What is the correct order to both marinate and velvet the meat? Velveting a meat is a Chinese technique to coat meat with oil and egg whites and can prevent overcook. In the process, it needs to be left for about 30 minutes in refrigerator for the coat to apply then stir the meat in simmering water for about a minute. The meat then is ready to be used for anything else.

The problem is, I wanted to also marinate the meat in mixture of sauces, salt and pepper. When should I put the marinate into play? At the same time as the 30 minutes refrigerator? (That would make the meat not versatile to use in other dishes, as the sauce applied is specific to a dish I wanted to prepare.) or after the 1 minute stir? (I worried that this would somehow destroy the velvet effect, or not?)

Be sure to look at this related question too: How does velveting work?

Serious Eats just kind of took this on. They added some nice flavor to the velveting marinade, and then sauced the chunks after cooking. Some kind of adaptation of that concept would probably work well for you.

I have done some small experimentation with adding flavors to the egg/cornstarch marinade, and so far I haven't had any problem. As long as you've got enough egg white and cornstarch to make a light batter, you can add other things for flavor. BTW, the flavor of the velveting recipe in the question I linked to is lovely.


Why wine _before_ butter in shrimp scampi? According to this recipe:

  To make shrimp scampi you want to first cook the (marinated) shrimps in olive oil, then remove them, then lightly brown garlic slices, add white wine and let the alcohol evaporate, then add butter to melt and add the shrimps back.

Is there some specific reason to avoid putting the butter in before the wine?

I ask because in the video they mistakenly put the butter first and then they even throw the whole thing away and start over.

Because you want to cook (reduce) the wine down (or any other liquid).

Also, adding butter, usually cold butter chunks in the pan at the end will help emulsify the sauce.

in the grand scheme of things it is not a big problem if you add wine after the butter, but the result will be different, the wine will taste more raw, the sauce will not be as smooth.

I personally would not throw it out if it is for me only.


Uses for juicer pulp What do you do with juicer pulp?

Does it still contain any flavor to make something out of it?

How about vitamins?

This depends on the type of juicer and how well it extracts the juice from the fruit. The best juicers leave a relatively flavourless pulp (which is, however, very high in fiber). If you're curious about the flavour, try tasting it! (I've heard of the pulp being used to make muffins, but other flavouring agents are definitely required).

I am not sure about the vitamins, I am willing to guess that they exist primarily suspended within liquid (water for the water-soluble vitamins, oil for the fat-soluble ones) and a good juicer will leave only trace amounts of either type in the pulp.


What precautions should be taken while dropping cold vegetables in a hot Teflon cookware? So, I use Teflon saucepans for cooking vegetables, only.

Tomatoes have to be added after the onions are done. Tomatoes have inherent water in them and are obviously below the pan's temperature.

I am afraid that in the long run it may ultimately damage the Teflon cookware.

What's the way out?

Teflon will slowly damage over time no matter how you treat it.  Certain things will speed up this damage: too high heat, some metal tools, sandpaper.  Unlike an aluminum pan, Teflon will not react to high acid foods like tomatoes by getting damaged.  It is a non-reactive material.
You will see black flakes start to appear in your food when the original chemical bonding begins to fail on your pan, which should signal that you need to grab another one.


licking spoon and putting back in the food Recently had some guest at my house - while I was in another room one of the guest was sampling the food repeatedly and put the spoon from mouth back in the food.  Is this a health concern?  Does the food spoil faster?

Safety-wise: If the food is heated at least to 180° F/ 80°C, I'd like to cite Jefromi

  But if you're just cooking for yourself I personally wouldn't really
  worry about it, because in general you'll be cooking the food at a
  safe temperature, not just above the danger zone (140F/60C) but
  something safe for all meat (180F/80C) so whatever bacteria you put in
  with your spoon is just going to get killed. We routinely put
  potentially contaminated things like raw meat into our food while
  cooking, and let the heat take care of it; whatever you might be
  carrying isn't any more dangerous.

and logophobe

  Double-dipping isn't a big concern unless
  you're ill [...]
  You're probably introducing your friends and family to just as much
  contamination in the form of dust and such simply by having them in
  your home.

Quality-wise, as Stephie already pointed out: Liquids thickened with starch will liquidify if these come in contact with saliva (the enzyme amylase in particular). It breaks down starch to sugar.


Using manual egg beater to cream eggs and sugar So I don’t have a whisk or an electric whisk and a lot of baking recipes say to cream eggs and sugar and I used to do it with those tools.
Can I cream eggs and sugar with a manual egg beater (in picture below) or using a stick/immersion blender?

You have a whisk; the object in your picture is a whisk and you can use it to cream ingredients for your recipe. The gearing system makes it easier to get a high speed but you could even use a fork or a (totally manual) balloon whisk once the mixture is soft enough.
I would avoid using an immersion blender as it will be hard to get air into the mixture without careful technique; see this related question for more.


Which of these spices do not lose their tang when heated/boiled? I was looking to substitute chilli for some non capsaicin containing spices.

The best items I can up with was paprika, cumin, black pepper, ancho chillies and oregano.

Initially I tried black pepper and realised it loses its tang when cooking and so it must be used at the end as a raw ingredient which is not what I want.

What other items in this list would lose their spice potency like black pepper when cooked.  I’m trying to remove those items so I can use one for cooking as would be the case with chilli.

Paprika and ancho chillies are both from the same family as the hotter peppers and often contain capsaicin, though this depends exactly on which paprika you have.

Cumin and oregano (and black pepper) are all from other families. I would not rate cumin or oregano as spicy in terms of heat, although cumin can enhance heat when consumed with it. Oregano is the main herb flavour you will find in pasta sauces like bolognese. Cumin is the predominant flavor in many dishes from Mexican/central American and Indian cuisines - if you are making "chili con carne" this is likely a spice you use already. Both of these retain flavour when cooked.

For some non-capsaicin containing alternatives see answers in this thread


I need a translation from Moroccan to English My mother brought some spices back from her holiday in Morocco but I can't seem to find a translation of them they are

Cuorre
Pikante
Pimante Negra
Pimante Rojo
Kanela
Comeno
7 Especais Mexta
Jengebre
Courcuoma

After a quick googling and just looking at the words.

Cuorre Pikante : Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Pimante Negra : Black peppercorn.
Pimante Rojo : Pink peppercorn.
Kanela : Cinnamon
Comeno : Maybe the brand name of the 7 spice mix ?
7 Especais Mexta : 7 Spice mix.
Jengebre : Ginger
Courcuoma : Curcuma/Turmeric


Why does my sourdough loaf not get an ear My loaves seem to have good oven spring, I think. I think that because it rises up on the sides and forms an oval sort of shape each time.
My cut often expands but doesn't open up much or form an ear.

Todays partly opened. I dont know if I am doing the cut wrong. Maybe too deep, not deep enough.  I do try and do 45 degree angle.

Does anyone have some advice to improve this please?

with no photo of the crumb it's hard to know whether there's also a proofing issue but irrespectively let me tell you that it's notoriously difficult to get a consistent ear at home unless you bake the bread in some sort of hot enclosure (dutch oven, cast iron pot with lid etc). That is my experience at least. Sure, the cutting makes a difference so as to have a nice ear but the moisture is the main culprit: your oven cooks the outside of the bread too fast before the temperatures reaches the air in the inside, so when the bread expands air is sealed in and doesn't get the spring it can. Cooking in an enclosure keeps the moisture from the bread close to the crust thus keeping it soft for a bit longer which is when the inside gets hot and expands. This whole thing happens the first 5-10' of baking so if you don't get an ear by then, it's game over.
I have been baking sourdough 2ice a week for about three years now, here's a bread that didn't quite open well enough (together with its crumb to show that it's properly proofed and folded)

and here's one that opened beautifully:

their only difference being that the second was baked inside an enamel pot (the baguettes always get an ear cause they are baked on their little baguette baking trays).


Can quickbread be prepared in advance? I would like muffins, banana bread, and the like for breakfast. Could I prepare a quickbread ahead of time such that my husband would just have to pop it in the oven when he gets up?

Some muffins with very thick batter can be held for up to several days before being baked, but these are the exception, rather than the rule.

However, quick breads, whether sliced loaves, whole loaves, or muffins, freeze extremely well.  Muffins are especially easy to reheat in the microwave or a toaster oven, and can be an ideal way to have quick breads prepared in advance.

Another way (which offers fresh, hotly baked breads) that I like I do before busy holidays that will have muffins or cornbread on the menu, is to prepare the dry mix, and the wet mix, and stick them (separately) into the refrigerator.   Then, it is only a matter of combining them, putting them in the pan, and baking.


Bitter chocolate pudding I made chocolate pudding from scratch and substituted 1 cup of Stevia for the cup of sugar and the pudding is bitter tasting. Any way I can salvage the pudding and make it sweeter?

The recipe was as follows:

1 cup white sugar, or to taste
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon butter (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

I just used Walmart brand Stevia.

Just a little bit of expectation management: stevia has a naturally bitter aftertaste, and depending on the amount and type of extract, it can be very bitter. You might also be over using stevia if you're just substituting it without balancing your recipe.

When using sweeteners to replace sugar:

Make sure to buy a sweetener that is already balanced to replace sugar on a 1:1 ratio so you don't overuse it and also don't lose the bulk of solid that sugar provides
If the recipe allows you to add sugar to taste (since this is the case) because it doesn't rely on the sugar for bulk, texture or for balancing liquids, add it to taste and if possible, make it a tad undersweet. Less is more when we're talking about sugar and salt


Which tools can be used to safely cut bone? I need to cut various types of bone for its marrow (ie, leg of lamb, or pork bone). I'm wondering what type of tool would accomplish this safely. I've considered bolt cutters, saws, large cleavers, but I'm still not sure. The bone will be stripped of meat, and will mostly be round leg bones about an inch in diameter, and half a centimeter of thickness of bone at most. For example, in this photo : http://perfecthealthdiet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bb-3.jpg

Well, if you don't want to spend a fortune on a Commercial Butcher Shop Band Saw, your best bet is a bone saw.

