to avoid the cracking, as that shape of pan isn't really conducive to cooling strips, I'd place the pan on the bottom 1/3 of the oven, and place a sheet of aluminum foil or a sheet pan on the rack above it to reduce radiant cooking from above.


Is Irish buttermilk different from Estonian buttermilk? I'm Irish but living in Estonia. Just now, I decided to make some soda bread which I have made a couple of times before. I bought some "pett", which Google translate and a professional chef told me is the translation for buttermilk, but what I got was closer to yogurt. It was white not yellow and had no butter smell.

Anyway, I made the bread and it came out OK, but was missing something (likely butteriness and saltiness). A little confused, I turned to Wikipedia and found that in some cultures people drink it. Something that seems unthinkable with the buttermilk I am used to, but reasonable for the Estonian buttermilk.

Is Irish buttermilk different?

Just to confirm what Joe said with some sources, the Estonian Dairy Association confirms that Estonian buttermilk or pett is a fermented product.  That is, one takes milk and adds a culture of lactic acid bacteria (similar to how yogurt is made, though typically buttermilk is fermented with slightly different bacteria at lower temperatures, resulting in a thinner product).

Meanwhile, Irish dairies seem to refer to Irish buttermilk as derived from churning butter.  And official documents and reports such as this one from Ireland define buttermilk as the following:

  Drinking milk comprises raw milk, whole milk, skimmed milk and
  semi-skimmed milk consumed in liquid form. Buttermilk is a derived
  product remaining after milk or cream has been made into butter.

Buttermilk derived from butter making can vary significantly in its composition, flavor, texture, etc.  Some butter is made by churning fresh cream, which produces a buttermilk with little acidity, while I assume much of Irish butter is made with cultured cream, producing the typical sour product that's superficially similar in some ways to fermented "buttermilk."  But how much butter solids and fat remain in buttermilk made from churned cream is up to the manufacturer and the process.  The color can also vary depending on that fat content, as well as the exact type of milk (breed of cows, feed, etc.).


How can I judge the extra amount of water to use if I am cooking rice with extras in in my rice cooker? I love my rice cooker.

I also like rice with stuff in, makes an easy quickish dinner.

I sometimes cook up some stuff, say mushrooms, chilli and garlic fried in a bit of olive oil,  or small chunks of pork, some browned onions and broccoli florets with paprika, and then add that to my rice + water (which I have measured before I add the extras) before I cook it.

Then I stick the rice cooker on and let it do its magic, and 20 mins or so later, a tasty rice and stuff one bowl meal.

My problem is that sometimes the rice ends up a little undercooked and I need to add a bit more water and cook for a little longer.  And if I add a bit too much water, the rice at the bottom can get a bit mushy.

So how can I better judge if I'm going to need to add any extra water and if so approximately how much?  Will it depend on what I've added to the pot, and how much, relative to the rice?

There shouldn't need to be any variation in the water at all, since the things that you are adding are already hydrated and are not taking in any water.  Indeed, it would be possible that some vegetables might even give off water.

I would be more inclined to look to whether you are measuring accurately every time you use the rice cooker (just asking) and then, if so, whether your rice cooker is consistent.  I had an inexpensive rice cooker that I liked for the convenience, but it was inconsistent on turning off, so the results were a little too varied, OK for me, but not when I was serving other people.

The only other thing to consider is that many rice cookers work on a temperature principle...when the temperature starts to rise (meaning the water has been absorbed) the cooker shuts off.  If the ingredients you are adding are raising the temperature of boiling (as in a lot of salt, say) then it is possible that you cooker is shutting off before the rice is cooked, and then the water is absorbed or evaporates, but the rice cooks no further.

I would pay very close attention to your measuring (rice and water) for the next couple of batches and see if that fixes the problem.


Can vegetables be roasted at lower temperatures? I tried to bake some new potatoes, small tomatoes and hot peppers, in extra-virgin olive oil, using a recipe calling for 1 hour at 100° C.

