What is the difference between normal oils and cooking oils? I am not proficient in cooking but I have one question which I am not able to figure out.

I have read on internet some oils should be used for dressing, other for cooking.

But to me, they all look same. I mean what will happen I use same oil for

Cooking
Deep frying
Dressing

I mean, what's the difference and why is there a difference in cooking and dressing etc. in oils?

There are three major properties an edible fat (I am assuming you are not asking about inedible oils like petroleum based products) has that affect how it is best used:

Flavor
Saturation
Smoke point

Properties

Flavor

The flavor of the fat is very important.  So called neutral oils (like canola oil or refined grapeseed oil, or refined peanut oil, among many others) have very little flavor and so are suitable for almost any cooking task, as they will not interfere with or compete with the other flavors in the dish.

Other oils such as sesame oil are primarily used for the delicious flavor that they provide, and are almost more of a condiment than an oil for culinary purposes.

In between are oils like olive oil and coconut oil which have a distinctive flavor, but also have good qualities for cooking.  Many non-oil fats used in cooking (like butter, or bacon fat, lard, or suet) also have distinctive flavors.

Saturation

The level of saturation in the fat controls how hard the fat is at room temperature.

Most oils are fairly low in saturation, and are so quite liquid even at room temperature.  The major exceptions among the vegetable based lipids are coconut oil and cocoa butter.  Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, and cocoa butter is actually quite hard at room temperature.

Note that while you only asked about "oils", many common cooking fats not usually called an oil are much more saturated, including butter, lard, and hydrogenated vegetable oil such as the US brand Crisco.

The level of saturation can affect texture of baked goods made with a given oil, and whether the fat is suitable for the creaming method or in making laminated pastry in baking.

Saturated fats also resist rancidity better over time better than non-saturated fats (although they are still subject to rancidity).

Smoke Point

The smoke point of a fat or oil is temperature to which it can be heated before it begins smokng.

Oils which have a high smoke point (such as grapeseed oil or peanut oil among others) are more suitable for high temperature searing, or deep frying.

Applications

The oil for a given application is based on the properties it has.

Cooking

For general cooking uses (by which I am inferring general sauteeing, shallow frying, greasing of casserole dishes, and so on is meant), normally you want a fat which is either:

Neutral in flavor so as not to interfere with the dish.  The neutral oils are all useful for this.
Complimentary in flavor, to enhance the dish.  Many cuisines have traditional fats which are flavorful, but are integrated into their cuisine, such as olive oil or butter.

Saturation matters less (as the fat can be melted before greasing a pan, for example), and smoke point is not terribly relevant unless the application is searing, in which case you want a very high smoke point.

Depending on the application and the cuisine from which a dish derives, almost any oil or fat may be used for general cooking purposes.  The major exception is sesame oil, which is so flavorful that it is used as a condiment, not a fat, for culinary purposes.

Deep Frying

The most important aspect for deep frying is smoke point.  A low smoke point oil would break down and add off flavors to the dish (not to mention making the kitchen smoky and setting off smoke alarms).

Secondarily, for oils that are going to be reused over time, saturated fats such as hydrogenated vegetable shortenings break down more slowly, and may be considered advantageous.

Generally, flavorful oils are not indicated, as the same factors that give them good flavor often give them low smoke points.

Some good oils for deep frying include peanut oil, canola oil, or hydrogenated vegetable shortening.

Dressing

For most dressings (by which I infer you mean salad dressings as used in many Western style cuisines), the most important factors are flavor and saturation.

You want an oil with good flavor (such as olive oil) or neutral flavor (such as the many neutral oils like canola, refined peanut, corn oil, and so on).

Most dressings also need an oil which is liquid at room temperature, and thus low in saturation.  The major exception is  the class of hot dressings made with bacon fat.

Many dressings are made from olive oil, or one of the neutral oils.

Baking

While you did not ask about baking applications, there are two types of baking which require a fat with specific properties:  cakes made by the creaming method, and laminated pastries like croissants or puff pastry.

These applications require a fat which is solid at room temperature, but still plastic enough to be manipulated.  Generally, only butter and hydrogenated vegetable oil are suitable.

Bottom Line

The oil or fat you choose for any particular purpose will be based on what is best for that application—but a good neutral oil with a high smoke point such as refined peanut oil or canola oil can serve the vast majority of culinary purposes most of the time.