Image from Philly.com

Here's one on Amazon.

Here's a less expensive one from Cabela's.

Here's a fairly reasonably priced Band Saw with Grinder. If I was going to do a lot of butchery, I'd consider that.


What is the difference between Grills, Barbecues, Broiling e.t.c.? Possible Duplicate:
  Translating cooking terms between US / UK / AU / CA / NZ

What is the difference between Grills, Barbecues, Broiling e.t.c.?

Note: I plan to post my own answer, but you're welcome to post yours.

As Mien pointed out in the comments, these terms can vary based on where you are from. My answer is based on the U.S. version of the terms.

Grilling: To cook with direct exposure to heat, usually from below.

Broiling: To cook with direct exposure to heat, usually from above.

BBQing: To cook with indirect heat using wood in order to add a smoke flavor.

In many parts of the U.S. grilling and BBQing are used synonymously, in which it mostly implies grilling meat outdoors, although, as you can see by the definitions above, that isn't entirely accurate.


At what concentration is sodium bicarbonate a sanitizing solution? I can't find an authoritative answer to the question @rumtscho asked me here about the concentration of sodium bicarbonate, mixtures of which I've come to rely on as a cleaning and sanitizing solution for refrigerators.

I've seen just about any combination you can think of:

With just enough water to form a paste.
With water and vinegar.
With lots of water.
5% dilution in water.
0.5% dilution in water.

Most 'recipes' are not very exact. I've also read that it can be harmful, so the issue is not without interest. Especially as I've been cleaning my fridge with the 5% dilution.

Others, on the Internet, claim that it's a harmless substance and recommend it against stomach pains.

Sodium bicarbonate alone is not a sanitizer at any concentration, although it may be an effective cleaner, mostly due to its abrasive quality.  It may be used in certain sanitization regimes, in combination with other chemicals and agents.

Food Safety Site of Clemson University does not list it as a sanitizing agent.  According to 21 CFR 178.1010 - Sanitizing solutions (as queried through VLex), it is a part of two sanitizing regimes, but not the only component.

There are many non-credible, non-scientific sites that seem to claim sodium bicarbonate has anti-fungal properties, but I do not consider them worthy of consideration.

In terms of reputable sources, there is some evidence from NIH that sodium bicarbonate, at concentrations of 3%, can contribute to anti-fungal properties (at least for storing oranges), but it is part of an overall plan also including biological antagonists, not used alone.

I would not take this to mean that sodium bicarbonate is a sanitizing agent, which is a much stronger statement than simply reducing growth of fungus, which is only one possible type of pathogen.  I simply cannot find any evidence to support this stronger statement.


Are there things you cannot freeze? There are a lot of edible things that come to mind when I think about what can be frozen. But when I think about things you better not put in the freezer, I honestly have no idea.

So, what food and/or drinks come out of the freezer unusable?

(I really am asking about the use, rather than the texture. For example, blueberries would come out mushy, but you can still use them in some dishes.)

And are there things that completely lose their taste or even get an other taste?

A lot of dairy products become watery or start to separate if they've been frozen or defrosted: pastries with cream fillings, cream cheese, sour cream.

The USDA says does not recommend that eggs or canned foods be stored frozen. Eggshells can crack easily, and even if the shells remain intact, the consistency of egg yolks makes them difficult to use for anything other than hard-boiling. Canned foods that are frozen accidentally could pose health risks, so the USDA recommends inspecting to see if the can has rusted or burst. If the can is swollen, thaw it but check to make sure it doesn't look or smell off before eating.

The FDA also has a useful chart (pdf) on which foods don't freeze well and how long you can freeze other foods. (Note: when there is a recommended limit on how long a food should be frozen, it indicates when the quality of the food will decrease - NOT when it will "expire". You could theoretically freeze most foods indefinitely.)

The only other thing I would avoid freezing is any sort of raw green (lettuce, spinach, etc.). Greens wilt and turn brown when you freeze them. (If they're cooked, they should be fine to freeze and thaw.)

EDIT: Apparently, some spices become bitter when frozen, including pepper, cloves, garlic, green pepper, imitation vanilla, and onions, paprika and celery taste different.


Is it normal that cooking time of my pizza is 1 hour in oven with 230 degrees? I know its wired but i need to keep my pizza for one hour in oven with 230 Celsius degrees to properly cook it
but everyone says 20 minutes or less is enough
i don't know why it takes so long for me

sorry for bad English its not my native language

One hour sounds like a long time for a 1.5 to 2 cm thick pizza at that temperature, regardless of the style of pizza.  I would begin by locating an oven thermometer to check the temperature of your oven.


How can you speed up a genoise cake mixing? I usually make a chocolate Swiss roll.

The first step is to beat 4 eggs together with 115g sugar on a double boiler with warm (tap) water. I use a hand mixer for this, and it takes a long time, plus the machine gets really hot in the end.

My question is if there's a way to speed up the process? I haven't timed it (next time). I don't put the double boiler on a stove, it's just filled with warm water. My mixing bowl is plastic.

I suspect that the purpose of the double boiler is to bring the eggs up to room temperature, which isn't going to make that much of a difference. Most recipes would say that the process will take 10 minutes, but you may be able to speed things up marginally:

Use a bowl that concentrates the eggs in as small an area as possible so your beater blades contact as much eggs as possible per rotation. A narrow, tall bowl is better than a wide, shallow one. If you don't have that then tip the bowl you do have so it all concentrates in one area
Use fresh eggs, I've found that fresher eggs take air better. It's true for egg whites at least, so I suspect it will be for whole eggs as well
Let the eggs come up to room temperature before using them, that way you don't need the double boiler setup, which will give you more flexibility when it comes to bowls. If you don't have 20-30 minutes to let the eggs warm naturally then 5 minutes submerged in tepid water will do the same thing

Other than that the only thing I can recommend is to buy a stand mixer or cultivate patience. Preferably both.


Why do my homemade chocolate bars start to melt as soon as I take them out of the fridge? I used this recipe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOIN-7zay6g) w/out corn syrup and honey comb bars to make a chocolate bar. The problem is that as soon as I take out a bar from fridge to eat the bar starts to melt within minute. This was my first attempt to make some thing out of chocolate bars. Is this normal/OK? Or do I need to reduce the amount of butter I used?
I made the bars as following

melted two Cadbury's Bournville dark chocolate bars, exactly these http://www.bournville.in/html/cocoa.html, with around 150 grams of butter
added 200 grams of classic salted peanuts
set in the freezer for 2-3 hours

That's it. The average temperature at place where I live is not more than 27 degrees Celsius.

I think the problem is that you don't have chocolate bars, but chocolate mixed with butter, which has a lower melting point (just like buttercream cake icing).

If it's your dentist who is advising you to go slow on chocolate, you might like to try switching away from high sugar 'candy bar' chocolate and onto higher quality chocolate with a cocoa content of 70% and over. The high-quality Swiss brand Lindt, for example, lists the sugar content of their milk chocolate as 23g per serving, but their 70% dark chocolate as 12g per serving and in their 85% super-dark as only 5g of sugar per serving.


Low fat marinades that still work I´m a huge fan of good meat marinades. However, marinades usually include a lot of oil and adding it to a high fat meat, e.g. lamb or pork is adding more calories in my food than I care for.

Do you know of a good replacement for oil in marinades?

I was thinking of using a mixture of water and mustard...

If you google fat free marinade, you will find a myriad of recipes from many sources.

As a more general principal, you have many options:

For chicken and pork, brining (which seasons, but despite the myth does not add flavor)
Some marinades have soy, water, or citrus as their main base with little or no fat
Dry rub the meat with herbs and spices, which is probably the most effective method of adding flavor
Use a sauce or mop (as the barbecue folks say) during the cooking to add flavor; these tend to be low fat.


What controls the pressure in a MultiCooker? When I attempt to pressure cook in my 8 quart Fagor Lux LCD Multicooker, it no longer builds up pressure. There are two places where pressure can be vented: a vent in the cover that can be set to Clean, Steam, or Pressure (I have it set to Pressure), and a second vent in the handle on the cover over which I have no control. Steam escapes from this second vent for the entire cooking cycle, and when the cooking cycle has completed, and I release the pressure by changing the first vent from Pressure to Steam, no pressure remains to be released.

Other than the mechanism that locks the lid on the Multicooker when there is pressure inside, there does not appear to be any linkage between the Multicooker and the lid, so I am wondering how the Multicooker controls the pressure. Specifically, the Multicooker allows me to choose either high pressure or low pressure (I have chosen high pressure), so my question is, how does the Multicooker control the pressure, since the vent(s) are in the lid, and there is no linkage between the Multicooker and the lid?

Since Fagor is in Bankruptcy, I am reluctant to send my Multicooker for repair, since I might never see it again. Any ideas what might be wrong with Multicooker, or whether this is something that I might be able to repair?

The body of the cooker doesn't directly control the pressure - this is regulated by the floating valve on the lid. It sounds like there is something wrong with the safety pressure valve on the handle. My first thought is a bad gasket or something preventing the gasket from sealing. Inspect the gasket if you can get at it and make sure there's no damage that would prevent a seal.

Worst case scenario you could try to find a replacement lid. It sounds like the body of the cooker still works fine so it would be a shame to discard the whole thing.


Purple skin with white flesh yams/sweet potatoes have black/green spots after I boil them. Can I still eat them? Our local food distribution site gives what they call sweet potatoes. They are purple looking on the outside with white inside. When I boiled them they got kind of black or green streaks in them. Am I cooking them wrong and are they safe to eat this way?  I peel and cut into cubes and boil till fork tender.

A couple of years ago we got some sweet potatoes from an Amish market that we visit whenever we travel along the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland. They were simply labeled "Japanese sweet potatoes". They were as you describe with a purple skin and white flesh. We almost always bake our sweet potatoes and were quite delighted with them as they were very sweet. On a few future visits we asked workers at the market but no one knew the actual variety.