I was skeptical of the 100° C temperature, so I set the temperature to 120° C instead. However, even after 3 full hours of roasting, the vegetables still had a raw tang, and the texture of the potatoes was a bit rubbery.

What could have been the problem here? Is 120-140° C too low for these vegetables?

(Note: At one point I turned on the ventilation mode, and it seemed to start cooking much faster - maybe even a little too fast. Could the recipe have been intended for a convection oven?)

Slow roasted vegetables are delicicous. But the accent is upon slow - at 100 degrees you could be talking 6-8 hours. It's very similar ti slow cooked lamb, use lots of olive oil and wait.

I like to put in slices of potatoes for the first three hours and then add pepper courgettes, and other vegetables needing less cooking time for the kast 3 hours.

Great to serve with a half peanut butter, half feta cheese thick dip and some crispy toasted pitta bread.


How do I make mayonnaise split? When my mayonnaise splits I add a little water or lemon juice to fix it. Works all the time. But this time my hand slipped and I ended up adding way to much water. I mixed everything until the mayonnaise fixed itself but now it's too liquid (looks like a soup).

I want to make the mayonnaise split so that I take out the excess oil and water and fix it in another bowl where I slowly add the ingredients back together. But I can't make it to split again :)

How do I make mayonnaise to split?

P.S. If I start making a new mayonnaise and slowly incorporate "the soup" in it  will do the trick (I've done it before) but this time it's too much. I'll end up with lots of mayonnaise for which I have no use. So I need to rebuild the existing one.

Mayo that splits is typically from one of two things:

Insufficient water
Insufficient mixing leading to large droplets

(It's hardly ever insufficient emulsifier, as one yolk can do many cups of mayo.)

The lack of mixing can happen fairly easily with a whisk, but it won't happen if you're using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender.

You're probably normally making mayo that is on the border of insufficient water, so it's fairly easy to get it to break. When you added more water, the emulsion actually became more stable.

That explains why you can't get it to break, I have a few suggestions on how to fix:

Freeze it. It should break upon thawing.
If hand-mixed, use an immersion blender on it. That should thicken a little, by better mixing. (Assuming you're not using extra virgin olive oil, which should not be blended)
I'm sure there are some thickeners that could be added, but I've never tried thickening mayo like this.

Keep in mind that some flavors are fat soluble, some are water soluble, so if you discard part of the water, you may be changing the flavor balance.


How to deal with flare up when broiling a steak? I was broiling a steak (with the fat on, and I had also lightly coated it with olive oil).

After I had turned it over, about the 2nd minute (before it was done) there was a huge pop and a small flame inside, it appeared a piece of grease exploded out of the steak and hit the element.

I left it about 5 cm away from the element (2") which usually gives a cook I like.  But I'm starting to think the way I'm doing it is possibly a fire hazard.

Is what I'm doing wrong?  Can you cook a steak like that?  What do you do about the flare up and mini explosions?

Broiling a steak is a great way to cook it.  There are a few things you can do to avoid your issue.

No need to oil your steak.  It should have great flavor as is.
To avoid problems with grease under your steak, put it on a wire rack over a 13x9 inch pan (or similar) with 2 inch high walls.  Put 1/2 cup of kosher salt in the pan.  This soaks up grease drips.  America's Test Kitchen's recipe gave me this idea.
Pull the rack out when flipping steak, flipping it away from the element to avoid grease hitting the element.  It might take a bit longer to cook this way, but you'll still get a good crust.


What would cause bubbles in turkey stock? I made the stock the day after making turkey. Left the stock to cool overnight in a cool place. There were bubbles on it today. Removed carcass and started to reheat. Bubbles really forming. I have never seen this!!!

If it was me, I would ditch the stock. It is unsafe to leave the carcass in the stock once you are done with the cooking. I was trained by my Oma to always a) strip the carcass as soon as it is cool enough to handle, b) use the carcass immediately if making stock or broth from it, and c) remove all bones and pieces from the stock as soon as it is removed from heat. If your stock is reactive, there is a chance it may not be safe to consume. Why take that chance?