See also:

What is meant by "neutral" oils?
When is a cooking oil not appropriate to substitute for another?


Chewy meat on poultry (duck) bones Now, I think we have all heard of this method of telling that poultry is done: "When the meat pulls away from the bone easily." How true is this? Might the meat be overcooked in some cases.

Now my specific situation regards duck (both ~5 pounds). We deep fried some ducks for Christmas dinner. The first we checked at 20 minutes, it wasn't done, so we put it in for another 20 minutes. The other just cooked for 35 minutes. They both measured in at ~175 F - 180 F and were allowed to rest. But I was just eating left overs and one of them was  sort of rubbery/chewy near the bones and the thigh and leg didn't seperate easily. The other was the opposite but a little dry. I am curious about risk of foodborne illness and whether I should chuck it.

In terms of food safety, temperature is the best and most reliable rule. 165F is good enough for duck, so yours is definitely all safe to eat. No need to pitch it, unless you think the texture is so bad you don't want to eat it.

Pulling away from the bone definitely isn't a perfect food safety test. You'll definitely be able to get poultry to a safe temperature without the meat pulling easily and cleanly off the bones. So yes, if by overcooked you mean cooked beyond the minimum safe temperature, or held at that temperature for a long period of time, that test will cause you to overcook it. (I don't think it goes the other way - it's not going to pull away from the bone if it's under the safe temperature.) But at the same time, you might prefer the texture when it's pulling away from the bone, so it doesn't matter if it's beyond the minimum safe temperature. If you love the results, it's not really overcooking, is it?

But it sounds like yours was perhaps all overcooked by any definition - both chewy and dry are generally signs of overcooking, and you got 10-15F above the minimum safe temperature too.


Use water or milk in a tart crust? I'm making a toffee apple tart that has a shortbread pastry as its crust, and the author of the recipe says you can use milk or water in the crust.  Which would be better?  Or do they each have their own strengths and weaknesses?

They are technically two different pastries. Shortcrust pastry made with water is called pâte a foncer, 'lining pastry'. Shortcrust pastry made with milk is called pâte brisée. Pâte brisée typically contains a bit more butter, and is generally lighter and flakier than pâte a foncer, which is conversely crisper and firmer.

So it's up to you really; both are very similar. The pâte brisée is more delicate, so if you have a 'heavy' filling, say, lots of fruits, it might be better to go with the foncer.


Why would the first few pancakes come out perfect, but only get worse from there? I have never been a pro at making pancakes. I tried again yesterday making them, using this recipe:

Ingredients
1½ cups flour (375ml)
2 eggs
600ml milk
pinch of salt

Method
Mix all the ingredients until bubbles form on the top of the mixture.  Then simply pour into a non-stick pan on medium heat. Flip the pancake once bubbles have formed on the surface.

The first 3 of 4 come out perfect: fluffy, slightly brownish and not breaking apart when flipping.  From there it only gets worse, going to big black spots, not fluffy and the spots that aren't brown are undercooked. Why is this?

Ah, the worsening pancake debacle. I know it well. We have all been there, even after training for countless hours to make the perfect soufflé at the Culinary Institute.

The pan is getting too hot.

You should cool the pan with a quick rinse. This will also have the effect of resetting the surface, to get rid of any built-up grime or grease.

Good luck and happy cooking!


Best way to improve my pizza crust Here's how I prepare the dough: 500g of bread flour + 325ml of water + 6g of instant yeast + 1tsp of salt. Mix with the dough attachment on my hand mixer for ~20 min, cut in 4, form them into tight balls, put into plastic bags sprayed with olive oil, store in the fridge.

They then double in size in around 3h in the fridge and double again over the next 24h after that. They don't form any visible bubbles, its more like a very even rubbery foam.

I can start forming them into pizzas after those first 3 hours but those aren't that great, they aren't chewy or crispy, they are bland and mostly just taste like bread.

48 - 96H is where the sweet spot is, great flavor, chewier, crustier. After 96H the dough starts to get sticky and hard to form though so I usually don't keep them that long.

Thing is though, my pizzas are never as chewy or crusty as they come from a great restaurant. My oven is kinda weak, it only gets up to ~200C so I have to cook the pizza for ~15-20 mins, the less the chewier, the more the crispier, I usually aim in the middle but I never really get both. I also don't have a pizza stone, I prepare and cook them on parchment paper which I put straight on the middle rack.