To your question about the color, we mostly buy white flesh sweet potatoes as we find them to be tastier. (Each year around this time we make trips to the Eastern shore to buy boxes of the Hayman variety and some Jersey Whites.) When cooked, white fleshed sweet potatoes do look quite off putting, with varying greenish and grayish coloring. Honestly, if I didn't know what they were supposed to look like I would have asked the same question as you did.

Bottom line is that the color is not so pretty, but a worthwhile trade-off for the flavor!


Dividing dough into rolls I'm looking for a good way to get uniform dinner rolls cut from a batch of dough (6 lbs dough and 4 oz per roll). I use an old-fashioned scale and I have found that unless I work very slowly, it does not measure 4 oz accurately. The pieces are visibly different in size even though they appear to balance the scale. (The scale works well with larger weights.) When I eye-ball it the pieces are better but still not great. I'm wondering if there are any tricks to get good cuts? Note that the dough is 70% hydration so it's somewhat sticky.

If you want to try to manage with the existing scale, it sounds like all you can do is try to measure larger quantities. For example, you could measure 1-pound or 2-pound pieces, then eyeball cutting them in half repeatedly until you get the 4oz pieces you want. When you eyeball things, it's often a good idea to try to get it into a uniform shape before you cut; we're a lot better at drawing a line down the middle of something symmetric than we are at cutting an irregular blob in half.

But a new scale would probably be pretty cheap and useful for other things, so it's not a bad idea if you aren't happy with the accuracy of what you have.


Why is the alcohol content in British beer so weak? I am a Brit married into a French family, so there has obviously been some teasing and so-on over the years about the relative merits of the two cooking cultures :P

I recently took my wife's uncle to the UK, and made certain that he ate well - he came away impressed with the food (despite some preconceptions!), but less so with the beer. He is from the North of France, near the border with Belgium, thus giving him access to a lot of different beers.

I made sure he had the opportunity to try what I consider to be good British beers (he mainly tried Shepherd Neame Kentish ales, as we were in Kent) - and the problem for him was that they were too light, as if they were lacking something.

Real British ale's alcohol content usually hovers between 4 and 5% alcohol, while Belgian beers can obviously go a lot higher. While my father-in-law has developed a fondness for British beers, my wife's uncle wasn't particularly impressed, and I think it was mainly because the beer lacked the 'punch' he is used to.

This made me wonder why British beer's alcohol content is so low compared to the neighbouring cultures- is it just a quirk of different cuisines, or is there some more sinister underlying reason such as the UK government wanting to reduce the impact of drunk workers on the economy at some point in the last few hundred years?

Please don't take this as an attack on British beer - I have always been a big fan of the stuff, and always try to paint British food in a good image!

It's the points/levels in the duty imposed that have made UK beer weak, from a historic point of view.

Over 4% and you are on to a higher tariff point for the duty paid on it, so brewers aimed at 3.9x% for a long time, although there have been changes, and a lot of brewers find that people are prepared to pay a few pennies extra for a stronger brew these days.

Pub prices were once highly sensitive to duty, but so much of the price of a pint is now determined by the running costs of the pub, rather than duty, that stronger beers are becoming more common.

When I was a lad, Old Peculier was only sold in 6oz bottles, and a lot of pubs would only sell it in halves on draught ...


What is this "spatula" called, and what is it for? I have this "spatula". The split in it perplexes me. It was inherited from a roommate who left it behind after moving out. It has a partner, that is a bigger spatula/flipper, with a hole in the middle. While the hole is large enough to be occasionally annoying, there doesn't seem to be anything abnormal about it. Based on the shape of the handle (and compared to the other (not pictured) spatula), the surface in the photo would be the "top".

Those could be a salad set,  similar to
this one. The two "spatulas" might be combinable to form a set of tongs.

Update: Salad sets generally contain a forky and a spoony component, which may or may not be combinable (and there are e.g. combinable pairs of spatulas). On the other hand, shapes vary widely, and there are two-spoon and two-fork sets, and maybe whoever designed this wanted to create a multipurpose tool (considering the straight lower edge).


Why are my olives discolouring in their brine? Olives are in 10% saline solution for 4 weeks. They are black kalamatas. Notice they are losing the black colour and are now splochy. Why is this occurring?

Thanks

I was going to answer, but while searching for the name of the product used to make the olives black I found this perfect answer from http://www.oliveoilsource.com/asktheexpert/are-olives-dyed-make-them-black

Olives naturally turn black as they ripen. When unripe they are green.
As they ripen they get reddish, then purplish and finally black.
"Ripe Black Olives" in a can are actually olives which are neither
black nor ripe when they are picked.  They are picked very green and
then cured using dilute brine and lye solutions.
Lye treatments cause natural phenolic compounds in the olives to oxidize to a black color.
Calcium chloride salts, iron salts (ferrous gluconate) and compressed
air bubbled through the curing vats help develop the black color. So
there is no black dye used but the olives are treated to make them a
nice uniform dark black.
Home curing of olives without these added salts will result in mottled
and brownish olives which taste just as good but are not as
attractive.
The opposite tact is used to make a nice green California- style
green-ripe olive. Air containing oxygen must be excluded to avoid
natural oxidation and darkening of the skins.


Is clouding of lime added water a sign of spoilage? I squeezed half an Indian (asian country, India) lime in a 1 litre glass bottle in the evening. Next day morning, its got a bit cloudish, even the smell & taste has changed.

What happened, is the water spoiled?

pectin and other molecules are in the fresh juice.  they clump and cloud the liquid.  it's normal

refrigerated, up to a few days, as long as it smells good, it is good.

that ratio of juice to water just won't give bad microbes enough to work with to hurt you badly

if you don't like the smell or taste, toss it!

there's good information on how to clarify fruit juices here https://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drop-your-muddler-heres-how-and-why-clarify-your-fruit-juice


What's the difference between green, white, and red onions? Being a north Indian, the only onions that I have used and seen others using are red onions. These are used in all Indian traditional dishes.

I have seen green onions and white onions in the market sometimes (haven't noticed anyone purchasing them though).

How are the green and white ones different from the red onions I'm used to? Are there specific times I should use them instead of red onions, or things I should try them in to be able to tell the difference?

The most significant difference is between green onions, and other onions.  As you probably know, green onions are the stalks that grow from the bulbs of regular onions.  They have a grassy, vegetal flavor with a hint of pungency, but do not taste anything like the bulbs.  Green onions are often harvested from smaller varieties of onion than are cultivated for the bulbs, but can be from any variety.

Any recipe expecting green onions is going to specifically indicate this, and in that case, you should use them.  In this sense, green onions are a completely different item than "onions" which implies the root bulb.  This is much like the fact that coriander roots and leaves are very different, despite coming from the same plant, and are not generally substituted for one another.

Green onions are extremely popular in Asian cuisines, but are also used in many western recipes.

There are many varieties of culinary alliums, including garlic, scallions, leeks, shallots; red, white, yellow onions; and even the sweet onion varieties like Videlia.  Each of these varieties brings a subtle nuance or flavor.

Some recipes are traditionally made with a particular type of allium (such as leek and potato soup) and will call for that variety.

When just "onion" is specified, you can freely use red, white, or yellow, depending on what is plentiful in your region.  Where I live, all three colors of onion are readily available, but yellow are the most popular and least expensive.  As an overall generalization (and it depends on where the onion was grown, and what variety it is, so there is considerable variation and many exceptions):

Yellow onions are the basic, generic onion of Western European and North American style cooking (although in many French dishes, shallots are popular).   They tend to have the most "crying" factor, and the strongest aroma.  For onions that will be sweated, cooked down, or caramelized, this is often the onion of choice.
White onions tend to have a less sulfurous bite than yellow, and often have a somewhat milder flavor.  This is the traditional onion of Mexican cuisine, and performs very well in raw applications, and in salsas.  White onions tend to have the firmest, smoothest texture.
Red onions tend to have the most mild flavor, a slightly rougher texture, and are often used in raw or pickled applications, where their attractive red color stands out.

You will find that even different authors present different descriptions of the various onion varieties, which probably reflects more on what they have in their region, and the great variation than it does anything else.  For example:  National Onion Association,  The Kitchn, The Cooking Dish.

To a great extent, the type of onion used in a given recipe may be freely substituted; rarely, will you have a huge difference in flavor or outcome.   Most often, the choice is determined by your local market conditions—here in the Eastern US, yellow onions are the least expensive, so that is what we use the most of.

The best answer I can give to your question is:

Use green onions where they are called for specifically, otherwise use a regular onion.   Think of them as a different vegetable than plain "onions."
If you are cooking a North American or Western European recipe, and the preferred variety of "onion" is not specified, yellow is the default choice, but use what you have available to you at a reasonable price and there will be only minor difference in outcome.

There is no application I am aware of where you absolutely must use a specific onion or the recipe will fail.


Why are brick ovens used to make pizza? Why are brick ovens used to make pizza? I have seen restaurants advertising "brick oven" pizza as though it was better than pizza made in a deck oven. Is there any basis to this?

One caterer I talked to said it was because the brick oven is hotter, but as far as I can tell pizza is normally cooked at 600F and all professional deck ovens can be set to that temperature.

This is partly about temperature, as brick ovens can get to the 600 degrees F that you cited...and beyond...so, yes, potentially much hotter.  It is also about heat retention.  Further, the low ceiling is a factor.  "Best" is certainly subjective because there are a variety of pizza styles, but the advantage of a brick or stone oven is in the design.  The construction allows the baking surface to heat to a high temperature and then retain that temperature as multiple pizzas are cooked.  This is critical for crust development.  The low ceiling allows the top of the pizza to be cooked quickly, preferably charring the surface crust in places, and cooking a Neapolitan style pizza in 2 - 4 minutes.  Why are they used?  Well, they were around long before deck ovens.  They are an efficient design that has stood the test of time.  They make great pizza.


Is there a frosting that's sweet like American Buttercream but textured like Italian Meringue Buttercream? I know a lot of people find storebought frosting like Betty Crocker's to be vile anathema... but I love its taste.  For me, the sweeter the better! Which is why I was disappointed when I made a batch of Italian meringue buttercream and it was anything but sweet. However, I loooved its rich smoothness. (Conversely, I like the taste of American buttercream but not its texture.) My first instinct would simply be to add more sugar, but I'm worried that would ruin its creaminess.

Is there a way to sweeten an IMBC without impairing its texture, or a different type of frosting that's similarly textured but super sweet?  Or will I be forever condemned to choosing between taste and form?

My wife uses whipped cream frosting, which is quite smooth and soft.

Basically it is cream-cheese frosting with whipped cream added in, and then beaten with a wire whisk beater (easiest to do in a cake-mixer).

A basic recipe is:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 3/4 cups heavy cream, cold

Instructions:

Place the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat
on medium-low speed until smooth.
Turn the mixer down to medium-low speed and pour the heavy cream
down the side of the bowl in a very slow and steady stream, stopping
every now and then to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a
silicone spatula.
When all the cream has been added, turn the mixer up to medium-high
and whip until the frosting holds stiff peaks.
Flavor it as you need, folding in the flavoring

You can sweeten any frosting fairly effectively with extra sugar or sweetener, however too much sugar will cause any frosting to collapse as it absorbs water from the air and other ingredients. If you want to make it extra sweet, use an artificial sweetener


Why is acidic cooking problematic for cast iron pans but not BBQ plates? I've recently discovered cast iron cookware and I'm a little bit in love! I have a couple of questions for experienced cast iron users.

I've done lots of reading and it looks like acidic cooking isn't great for cast iron. You can do a bit in a well seasoned pan, but too much will affect the seasoning and/or affect the flavour of the food. I confirmed this the hard way when I forgot a marinade had lemon juice in it and totally destroyed the patina I'd built up.

I do lots of acidic cooking, as I love tomatoes and lemons!

So my question is, why are cast iron BBQ plates able to handle anything, including acidic marinades and being left out in the weather. What's the difference?

Iron is a very reactive metal, responding to many different influences. Heat, acidity, moisture, even the oxygen content of its environs cause reactions.  Barbecue plates are manufactured with enough other metals (zinc, aluminium, etc.) and via a tempering process that keeps the metal chemically stable in reactive environments. Cast iron is usually pure iron, and it just follows its nature when provided with a reactive environment.


How to get a thicker soup from watery tomatoes? I want to make a tomato soup, but my girlfriend tells me that, from the tomato we have, the soup will be too watery. Now I've read that one could use tomato paste/puree as a thickener, and still keep a rich tomato flavour. But what would be the right dosage of paste? Is there any other advice/method to make a good tomato soup from my watery tomatoes?

UPDATE: Thanks for all your answers, unfortunately the most accepted answer seems to be quite time consuming, and I won't have that much time before tomorrow, the big day. It's my fault really, as I should have told that I had some time constraint. However, I want to try @Michael's solution another time, as it seems really interesting. In any event, I'll give a further update the day after tomorrow.

One thing you can do is dry off much of the water by slow-roasting the tomatoes in the oven first, similar to what I do in this risotto. I think you will get a more complex flavor than if you boil the heck out of them in a pot to reduce. I was also going to suggest pureeing them and then hanging them in a cheesecloth bag to drain the water, but you'll lose too much flavor that way.


Can you become a chef without cooking school? Is there some other path to becoming a professional chef? If I wanted to teach myself, what would that kind of "program" look like?

Yes, you can be a chef without going to cooking school, there are plenty of great chefs who never had any formal training. Paul Prudhomme, Mario Batalli, Tom Coliccio, and Charlie Trotter are some famous chefs who never darkened the door of a cooking school and those are just the ones I can think of. Some top chefs have been known to say they think its a waste of time, I'm not sure I agree but you get the idea. One thing that is pretty much agreed is that the real training starts from when you get your first restaurant job. One story I heard from a top chef (I can't remember which now) was that he told the chef in the restaurant where he worked that he was thinking about going to cooking school and the guy just looked at him and then handed him a bunch of onions and a knife - he never did go to cooking school.

All you need to become a chef is the willingness to work very hard and long hours, and some skills. And restaurants to work in, of course. The skills you can learn at home, and much of that would be food preparation as that's where many chefs get their start. Learn to prepare meat and vegetables in chef-y ways, and learn to be consistent. Practice lots of knife skills - that alone can get you the first job. There are many books out there, and lots of tutorials on the internet for that.


What is the difference between grills when frying a burger? I'm new to cooking and I saw that there is several ways to fry/cook a burger. Saw it with a stone grill, pan, iron griddle; Would like to hear other types also.

But what is the difference in the flavor? What is the influence in the preparation, all I can see is the time that it takes to get it done. Could I get a more juicy or rare burger choosing one over another?

There are many styles of burger, so there is no single answer.  Steamed sliders are going to have different constraints than a smashed burger compared to a pub style burger.

For burgers that are griddled (for the purposes of this post, cooked on a hot, flat surface), the main issue is how much heat can get into the burger, and how fast; secondarily, there are issues of sticking and general maintainability.

Some hamburger cooking methods rely on sustainable, very high heat to sear the outside of the burger, and give a good crust, even while maintaining a less cooked intererior.   This is dependent mostly on the total thermal mass of the pan.

Stone - Lots of mass, but low thermal mass.   Doesn't transmit heat very fast.  Also requires considerable care and maintenance to prevent sticking.
Pan - There are so many types, it is hard to give a single characterization.  Thicker, heavier metal tends to be better.   See Navigating the different types of cookware - new kitchen advice for some general advice.
Cast Iron - Generally has high weight, and very good thermal conductivity (compared to any non-metal), so often ideal for high temperature searing of hamburgers.  Requires seasoning and maintenance.
Charcoal (or propane) grill -- can develop extremely hot radiant heat, which is ideal for some forms of burger cookery, but cannot be done inside.

However, there are so many different types of tools and styles of burger, the quality of outcome is going to depend on your skill, what you are trying to achieve, and how you use the equipment you have as much as the specific pan that you use.

Similarly, the flavor is going to depend, not only on how you cook (which can develop the seared, brown, meaty flavors), but how you season the meat, and the quality of meat you start with.   This is again as important as the particularly pan that you might use.


When proofing active yeast, is it ok to add oil? When I put my active yeast in the water, can I add oil?

Generally, I've seen this done in breads where the liquids are immediately combined with the dry ingredients, sometimes the yeast will be added to the dry ingredients and then the liquids added (as for olive oil breads). But if you have to activate your yeast prior to mixing, it's generally best to allow the yeast to activate in the water for ten minutes or until frothy, and then to add other liquid ingredients and continue.

For pizza dough, I usually skip the yeast activation (depending on the type of yeast you use, you'll have to go through a potentially different method) but active dry yeast can immediately be mixed into the dough with the water without requiring activation.


Solutions for when heating chocolate and butter doesn't mix well Yesterday I tried to make brownies that started out with me having to melt unsweetened chocolate with butter in a frying pan on the stove. This did not work well. The chocolate kindof mixed with the melted butter, but parts of it remained solid. I then had to let it cool before adding the rest of the ingredients; the butter and chocolate separated, and the chocolate formed small to medium solid globs in the butter.

What did I do wrong? If this were to happen again how would I go about fixing it? Should I add something to counteract this and if so what and how much?

NOTE:

I didn't have unsweetened chocolate so I used Hershey's pure chocolate chipits.
I also used margarine instead of butter but have never had a problem with this substitution before.

I am sorry, but the accepted answer is incorrect in many details.

When chocolate seizes, it is due to a small amount of moisture.  Imagine a cup of sugar.  It will pour freely.  If you add a small amount of water, clumps of the sugar will stick together and stop flowing.  Add enough water, and the combination of sugar and water dissolve together, and flow freely again.

With chocolate, it is the solid particles embedded in the fat phase that interact with water to seize.  Adding enough water (about 20% by weight) will un-seize the mixture although it will of course contain much more water.

Similarly, seized chocolate can be recovered for some purposes simply by adding additional water.

This is in contrast to scorching where the chocolate and its components essentially burn, at least locally.  This creates a similar texture to seized chocolate, and a terrible flavor.  There is no way to recover scorched chocolate.

Of the three reasons enumerated in the original accepted answer, only one is a true cause of seizing:

Using too high a heat.  The danger here is scorching the chocolate, not seizing it.   You do want to use low and gentle heat, as from a bain marie, double boiler, or simply in the microwave at low power, but this has nothing to do with seizing.
Sugar bloom and other impurities.  Neither sugar bloom nor fat bloom cause seizing in any way.   In fact, bloomed chocolate can be melted down and then re-tempered, and assuming it has not gone rancid or spoiled, it will be as good as a fresh bar.

Impurities on the other hand, well, it would depend on what they are.  Chocolate chips, especially from supermarket brands, often have some of the cocoa butter of true genuine chocolate removed and substituted with cheaper lipids like hydrogenated vegetable oil.   These fats do not have the same mouth feel and melting characteristics, but again, are unlikely to change seizing behavior.
Contact with moisture.  A small amount will cause seizing.  However, it is trivial to recover--add more liquid until the mixture smooths out again.  Note that this is again in contrast to scorching, which is not fixable.

So of the first three gotchas, really only the third could cause seizing.

So the most likely culprit for the original poster is low quality chocolate chips, or too high a heat leading to scorching.  It is also possible but unlikely that the heat was too high, so that some of the the water boiled out of the butter, leading to seizing—but if that were true, you almost certainly would have scorched the chocolate as well.

Most recipes which direct the cook to melt chocolate and butter together actually have more butter than chocolate, and butter is about 20% water.  This is enough that the fully melted mixture should be passed the seizing point.

Using margarine is also perfectly acceptable in terms of seizing.  It, like butter, is about 20% water, and so performs similarly.  However, if there were some margerine-like product which has a much lower but non-zero water percentage, there might be some danger of seizing.