So do you guys think I would benefit from that stone slab? Or buying a more powerful oven? Or something off with my recipe or process?

200C is pretty low for baking pizza; you'll tend to get bread (as you say).  Commercial pizza ovens range from 300C to 450C
If you don't have a baking stone, then at least put the pizza on an inverted preheated baking sheet.  Something to get heat on the bottom of it, to crisp the crust.  Otherwise ... bready.
From the 48-96 hour period you're using, it sounds like you're aiming for a sourdough crust.  Why not create your own sourdough starter, and use that to start your pizza dough?


How to dry wet sugar? How to dry sugar when it gets wet?

If the sugar is just damp -not wet beach sand- tip it through a sieve/strainer gently enough to catch the clumps. These lumps can be air-dried in a shallow layer (not humid conditions) then once again into a strainer and rubbed through to separate. Or just enjoy the homemade 'cubes' with your tea.


Making brigadeiros in Portugal similar to the ones in Brazil There is a famous Brazilian sweet called brigadeiro (I've seen a few questions related to it around here) that is basically made of condensed milk, cocoa or powdered chocolate, and butter.

I've been making it my whole life using Brazilian ingredients (especially condensed milk) and it has always come out with a shiny caramelized texture, as follows:

I have just moved to Portugal and the results from using the local condensed milk are sightly different in texture: it's a lot more grainy (as if it had flour added) and less shiny.

As from the products labels, it seems that the local condensed milk has more proteins per serving. It makes sense, since I thought that those grains could be small curdles of protein. Also, by having a smaller ratio of sugars, it could be that less caramelization (which is important for the texture) occurs.

So, before I start experimenting and wasting food, I would like to know if anyone knows a way to make this work.

My first guess is to increase the ph a bit by mixing some baking soda before heating as it may inhibit the formation of curdles. On the other hand, maybe just adding more sugar could help, but these things already are damn sweet, it seems wrong to put even more sugar into it!

Any insights on this?

I never use condensed milk that I haven’t made myself. Just take heavy cream, slowly whisk in 1:1 (by weight) confectioners sugar and simmer for three hours - stirring every 10 minutes. I would also be concerned by the butter you are using. I would melt it in a separate saucepan and filter it through a coffee filter to remove casein solids, whisk in your cocoa and then stir the milk/sugar and butter/cocoa components together.

Depending on your desired consistency (and shine) you could also add honey or sugar syrup...


How do I remove kiwifruit skin without losing a lot of the fruit's flesh? Is there a way to loosen the skin from the flesh before peeling a kiwifruit with a paring knife or peeler? I'm not a deft hand with a paring knife, and I suspect that it's time to buy a peeler with a sharper blade, but any tips on peeling technique with regard to kiwifruit would be welcome.

I normally cut the fruit in half then use a grapefruit spoon (serrated tip) to scoop the fruit out of the flesh.


nutrition facts: what does "as packaged" mean? I was looking on a box of Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni I bought. The nutrition facts read "as packaged", it only contains 0.5g fat, 120 calories per serving.  I assumed this means everything in the box, including the dry mix. Now I'm having second thoughts about the definition of "as packaged", since macaroni and cheese is often around 4-8g fat per serving.

What does "as packaged" mean? Is it just the macaroni, or does it include everything in the box as its sold?

The recipe calls for ground beef, but surprisingly this doesn't add any protein to the "as prepared" numbers of the nutrition facts.

This is what the FDA says, but I just want to be sure.

  As packaged” refers to the state of the product as it is marketed for purchase. “As prepared” refers to the product after it has been made ready for consumption (e.g., ingredients added per instructions and cooked such as a cake mix that has been prepared and baked or a condensed or dry soup that has been reconstituted).

I also sent an e-mail to Betty Crocker / General Mills, and they replied (via e-mail):

  The amount listed before it is prepared includes every dry component in the package. The amount listed after the product is prepared includes the dry product and all ingredients added.

"As packaged" effectively means "what is in the package to be consumed, divided by the recommended serving size", so it would include the dry mix.  (but they won't claim the fiber from the packaging, only the stuff you're supposed to eat.)

Now, if the package's instructions tell you to add 5 sticks of butter, and a quart of cream, they don't have to add that fat to the "as packaged" nutritional content ... only to the "as prepared" nutrition.

Many cereal boxes will give the "as packaged", but then also give the nutritional information when served with milk.  (but they always seem to go with skim milk ... go figure)


Is safe to reuse plastic bags used for sous vide Is it safe to reuse plastic bags used for sous vide?
And if it's safe, any special measures apart from the obvious need of cleaning them.

PD: I mean plastic bags specially designated for sous vide that work with a manual vacuum pump like that

There is not safety issue as long as you clean well. It shouldn't be a problem after most cooks.  If using high heat...or very long cooks, you might check the integrity of the bag.  Otherwise, I suppose you could wash and dry.  I mainly use zip lock-type bags and discard after each cook, simply because they are a p-i-t-a to clean.


Seeking a creamy/melty Swiss Cheese commonly available in the US My next kitchen project is killer Reuben sandwiches with all of the components homemade (home corned beef, homemade sauerkraut, homemade dressing, fresh homemade sourdough rye bread). The one thing I will buy is the cheese, but I want it to be special enough to stand up to the rest of the ingredients.

To me, Reubens need the unique unwashed feet funk of Swiss cheese. Another cheese just wouldn't be right, but Swiss tends to be waxy. I want the flavor of Swiss, but the creamy melt of Gouda or Gruyere. Is there a Swiss Cheese commonly found in US grocery stores that would deliver on both counts?

I had to look this up. It turns out that Swiss cheese is an American term for what Europeans call Emmentaler cheese.

This cheese is characterized by the large holes created late in the fermentation process. As Wikipedia mentions, the byproducts of its special fermentation, acetate and propionic acid, give it its typical taste. This means that you can't harvest it early when it's still soft and creamy - if you do, it won't have the holes or the taste. So, there is no creamy variation with the same taste. To confirm that, even the cheapest versions are quite firm and non-melty, as opposed to other cheap supermarket versions of semihard cheeses, which are very young and soft.

If you want funk, you can use a soft cheese with a funk. A Tomme de Savoie, or a semihard or soft member of the red mould family, for example Tilsiter or even Limburger, will give you lots of odor. I don't know if they are exported to the US, but if you ask the cheesemonger for a substitute, they will help you easily, I hope.

The other possibility is to process Emmentaler with gelatine in the Kenji way, http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/09/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-super-melty-cheese-slices-like-american.html As any processed cheese, it melts perfectly.


dill pickles jars don't seal My mother taught me from her mother that you don't have to do a hotbath to make dill pickles.  this is my first ever batch on my own.  I use vinegar, water, pickling salt and alum for the liquid. i bring that to a vigorous boil and fill each jar.  I pour it in to my filled jars of cucumbers that already have dill and garlic added.  most of the jars sealed.  but my mom said if there are some that do not seal, do a hot bath on them.  I'm not sure how to do a hot bath.  and I don't know if i just need to open the jar, make sure the seal is clean.  I dont' think that will work because the jars have already started cooling.  Advice?

You ask for advice, the best advice I can give is to use up to date procedures from start to finish to can your pickles. While your Grandmothers method for canning reduced the likelihood of spoilage (which is not always obvious), today's updated methods are scientifically based and much more effective.

Here are a couple of good sources to learn more about safe canning:

Fresh Preserving
National Center for Home Food Preservation

I could explain the water bath process, but that will not result in making your pickles safe at this point. Having a good seal on your lid now, just means nothing is going to get in. You haven't used enough heat, for long enough to prevent the growth of undesirable bacteria, yeasts, and molds in your jars.

From the CDC

  Home-canned vegetables are the most common cause of botulism outbreaks in the United States. From 1996 to 2014, there were 210 outbreaks of foodborne botulism reported to CDC. Of the 145 outbreaks that were caused by home-prepared foods, 43 outbreaks, or 30%, were from home-canned vegetables. These outbreaks often occur because home canners did not follow canning instructions, did not use pressure canners, ignored signs of food spoilage, or were unaware of the risk of botulism from improperly preserving vegetables.


Cooking Buckwheat without the smell I have an allergy to buckwheat. My father does not, and subsists on it. When he cooks it (in a glass pot), the whole house smells even as I turn on all the filters to max and open all the windows. What is the best way to cook buckwheat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasha) to minimize the smell? Is there anything that can be bought to filter it out?