Furthermore, when melting butter and chocolate together, it is not necessary to pre-melt the butter for two main reasons (I have done this enumerable times, both stove top and in a microwave):

Butter melts at a lower temperature than chocolate, and so will tend to melt first anyway
Assuming the heat level is low, and you stir occasionally, the mixture will not scorch, and so will un-seize when everything is fully melted and stirred together.

Of the advise listed in the original, I would clarify:

Using is margarine is fine, but don't use a product that doesn't contain 20% water, equivalent to butter (or one that contains more water).
There is no need to melt the chocolate and butter separately.  Clarifying the butter first is actually counter-productive, as it will reduce the water percentage, but probably not down to zero.  This may leave enough water to seize, but not to move past the seizing.
Use the best quality chocolate you can find.   This is true, but mostly for reasons of taste, in my opinion.
Melt in a double-boiler or on very low heat.  A microwave on low power, with occasional stirring, can also be very effective.

I would add that any recipe where butter and chocolate are melted together should have more butter than chocolate, in general, because of the seizing problem.  Given that the total water needs to be at least 20% of the chocolate weight, you would need at least equal amounts of butter and chocolate, and preferably double the butter to chocolate (by weight).

A typical brownie recipe that I have made many times, for example, melts two sticks of butter (8 ounces) with 4 ounces of chocolate.  That is 3.2 tablespoons of water from the butter, which is enough top prevent seizing.

One final note:  melting chocolate together with a pure fat (such as pure hydrogenated vegetable oil) that has no water content is fine at any ratio.

Coda on the science:

Chocolate is normally a solid suspension of solid particles in a fat phase, with only a minuscule percentage of water.  So it is water in fat emulsion.  Add enough water—about 20% by weight—and the emulsion will switch to being a fat in water (or sugar syrup, as the sugar in the chocolate will tend to dissolve) emulsion, with suspended solid particles, again flowing freely.  See Food Education's chocolate article for more details on the science.


Why is my green tea foaming too? I buy organic, loose green tea from a co-op and found that it's sourced from China.  I've never had tea foam before and am concerned that the tea has some kind of chemical on it.  The foam tastes very bitter.  It made me throw the tea out.  I know that the FDA only checks randomly at the port so I'm leary of what's making it foam.  Many years of tea making and this is a first.
Does anyone have any experience or answers for this?
Thank you!

The pouring of water over the tea adds oxygen, which stirs up tannic acid in the tea and causes it to foam. Stirring vigorously also adds air, leading to foam from the tannic acid.


Brine level goes down as pickles removed - top off or not? I made some refrigerator pickles and they turned out great. However, as finished pickles are removed for eating, the brine level goes down and no longer covers the tops of the remaining pickles. Should the opened jar be topped off to cover remaining pickles? If so, with what? The opened jars will be put back in the frig.

Keeping vegetables submerged is important in a lacto-fermented product, because the fermentation is anaerobic (happens in the absence of oxygen). Keeping the product submerged during fermentation also makes it less likely that mold will grow on the product.
Refrigerator pickles are not generally fermented, and are just kept in a vinegar and seasoning base to flavor the product.   Refrigeration also drastically slows any problem bacteria and such.  Just avoid sticking your fingers in the jar to keep potential mold at bay, and given that you will likely consume in relatively short order, I would say there is no need to top off.


GIving that alcoholic taste to yeast-leavened cakes (panettones) For the last 3 new year evenings I've tried to make panettones (both chocolate and fruit ones) and my recipe is getting better, with the last one being the first reasonably successful one. However I don't know much about yeast-leavening and there is one thing that I'm really missing on my panettones: that slightly alcoholic taste most store-bought ones have.

What is the trick to achieve such taste or what may I be doing wrong to be missing it?

None I've ever bought - having that taste - had any kind of alcohol/beverages listed as an ingredient. Only vanilla extract and, sometimes, fake panettone flavour, which I strongly think not to be the answer. Also, I know yeast can produce alcohol, but I do not know how or "why". (I've noticed that flavor to be much more intense around the panettone fillings, for truffled and dulce de leche ones)

Yeast naturally creates alcohol from the sugars (gluten) found in bread flour. However, this probably won't be enough to leave an 'alcohol' taste, depending on the amount of yeast used and the amount of time the dough is left to leaven. You'll find that sourdough bread has more of that alcohol taste (and is also a lot fluffier) than a quick 2-hour no-knead bread, for instance.

Traditionally, the dough for Panettone is cured for a couple of days, which results in the fermentation leaving that alcohol taste you're familiar with. However, some Christmas fruit cake recipes (especially the ones in South Africa) do ask for alcohol. Although Panettone doesn't contain alcohol traditionally, you could soak the fruit pieces in liqueur overnight. This is a lot quicker than curing the dough for a couple of days. Perhaps try this recipe and see if you like it more.


When you buy an uncooked frozen pizza, if it is soft does that mean it hasn’t been frozen? I just wanted to know... Is it safe to eat if the pizza was soft after being bought frozen from the store... it wasn’t mushy or anything, but it was a little soft. I’ve never had a frozen pizza before but I do know that frozen food is kinda supposed to be harder. Someone please answer this question.

If the pizza wasn't exposed to anything or just left sitting out for hours on end, it should be fine. Thawing and refreezing over short periods of time won't do much, but they may effect the taste/quality of the food.

You should be fine!


Green streaks on raw meat: is it safe? Here is a picture of raw "reserve beef for stew" that we just bought at our local (nation-wide chain) supermarket:

Where do these green streaks on the meat come from ? Is it normal and safe to cook it ? It is not really very good-looking...

They appear on most of the pieces.

You should be aware that it is perfectly normal for meat to oxidize and become grey in color. In this case, it is still safe, provided it has been stored properly.

I cannot be completely sure that this is the cause based on just your picture. If you have seen the oxidation-grey meat I am referring to and know this is not the same, then this is something different, and possibly dangerous (although Carey Gregory's bile hypothesis has some merit).

But nowadays supermarkets try to hide this process, afraid that their meat will look unappetizing to customers. They package meat in individual containers with low oxygen content (which also has the benefit of keeping it safer). If they still sell raw meat from the display, they only keep a small amount of display, preferably not pre-cut, and stacked tightly, so there is little surface exposure to oxygen. I've also heard that they use nitrites on the surface to prevent the grey-green tinge, but I am not completely sure this is true (it could be illegal, or the amount necessary to prevent the color change could be high enough for the meat to start feeling cured).

So, if you have never seen the grey meat I refer to, this could very well be an example of it. If

you stored the meat properly
the green surface is not slimy (at least, not slimier than the normal parts of the raw meat)
the green surface doesn't smell unusual
there is no texture difference, just the discoloration

chances are that this is not dangerous. You could still decide to be extra safe and discard it (nobody can prove that this is nothing bad), or you could accept the oxygenation explanation and eat it. Or maybe show it to a butcher or an older relative who was used to shopping meat before modern technology made oxidized meat surface a rare sight.


Vacuum sealing vs. water displacement method when doing longer sous vide cooking Modernist Cuisine recommends that for longer sous vide cooking (times greater than 36 hours) that bags are vacuum sealed rather than just using the water displacement method to remove the air from a ziploc bag.

What is the reason for this? Will I be losing something essential if I just use a regular ziploc bag without vacuum sealing?

There is no real safety issue if you do a really good job removing ALL of the air with the displacement method. The challenge is in removing all of the air. According to J. Kenji Lopez Alt at Serious Eats, "Excess air causes oxidation that can develop into off flavors or promote spoilage."

The second issue is with the seal if the Ziploc bags. Generally speaking, these bags are not designed to withstand high temperatures, especially not for long periods of time. It is quite possible the seal will fail during a long cook, ruing your food.

You could certainly use Ziploc bags and give it a shot, there is no dooming reason not to try it. Before cooking your expensive brisket or whatever you're looking to do a long cook with, I recommend trying to overcome these two issues with something cheap to see if you can get rid of all the air and if the seal will last.


Can you store oil in a container that is not airtight? I've have seen that several chefs and home cooks (e.g. my mom) store oils like canola and olive in ceramic or glass bottles with pour spouts that are not sealed. An example of this can be found on Serious Eats

My girlfriend asserted that oils should only be stored in air tight containers as leaving them open to the air (even through a small pour spot opening) leads to oxygen getting into the container and affecting the oil.

Is it true that (1) oxygen can affect the quality of the oil, and that (2) an airtight container can prevent this in a noticeable way relative to the storage mentioned above? If it is, are most of the people using non-airtight containers going through their oil so quickly that it doesn't matter?

Yes, oxygen (and sunlight) can affect the quality of oil. The oil turns rancid after some time. And storing the oil in a really airtight container (like a can from which air has been evacuated before sealing) should prevent or at least slow the process.

However, the problem is that you can't practically store your oil in an airless container and still use it. Yes, you can seal a bottle of oil. But there will still be air between the oil surface and the stopper, and the oxygen from this air will react with the oil molecules on the surface. And if you use a non-sealed bottle, the exactly same thing will happen. Unlike other cases (soda in a sealed vs. open bottle), the reaction of oil and oxygen isn't quick and aggressive enough to quickly exhaust the small amount of oxygen in a sealed bottle and stop. It will go on regardless of whether there is free air flow from the atmosphere or not.

So what can you do? You can still minimize the rate of rancidification. But it isn't the openness of the bottle that matters, it is the contact area size, because this is where the reaction takes place. Which means, store your oil in a (preferably tall and slim) bottle, as opposed to something like a jug. Protect it from light, because light is definitely damaging for oil. Also, buy it in small sizes, so you can go through it in a reasonably short time. And after all, don't worry too much about it. The reactions are slow, and the oils you use several times per week will not last long enough in your kitchen to deteriorate too much. It can become a problem if you collect special oils which are used seldom and contribute a significant part of the taste in a dish.