The very best option would be to cook sous vide; that way all of the aroma will stay in the bag. You don't need any special equipment. We don't have a recipe for grains specifically, but there is a good, free intro to cooking sous vide with just ZipLoc bags and a pot on the stove here: https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/sous-vide-cooking/landing#/

If that doesn't work for you, a non-venting style pressure cooker should help some, as once it reaches pressure it won't release any aroma during cooking. You could even let it cool naturally and then open it outside and transfer to a sealed container.


How to avoid having pith on dried orange peels I am trying to prepare some dried orange peel for a Mexican chocolate bread recipe. From what I've read, the first step is cutting thin strips of outer peel off an orange without getting any pith. I lack the dexterity to yield a paring knife so I used a vegetable grater. Most of the pieces contain some pith:

Is the amount of pith shown negligible, or should I use scissors to snip off and keep the portions without it? Is there a better way to get pith-free orange peels? Can I substitute dried zest? (I have a zester that gets peel without pith.)

Try gently scraping with a spoon or non-serrated knife, if you want to remove more pith.  However, that looks pretty good to me. Your recipe for drying has you finely chopping the peel.  So, I would say that zest would be just fine as well.


How long will my pepper relish last, and how can I stretch it out? Last year, I made a simple pepper relish out of some hot peppers that are grown on a local farm. The method I used was to saute the whole peppers for a short time in olive oil, then blend them in a food processor with vinegar, salt, and a little sugar. This turned out to be a really tasty treat, great on pizza, sandwiches, sausage, just about anything.

This year, I repeated the process. The relish is the single hottest thing I have ever put in my mouth, bar none. It's excruciating. It's so hot that after eating something like an eighth of a teaspoon half and hour ago, my nose membranes are still burning.

So this concoction is sitting in my fridge, and I have two questions: first, how long can I expect it to last? My thinking is that with the vinegar and salt (no sugar this time), I should expect it to last approximately forever. Second, what can I do to turn this volatile relish into something I'd happily add to a cheese sandwich?

I would dilute it with another sauce made the same way but with non-hot peppers if you want to make more of the same sauce you had last year. If you just want to use this up, two of my favourite sauces involve adding sriracha (which is pretty hot) to other sauces: added to mayo you can call it "sriracha aoli" as though you were on Top Chef, and it's yummy as a dipping sauce for meatballs, little pastry hors d'oeuvres and the like; added to plum sauce it is great in the places most people use plum sauce. I also put both sriracha and ketchup (but don't mix them) on hamburgers. So try mixing it into mayo, plum sauce, or ketchup, and see if you like what you've created.


packaging an uncooked/raw hot sauce I make a hot sauce with peppers,parsley,garlic,salt and olive oil. I have to freeze it in jars otherwise it ferments. Is there a way to package a raw/ uncooked product without fermentation?

Without the olive oil it would probably be okay to pressure can (although without knowing the full recipe I can't give any processing details).
In canning though some spices go a bit funny and can change in taste so that would be something to watch out for.

The biggest thing though is that canning is NOT appropriate for this sauce because of the olive oil. High fat and oily products are not safe to can despite what may be seen on youtube/pintrest. The oil affects the heat penetration and there is no guaranteed way to know when the heat has fully penetrated. Furthermore, grease coats the botulism spores and protects them from heat. Botulism toxin (produced by spores that have not been "killed") are the main (deadly) health concern with improperly processed canned goods.

I would advise freezing. Possibly it may work to add a number of preservatives to it but... that would probably change the taste quite a lot.


Does freezing fresh peppers, specifically habañero peppers ruin them? Someone gave me more peppers than I can eat and I'd like to freeze them for at least a few months, a year at most. Am I wasting good peppers by doing that?

It depends on what you plan to use them for. They won't ever be crisp again after freezing, but if you're cooking them anyway, they will be fine. I do this all the time with leftover peppers.  You should certainly remove stems and seeds and cut them into whatever size you will need for cooking.


Was honey in ancient times different than now? I am trying to reproduce a recipe found in the Roman "cookbook" Apicius, Conditum paradoxum: it is a spiced wine that calls for honey as an ingredient, but it uses a lot (30 % of the volume of the wine).