Why can't I get that grilled taste from my outdoor grill? We purchased a gas grill years ago. We have caste iron grates and high to low flames adjustment. It has this metal plate that covers the flames. I guess it's there to prevent grease from hitting the flames.

Whenever we grill burgers, chicken or steak, they don't have that characteristic grilled taste you get from a restaurant. The grilled taste I am looking for is that charred taste, which is the same taste you get from a good steakhouse or shish kabob. It's the same charred taste you get from the Whopper or a really good burger cooked over open flames. It's not smokey as in BBQ using wood chips.

I'm not using lava rocks, could that be an explanation?

Based on your updated question, the major factor is that your fire simply is not hot enough to produce the charring and browning reactions you desire.

A steakhouse salamander (think of a broiler—grill in British parlance—which has flames on both the top and the bottom, to cook both sides at once) can be up to to 1000°F and the elements are mere inches from the steak on both sides.

Gas grills have a maximum amount of heat they can produce.  The only thing you (may) be able to adjust is the distance to the flame.  The major cooking modality in a grill is infrared thermal radiation.   This decreases per the square of the distance, so the closer your food is to the burner, the faster it will cook (within reasonable limits).

Other than that, you may need new equipment if this is in fact the root cause of your issue.


How do I sautee tomatoes without them being juicy? I sautee them in olive oil and salt and they turn out great except for the fact that they are too juicy. If I could just get the juice out, they would be perfect.

I had some tomato basil pasta the other day at a restaurant and the sauteed tomatoes were done just right (without too much juice). My wife claimed that they used tomato paste in their pasta (and in all marinara sauces as well). If this is true, I would like to be able to cook my tomatoes without the aid of tomato paste. Or, alternatively, I would like to make my own tomato paste from scratch (if this is the only option).

When tomatoes are used as a vegetable in a dish that does need extra water, I will often de-seed my tomatoes. For example, when I put them in an omelet.

The process is simple. Just cut the tomato in half and sweep and the seeds and pulp. Use the remaining flesh as a vegetable.

This technique will work with any tomato but obviously some are better suited for it than others. The meatier the tomato the more will be left. Juicy delicate tomatoes won't have much flesh remaining.

Another tradeoff is that the bulk of the fresh, tomato flavor is found in the juicy pulp that is being discarded. I've tried to boil off the water and put the resulting "sauce" back in but I found it wasn't worth the effort.


Will a pineapple marinade reduce a beef roast to paste? My butcher gave me this warning:

  Make sure you don't soak your beef in a pineapple marinade, stick to brine. I tried it with pineapple once and I ended up with a paste.

Now seems too incredible (because a beef roast is quite tough), but potentially plausible.

My question is: Will a pineapple marinade reduce a beef roast to paste?

Pineapple contains Bromelain, which is "one of the most popular proteases to use for meat tenderizing."  Since it's sold as a meat tenderizer, I'd say it really just depends on how long you marinate with it -- it's possible to over-tenderize something.

This warns about over marinating, and mentions recommended times:

  The same process that tenderizes steak can also break it down into mush if you marinate it too long in the pineapple, and it'll start distorting the meat's color and taste. For cuts thinner than 1 inch, stick to about 10 to 15 minutes of soak time; for moderately thick steaks of 1 to 1 1/2 inches, marinate for roughly 15 to 20 minutes; and for thicker steaks, marinate for about 30 minutes.


Reducing dried chestnuts to size of corn kernel We had a great Chestnut crop this year and would like to make Chestnut flour.  I dried about 4 Mason Jars of nuts in a dehydrator.  Before I use our Nutrimill, we need to reduce (smash is more like it) the nut (about the size of your thumb)to something no larger than a kernel of corn, so it an pass into the grist wheels.  Besides a big hammer, does anyone have suggestions on accomplishing this?

The issue with swinging a hammer is that you have to aim it at a nut that you're holding in your hand. It's not efficient because it requires concentration, and you're going to be doing it a lot. You will definitely smash your fingers some of the time. Instead of a tool that you aim and swing, you want something that hits the nut every time, ideally with little effort on your part. Here are some suggestions, arranged roughly in order from easiest/cheapest to most difficult/most expensive.

Drop the hammer onto the chestnut instead of swinging it. Hit the nut with the flat top of the hammer. This will work best with a heavy hammer, or even a sledge hammer.

Tamping tool, eg an asphalt tamper. Again, it's just a heavy tool that you can drop onto your nut without putting much effort into aiming it. Probably best to put a tea towel on top of the nut to keep the tamper from coming into direct contact with it (especially if you've previously used the tamper on asphalt).

Use a container to hold the chestnut in place instead of your hand. Of course, you don't want to use a dish that could be damaged by the hammer, which probably rules out most of the things in your kitchen. An old square metal baking pan (not glass or ceramic), 8x8 or 9x9 inches, would work well. Just make sure it's one you don't mind ruining, because you will hit the rim occasionally. If you don't have a spare pan, you can certainly get one for cheap at a second-hand store. Put a dishcloth or thin towel in the bottom of the pan to stop the chestnut from rolling. Another option is to arrange some books or boards in the right shape, then cover them with a clean tea towel. This will help with either the dropped hammer method, or just swinging a hammer like you were hitting a nail.

Large wooden mortar and pestle. The mortar is made from a section of a log, and the pestle is the length of a broom handle, but thicker. The pestle should be heavy enough that all you have to do is drop it onto the nut, rather than swing it. So the weight of the tool does most of the work. This is a DIY project, because mortars and pestles this size don't seem to be readily available for purchase. Here's a super labor intensive tutorial for making one yourself by burning out the middle of the log with hot coals. If you're handy, you could make one a lot faster using modern tools.

Another option is to put the chestnut between two boards, and hit the top board with the hammer. This will take a bit more force than hitting the chestnut alone, but it eliminates the risk of smashing your fingers, and the target is bigger so you don't have to aim as carefully. Put a towel on the bottom board, put the chestnut on the towel, fold the towel over it, and put the top board on. The towel should hold the chestnut in place before you smash it, and stops the pieces from escaping afterwards. Cutting a small divot in each board would help.

Put the chestnuts in a cloth sack, eg a pillowcase with a drawstring added. (This will probably ruin the pillowcase, so don't use the one that matches the good sheets.) Sandwich the sack between two pieces of plywood. Drive your car over it. (I have no idea if this will actually work, but if it does, it will save you a lot of labor, so it seems worth trying.)

Heavy duty nut cracker. This one is designed for black walnuts, which have a ridiculously thick shell.


Why does pâte à choux puff up? Why does pâte à choux puff up so perfectly?
What are the ingredients or the science behind it that can make that happen?

A choux is an interesting batter that is created in a way that maximizes gluten structure. It is essentially cooked twice.  You combine and heat water and butter, then add flour and continue cooking the resulting paste. That paste forms a ball, and then several eggs are beaten in.  This batter is then piped onto a sheet and baked.  In addition to the gluten structure, the initial cooking also causes the starches to gelatinize, further reinforcing the structure.  In essence, you have created a deflated balloon.  When the piped shapes are baked, steam develops and inflates the "balloon."  It's all explained quite clearly right here.


Is it possible to make french fries out of potatoes and tomatoes? In the same way that they make tomato tortillas, is it possible to create french fries with a homemade recipe that is made from potatoes and tomatoes both? My idea is to create something that does not require catsup.

I can think of two approaches. In either case, you are going to want to use dehydrated tomato powder (or ketchup powder), as you certainly don't want to add the water content of the tomato to your fry. Option one would be to mix the tomato powder into a mashed potato, structure that with some hydrocolloid, and fry. The other, much simpler and probably better approach would be to season with a powdered-tomato spice mix immediately after frying.


Is it correct and safe to assume that "use by" dates are less precise the longer in future they are? When there is some food (like cheese or ham) that has roughly a week "use by" date, I assume that it's safe to eat it a day after it's "use by" date.

For other food that has approx. half year "use by" date (like olives in glass or pesto) I think it's safe to eat it for anything up to a month or so.

And for canned foods having years it should be safe to eat few months after "use by" date.

My thinking is that it's harder to pinpoint the exact date the further the date is in the future. I would even expect that "use by" dates are something around the half time the food is still actually edible.

Am I correct in this line of thinking? Do you know of any reliable resources on this? I couldn't find anything.

"Use by" dates are pretty imprecise to start with. They're designed to be conservative, and they have a huge amount of leeway.

To the degree that they mean anything at all, I'd say that their precision is proportional to their duration. They might be conservative by, say, a factor of 2: eggs that are good for "1 week" are likely to be good for at least 2, and a box of cake mix good for "6 months" will be good for at least a year. And so on.

The fudge factor may well be closer to 4, or even 10. I've certainly kept a lot of things much, much longer than the expected dates. The only things for which expiration dates even come close is meat and fish, followed by milk. Those are things that "go bad" in obvious and unpleasant ways. Everything else just kinda gradually degrades, rather than suddenly becoming toxic.


Pampered Chef taco shell maker stoneware with cracks. O.K. to use? I bought 2 taco shell makers stoneware that have some hairline cracks in them. Will it be safe to use them?

Here is a picture:

Unless, I'm not seeing something in the photo, those appear to be scratches and not cracks.  I don't see any reason to doubt the integrity of the stoneware.


Do people add onions when cooking meat via sous vide I never really see or hear of people adding onion to the bag when they are cooking meat with sous vide. Are there any reasons not to add onion? Would it affect the texture of the meat?

I tried @thrig's idea of making caramelized onions first and adding them to the bag and it worked wonderfully.


Can raw honey look dark and runny? I have purchased Safa raw honey.
They have written that their honey is:

100% Pure & Raw
Raw
Unheated
Unfiltered

This honey is runny and dark in colour (almost black). It has some residue in it.

This website shows raw honey that looks like a paste:
http://www.hibeautiful.net/directory/skin-benefits-of-raw-honey

Have I been fooled? Can raw honey look dark and runny?

That seems normal.

All the "raw" means is that it was extracted from the honeycomb without significant heating. It's liquid to start with in the honeycomb, so it's normal for it to still be liquid when you get it. I don't know if I'd call it runny, it should still generally be a pretty thick, slow-flowing liquid, but it's not a paste.

The color is mostly just a function of what the bees were gathering. Dark is often more flavorful, probably a good thing, but depends on your tastes. Mass-produced honey is very often lighter, and wildflower honey (where the bees just get whatever they want) is very often darker.

I've definitely seen plenty of raw, unfiltered honey that looks liquid and roughly the darkness of the raw honey you bought, judging by the picture in the linked page. If anything, it's probably more common to find dark unfiltered honey, because the filtering can lighten it up a bit.

The "paste" you linked to looks like it's crystallized/creamed. There are a lot of tiny sugar crystals, making it thicker and opaque, which tends to make it look a bit lighter too. (It's not completely smooth, like "perfect" creamed honey, but it's a lot smoother than uncontrolled crystallization, so I think it's fair to call it creamed.) Raw, unfiltered honey does crystallize more easily, because it has more imperfections in it to jump-start crystallization, so it's not entirely surprising to see raw honey in that form. But raw honey certainly doesn't have to be that way.


Fry chicken with honey I like to marinate my chicken with honey, orange and soy sauce. My problem is that when I pan fry, with a little olive oil, the pan gets black even before the chicken is done. Burning a little skin but the chicken inside is fine, except for a little hint/scent of burned.

One time I tried to hit the chicken in the pan when very hot, and after it looses it up a bit even throw some wine to bring the temperature down make some sauce. But didn't worked that much as I expected.

So, my question is how to properly make a chicken that is tender and full of flavour, not burn and that is properly cooked ? What am I doing wrong ?

Honey will caramelize and burn before the chicken is fully cooked. It would be better to bake or roast the chicken in the oven at an even temperature, if you've marinated it prior to. Covered in foil at first and then finished off uncovered to add a little colour.

If you prefer to cook it in the pan, then adding the honey should be your last step. Turn off the stove element and drizzle the honey onto the chicken, the residual heat in the pan will take care of the rest. Chicken doesn't release enough fat to make a sauce out of it like you would with a pork or a duck (in reference to making a sauce with the wine).

I do this myself with chicken thighs (fattier than chicken breasts, so flavours tend to adhere better), honey, and paprika. Heat the oil in the pan, medium-low. Add sliced onions, sprinkle with salt to release the juices and gently cook until they're soft and caramelized. Rub paprika onto the chicken thighs and add them to the pan. Cook until the juices run clear. Turn off the heat, add the honey, mix it in and let it cool a bit before serving.


Can anyone explain the meaning of 2x and 4x brie cheese? I have seen brie cheese labeled 2X and 4X and would like to know what that means.

I think you're referring to "double creme" and "triple creme" brie. In this, the milk is enriched with added cream until the butterfat content is double or triple the normal level before the cheese is made.

According to French law, this works out to 60-75% butterfat for double creme brie, and 75%+ for triple creme.  Note that's the percentage of the dry matter in the cheese, excluding the water contained in the cheese, and not total volume.  Here's a good post explaining the differences.  In general, these tend to be much creamier and richer than "regular" brie.


What's a good substitute for basil in pesto sauce? I'm making some pasta at home with a pesto sauce. The recipe I'm referring to asks for some basil leaves to go along with the pine nuts in the food processor. Unfortunately, I can't find basil where I live, and I'm looking for a something else to put instead. What's a good substitute? For that matter, what does basil taste like -- is it like spinach?

If we're talking about the big classic pesto alla genovese, then unfortunately...
There is no substitute.
Basil is the majority ingredient in pesto.  None of the other suggestions here will taste even remotely similar.  You'll be making a completely different dish entirely.  It will be some type of vegetable/oil paste, but it will not taste anything at all like pesto.
It would be like trying to make baked beans without beans, or french onion soup without onions.  These ingredients are so dominant and so essential to the flavour of the dish that there's literally nothing left without them.  Just forget about it and make something else.  It won't be pesto without basil - not even close.
Critically, if you're using this pesto as a component in a larger dish then
it definitely will not come out correctly with any of these substitutions.  Pesto is used in a lot of ways and every recipe that asks for it is expecting the flavour profile of a basil pesto.  No substitution will be effective in this case, and each recipe that calls for pesto will have its own unique flavour profiles that will clash in various different ways with each of these substitutions.
If you're desperate, whatever substitutions you do end up making will depend heavily on what you're ultimately doing with the pesto - what you're pairing it with.  We don't know what that is, so it makes it that much harder again to make a reasonable suggestion.


Thermal Properties of Seasoned vs Anodized Aluminum? I recently made an Aluminum baking "Steel" for baking pizza. The entire point of Aluminum is that it is orders of magnitude more thermally conductive than steel and (relative to its weight) has a higher thermal capacity; While not sharing the same sort of cost as copper.
But one thing I have never heard mentioned is the thermal properties of adding an anodized/oxidized layer or a seasoned layer. Is their any research or scientific theory on what thermal peripheries a layer of seasoning adds to an aluminum cooking surface vs just lettings the surface oxidize/get professionally anodized?

A surface insulating layer (whether deliberate anodising, natural oxidation, or seasoning) will only really affect the heat flow through that layer from the bulk metal into the food on top.  It won't affect the heat-spreading effect used for even cooking, and it won't affect the heat capacity.
So now we're considering the difference between various surface layers.  These will probably have a similar thermal conductivity to a ceramic pizza stone (to order-of-magnitude precision), but being thin layers between the food and the aluminium sheet heat reservoir will have a small effect compared to the temperature drop between the core of a pizza stone and the food on its surface.  This means whatever has happened to the surface you'll couple the heat from the sheet to the food  better than with a pizza stone, which would appear to be your goal.
The thermal conductivity of most foods that you'd cook on a stone/steel will be far lower - most consist of dough with gas bubbles in, basically insulating foam.  That's what will limit the time for the middle to cook through.  Perhaps a smoother layer will give better contact, but clean seasoning and anodising are both quite smooth.
More of an issue than thermal effects will be sticking.  This is an application where you really don't want the food to stick, as it will carry on cooking while you free it up.  It will also be a pain to deal with as I find with my home made aluminium pizza peel on thin bases.  Hopefully the thorough, fast cooking will avoid sticking in the first place, but spills of sauce etc. will still need to be cleaned up, so a bigger question than heat flow would be ease of cleaning.


A few basic stove questions When cooking oil doesn't spread well, how do I fix that without spray or spill? How often do I need to reapply oil? Which oils catch fire?

Is safe to heat any types of dinner plates on the burner?

How do I heat the pan to a certain temperature?

Different oils burn at different temperatures. I'm guessing that you don't have a thermometer that will measure the heat of your pan (that's a pretty specialized item that most cooks don't have), so just know which oils you use have low smoke points, and which have high. Here's a good chart concerning smoke points, and here is a good answer about guaging the heat of the pan Cooking on the stove: what is "too hot" for a pan?. Deep frying (with a couple of centemeters of oil in the pan or more) is different. For that you should use a thermometer if you can. Most deep frying is done at 350F (175C). Choose an oil with a smoke point well above that. If you don't have a thermometer, drop a small piece of whatever you're frying into the oil, and look for it to start to brown right away, without threatening to burn.

You can tell when your oil is getting to it's maximum safe and tasty temperature when it just starts to smoke a tiny bit. That tiny bit is OK, just don't go any further. Ideally, you should start with all the oil that you will need, so you don't have to add more. An exception to that is if you're frying in batches. If you need to add oil, give it time to get as hot as for your last batch.

Any oil can catch fire if it gets too hot. If that happens, usually the best way to put out a grease fire is to get a lid on the pan to deprive it of oxygen. Kitchens should also have a fire extinguisher (B type, or ABC or AB type). NEVER use water to put out a grease fire.

Finally, the easiest way to spread oil is usually to tip and swirl the pan. If the oil isn't hugely hot, you can also use a paper towel to spread it.


How to stop spices burning when browning meat? I was browning seasoned chunks of lamb in a cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat and found that by the end there was a large mass of oily black spice mixture in the bottom of the pan.

You've got a few options:

slightly cooler can make a big difference (basically buying you time to keep things moving).
or hotter can brown the meat faster if it's going to be cooked through in a sauce.
(more) oil should stop the spices sticking to the pan; that's when they burn
if they're big chunks of meat you can turn them individually rather than stirring. Less will fall off.
when you can't stop the spices burning the meat is probably browned enough, even if you'd like a little more colour. Have your liquid ready to add
if you're browning before a long cook in liquid, do you really need to season the meat before it goes in the pan, or can you add the spices when the meat is nearly browned?

Many spices want to be browned to release or improve the flavour, so it's probably a small adjustment that you need to make.


How to roast potatoes in the oven to make them crispy? What is a good way to roast potatoes in the oven in a way that they get crispy ?

At the moment this is how I do:

I start from raw potatoes (I never got why I have to boil them first).
I put them in a baking tray, and some oil, and turn them many times, and take care that they are all covered by oil.
Put the oven on the maximum (482° F) with ventilation.
After 15 min I take them out and turn them
After 15 min I turn them again, put the oven on 390° F, switch on the grill and put them on the last floor of the oven.
Here the last 10 minutes I open the oven door 3-4 times to make the steam go out and make them a bit less humid.

First you want the right potatoes, a medium starch content works best. Waxy potatoes don't work, they have too much water in them. Maris Piper potatoes work well, in the US Yukon Golds are a good choice.

Next you have to peel them, don't try and get them crispy with the skins on. Crispy skins are great, but you'd use a different method then this to get them.

Boil them in salted water until you can get a fork into them but they aren't completely done. Drain them while still in the pot and then shake them around a bit as it will rough up the outsides, giving a good surface area. This is the real secret, the rough outside of the potatoes.

While the water was heating up you needed to be putting a baking tray in the hottest oven you can manage or just below the smoke point of your oil or fat. Do not use olive oil, butter or anything with a low smoke point. Goose fat, duck fat, peanut oil, canola, sunflower will all work, it all depends on how thick you want your arteries to get ;) . 200C (about 400F) is a good temperature to shoot for with most oils.

Once the potatoes are boiled, drained and roughed up get the hot pan with the oil out and pour the potatoes in, spreading them out. Tilt the pan so the oil pool at one end and use a big spoon to coat the potatoes in the oil, then get them right into the oven. Really crispy potatoes take about 45 minutes, it helps if you take the pan out halfway and turn the potatoes over, then do the tilt and spoon trick again. Once they're done get them out of the oil into a bowl, you don't want them sitting in the oil when you serve.

If you overboil the potatoes you can come back from it, you simply shape the loose potato with your hands and drop them onto the pan, the outside will harden and get crispy, holding it all together. I know people who boil their potatoes until they fall apart on purpose as they like them that way, to me it's too much extra work, but they do get really crispy.


Where do I buy a large amount of dried vegetables? I'd like to buy a large amount of dried vegetable matter to stock up on backpacking supplies.  I'm interested in almost any kind of edible vegetables, including the generic, assorted, mixed, ground-up, and processed kind.  I'd just like to have a lot of options to look at, but CHEAP above all! Wholesale retailers are also of interest to this OP.

And why vegetables? For flavor, fiber, and vitamins.

Do you have a food co-op or health food store near you? Lots of them sell in bulk, including dried veggies or dried mixes (for example refried beans or falafel). Additionally, you can ask if they offer a case discount, which means you buy a 20-or-so pound bag and sometimes can get about 10% off the bulk rate. To see if you have a co-op in your area check coopdirectory.org


How do I make good chimichurri? I've checked out several recipes and none of them really turn out right. They taste like well... parsley, balsamic vinegar, and garlic. No actual kick to it. Nothing special.

I toss the whole thing into a hand blender and serve it raw.

I'm not sure if I'm using the right chili. I don't have access to many American chilis, and am mostly relying on SE Asian ones. I also avoid alcohol, hence the usage of balsamic vinegar instead.

Am I missing some technique or secret ingredient?

A couple of ideas you might try: using half cilantro and half parsley, and adding some very finely minced raw onion. I also sometimes add a tablespoon or so of drained capers. Some people also add a modest amount of fresh oregano leaves for their resinous punch.


Is very slow smoking of meat allowed commercially in the US? Many Portuguese sausages, especially in the Trás-os-Montes region, are prepared by smoking for weeks or even months. Examples include chouriço, salpicão, paio, etc. I don't seem to be able to find Portuguese sausages in this heavily smoked style in the United States.

Do USDA regulations allow the production and sale this type of sausage?

There are several additional questions that your original question brings about, if you are in the context of the USDA and regulations.  Whether or not the USDA allows for this kind of sausage production is a different question to whether or not there are producers who are actually doing it.

Are you interested in producing the sausages yourself to sell, or are you just looking for people who might be producing them for you to buy?

The USDA website for its Food Safety and Inspection Service, who would likely regulate this kind of production, is here:  https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/home

This would be where you would look to find out if the regulations prohibit the production, or if there are specific prohibitions to ingredients or processes that are part of the production.


Beef Broth - What Went Wrong? Home-cooked Phở is my white whale. Anyway, before I can cook Phở, I need to be able to make beef broth, and so far I've failed completely.

My broth is greenish-gray in color, mostly flavorless, and smells like a swamp.

Here is what I did. Keep in mind, this happened TWICE:

I purchased a few pounds of beef knuckles from the store.
I placed them in a stock pot, and covered them with water.
I boiled them for a half hour or so.
I emptied the pot, along with all of the scum.
I did my best to scrub all of the scum away from the knuckles (very difficult).
I re-filled the pot with water.
I brought it to a boil.
I added some chunks of beef.
I skimmed the top frequently.

3 hours later: disgusting pond water.

Since this process is so time-consuming, I am not keen on experimenting with it again until I have a pretty good idea of what went wrong. I've asked around for some advice. Some told me I should roast the knuckles first. Some told me I should start with cold water. Ok, this sounds like good advice, but these seem like small potatoes. They certainly don't seem like the sort of thing that could turn a pot of beautiful, delicious beef brother into pond water. I must be doing something horribly, horribly, horribly wrong.

I'm hoping to find someone who has had a similar experience, and has a pretty good idea of why this is happening to me. =(

Some of your 'shortcuts' are not good ideas. Definitely start with cold water. Definitely bring up the temp slowly. Definitely do not boil. Do add aromatics upfront to the broth, but remove them as they get mushy so they don't cloud it.

Standard ratio for beef broth would be: 8 pounds of bones to 6 quarts of water to 1 pound of veggies (onion, leek, carrot) to one 'boquet garni', essentially garlic, rosemary, anise flavoring for pho, and bay leaf, plus whatever else I forgot.

If you have 'pond water', which I interpret as thin-tasting, you probably put too much water in the second time -- this is fixable by slowly evaporating out the water until it gets to a good texture. If you skimmed properly, it will be clear as you do this. I will typically strain through a kitchen towel or cheesecloth as the liquid evaporates down.

I'm guessing you put in like a gallon of water, so you had like three or four times too much water.

As a warning which you probably already know, you are not going to be able to duplicate your local pho joint's broth -- the broth recipe is the thing for pho makers, and they probably have a bunch of tricks they use, including using a neverending supply of yesterdays pho, that you won't be able to do at home. That said, you should be able to get a good beef broth if you follow some basic rules for making stock.


(Intentionally) Mixed Texture 'Scrambled Eggs' I'm trying to replicate a strange form of 'scrambled eggs' that I had on holiday in Austria recently, but I can't figure out how it's done.

Instead of the usual fluffy, semi-soft yellow 'clouds', all roughly the same texture, this was a mix of different textures/types: part slightly runny omelette, part firmer omelette, part hard boiled egg including the whites. I thought the omelette parts and the boiled egg parts must have been cooked separately then assembled at the end, but the finished article was all joined/melded together rather than being in separate pieces.

I've tried making the different components separately then combining, but it doesn't all come together right at the end. I've also tried poaching the eggs, then putting them in a frying pan, bursting the yolks and letting the liquid form the omelette, but again that doesn't come out right.
PS: Two points to add:

1) I had this several times while on holiday and it was always the same, so I presume it was intentional and not a 'one off' mistake by the chef.

2) I know it probably seems like more trouble than it's worth, but I really enjoyed the mix of textures rather than the usual homogenous variety, so it's not about replicating it for the challenge. I really want to keep eating this!

Does anyone have any ideas please?
Thanks in advance.

That's the method of scrambeled eggs I learned when I was a kid. It's extremely simple and needs a certain sloppiness to get the - in this case desired - results. No beating the eggs in a bowl, no super-diligent stirring and no milk or cream added.

Tools:
A pan, a fork or small spatula.

Ingredients:
Eggs, butter, salt, (pepper).

Method:
Heat some butter in the pan on medium heat - probably hotter, than you would for classic scrambeled eggs. Once pan is nice and hot, crack your eggs directly into the pan. Wait a moment until some of the whites have started to set - if you make four or more eggs, this will have happened already by the time you added the last one. Use your fork or spatula to loosen the bits of egg that have started to set at the edge and bottom of the pan and push them to the middle. Be gentle, do not actively "scramble" the eggs or stir too much. Continue, until the eggs are mostly done, then give them a last good stir and serve.
You can also stop stirring a tad earlier, lower the heat and put a lid on the pan to finish cooking, which will give you a more omelette-like appearance as the loose lumps bind together.

That should result in streaks or strands of yolk and whites (like hard-boiled egg) in a pale yellow scrambeled base.

If you've been dilligently making smooth scrambeled eggs in the past, it may feel like "messing up", but it works.


So much water in cake, how to fix? My mango chantilly cake has fallen, due to too much water inside the plastic storage. Now, assuming that I don't have an oven what are the practical workarounds that I can try to fix the cake?

So far this are the things that I did:

Removed all the water, but still the cake is watery and not good looking.
I tried to put it in a rice cooker then while trying to pre-heat the rice I put the cake in a steamer then put it in the rice cooker, but it's still damp/soggy.

If you have a stove: Put a pan on the stove and use low heat to "toast" your cake.
If you only have a rice cooker: The rice cooker is only for "wet-cooking" like cooking rice or steaming. I don't know whether toasting food in the rice cooker breaks the cooker. Therefore I don't know how to fix the cake then.  :(


Does an avocado seed help guacamole stay green? My friend was telling me about a habit in the Spanish culture (I'm not sure if it's done elsewhere as well) of leaving the avocado seed inside when making guacamole. The claim is that if you leave the seed inside the guacamole, something in the seed prevents the guacamole from browning.

I'm a little skeptical - I thought that the browning was due to oxidization. If that's the case, then I don't see how a seed could help in preventing oxidization. Am I missing something? Is this true, or just a myth?

You're correct - it's a myth, as is adding something acidic to it like lemon juice--see explanation here. As you said, what causes it to brown is the oxidation, and that's just exposure to the air. If you wrap a cut avocado (or guacamole) in plastic wrap so there's no air space between the wrap and the avocado, then it will stay green longer than areas where air is getting to it.


Raw chicken 2 hour/4 hour time I left raw chicken in my car for just under two hours at 11 degrees Celsius (51.8 F) by accident. Apparently this is safe (?) as it is under two hours and the temperature outside is not high. I put it straight in the freezer  and then the fridge to cool it quickly. Does this mean I have to be extra careful with this particular piece of meat as there is the four hour total window and two hours is already used up? Thanks!

Edit: The answer to this question helped me. How many times is it safe to reheat chicken?

The "danger zone" is 4.4° C - 60° C, so it was in the danger zone. It should not be left there for more than a total of 2 hours - and yours was 2.

On top of that, freezing does not reset this countdown, it only stops it temporarily. You probably shouldn't eat this piece of meat, it isn't worth the risk.