This means – adapting the recipe, that originally is for 14 11 liters of wine – that for a bottle of wine I should add 230 ml of honey (340 g if considering a density of 1,45 kg/l).

I was wondering if the honey produced in ancient times could be perhaps "lighter" than the honey we know; this could, at least a little, allow me to reduce the sweetness.

It's not honey that's changed since ancient times, it's wine! Wine makers in ancient Rome lacked the knowledge and equipment to prevent oxidation and unwanted bacterial colonies, so their product was pretty awful by modern standards, being both sour and bitter with all sorts of off flavors. Honey and spices were added to try and make it palatable.

So you can't re-create the roman recipe without roman style wine, which you won't find in any store because nobody would want to buy it! If you add the same amount of honey to wine of today it will be overwhelmingly sweet, my suggestion would be to add a little bit of honey to it and work your way up. I would also suggest you not follow the recipe to the letter:

Don't let it sit like the recipe suggests, add the spices in and let it steep, then strain and add more wine
Don't filter it through charcoal: the reason they did that was because wine makers added all sorts of awful stuff to preserve the wine, modern wines don't have those issues. If it has particulates try using a coffee filter instead.


How do you disinfect various cooking items that have touched raw meat? As a novice cook I am looking to perfect my approach to cleaning and disinfecting various things I use to handle raw meat such as cutlery, tongs, large knives, plates, bowls and cutting boards to ensure that no harmful bacteria is spread.

I clean, then disinfect. During the cleaning stage, your sponge or dishbrush can come into contact with the harmful bacteria.  Does this mean you should throw those things out after?  Or do you keep them and disinfect them as well?  How do you clean your cleaning tools?

Currently I buy large amounts of cheap sponges and chuck them out after I have used them to clean (I know this is wasteful).  Then, to disinfect, I spray everything with hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar and let sit for 10 minutes.

I am not happy with my approach so I am looking for advice on how to improve.

Personally I just use hot water and soap. Generally bacteria don't last long on surfaces that have been thoroughly cleaned with soap and dried.

Also, if you're using a wooden cutting board once it's dry 99.9% of any bacteria on there will be dead.

If you're concerned about this though this review recommends:

Keep the sponge away from raw meat. "If you're dealing with raw juices from meat or poultry, you should be using paper that can be disposed of," Quinlan says.
Don't keep sponges around for too long. "I replace mine every one to two weeks," she says. "That's reasonable to me."
Clean the sponge every few days. The USDA recommends putting it in the dishwasher with a heated dry cycle, or wetting the sponge and popping it in the microwave for a minute.


Chicken fat solidifies on hot broth I am really curious about the behavior of chicken fat in soup.  Why does the top layer of fat (in contact with the air) on hot broth form a thin skin that can be lifted off the surface of the soup?  This is not the same phenomenon as when the broth cools and the chicken fat becomes a solid layer. As far as I can tell from my own experience it only happens with chicken fat...not with beef fat, butter, olive oil, etc. If you drop the lifted-off "skin" of fat back into the soup it will slowly melt. It also melts in the mouth if you eat it, and tastes oily and like chicken fat. It is as if the top layer of fat is becoming dehydrated and forming a skin, similar to what happens when you heat milk. But how can fat become dehydrated?!

The skin isn't fat, it's protein (or at least mostly protein). Hot liquids that are rich in protein will form a skin as the surface loses liquid and begins to dry, pushing the proteins together. A related example would be "tofu skin" which is formed by skimming the protein that coagulates on the surface of heated soymilk.


Can I make sweetened coconut from dried coconut? In my pantry, I have a bag of dried & shredded coconut. I want to use it, but all recipes I come across ask for sweetened coconut. That coconut also looks a lot more moist than mine.

Is there a way I can change my dried coconut? I was thinking of letting it soak in water/sugar-solution, but I have no idea how much sugar I would need to add, how long I should let it soak and if this would even work at all.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

According to this step-by-step set of instructions from Livestrong, you can definitely make sweetened coconut from dried coconut.

Things You'll Need:

1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. canola oil
2 tsp. water

Instructions:

Blend dried coconut and powdered sugar with a whisk in a medium-sized bowl until the mixture is uniform.

Combine the canola oil and water in a small bowl, stirring until the ingredients are well blended.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the sugared coconut. Stir them to thoroughly coat the coconut.

Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, or until the coconut absorbs all the liquid. Stir the mixture once or twice to turn it over.

Use the moistened, sweetened coconut immediately for best results. Alternatively, place it in a plastic freezer bag for short-term
storage in the refrigerator or long-term storage in the freezer. While
sealing the bag, press out as much air as possible.

Tips and Warnings:
The vegetable oil moistens the coconut and helps the powdered sugar
adhere better. If desired, increase the amount of water in the recipe
to 4 tsp. and eliminate the oil. Likewise, substitute the canola oil
for safflower or sunflower oil. Don't use olive oil, however, as its
saltier flavor will mask or diminish the sugar's sweetness. The recipe
calls for a small amount of coconut because it's best to use homemade,
sweetened coconut as you make it. You can easily double or triple the
quantities of each ingredient to make larger batches. Sweetened,
shredded coconut will stay fresh for about a month in an airtight
container stored in a cool, dry place or the refrigerator.

If the instructions don't work out for you, I'd suggest re-hydrating your coconut in a bowl of room temp water, draining the water out of the bowl, blotting the coconut until damp, and then adding the sugar.


Why does plastic never dry properly in a dishwasher? Whenever I get tasked with unloading the dishwasher, I'm always amazed at the amount of water that's still stuck (always in droplets) to our plastic kitchen utensils and storage containers.

We have a dishwasher with three racks, but it doesn't seem to matter which rack you use, plastic spatula's in the top cutlery rack, plastic containers or cups in the middle rack or our plastic cutting boards or plates in the bottom rack, all are equally wet when unloading the dishwasher, while the regular cutlery, glasses, metal pans and ceramic plates are all perfectly dry.

Why do the plastic kitchen utensils never dry properly in the dishwasher? And is there anything that can be done so the plastic does dry in the dishwasher? (besides using a towel or just waiting three days before unloading)

In addition to the lower heat capacity (see other answer), a main reason, quite counterintuitive, why plastics don't dry well is that they're hydrophobic. That's right: they keep water sticking to them because they're water repellent (but not completely water repellent).

The reason for this strange behaviour is that any small amount of water on the surface of plastics immediately contracts to a compact droplet. This minimises contact with the plastic, but also with air, which is the problem: for efficient evaporation, you need a large air-to-liquid surface. You do get such a large surface on glass, ceramic and metal, because these are (at least when freshly cleaned) hydrophilic, so the water stretches out to a thin film coating a whole lot of the surface.

Not so with plastics. Only with some shaking will the droplets start running down the surface, and may combine with other drops and then drip off. With super-hydrophobic materials you'd be ok again because even tiny drops would immediately pour down, but most plastics are exactly at the sour spot: too hydrophobic for evaporation, but still not hydrophobic enough for a lotus effect.

Melamine resins tend to be among the better plastics in this regard, as they're still pretty hydrophilic. Still, they tend to dry only incompletely, probably because of the low heat capacity.


Can I eat cheese which has been "infected" with blue cheese mold? Recently, I bought two pieces of cheese - St. Agur and Pyrenean cheese. They were cut from wheels, not pre-packaged. At home, I removed the foil and placed them in the same plastic container in the fridge.

Two days later, the Pyrenean cheese had some mold with bluish tinge on the surface. I assume the seller has stored the cheese properly, so it shouldn't have gone moldy by itself in the short time in my fridge. I think that the benign mold from the blue cheese colonized the Pyrenean cheese. Still, I decided not to risk eating it (I still ate the blue cheese).

Is this what really happened? If it happens again, can I assume that it is edible mold? Is it safe to eat edible mold after it has colonized another type of cheese, or will the changed food prompt it to produce dangerous byproducts?

Also, could I have prevented it by having the cheeses individually wrapped in foil inside the same container, or would only keeping in different containers stop mold propagation?

Well, first off, mold grows from spores, and your Pyrenean cheese was likely already "contaminated" with Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium glaucum, and Penicillium candidum spores at the cheese shop (it'd be surprising if the cheese shop isn't covered with them!). So, if you keep it in a environment habitable to them, they will grow. I suspect that you'd get the same results even if you put them in two different plastic containers.

As to its safety, if it was indeed one of the used-in-food Penicillium molds, it should be safe to eat—you can make sheep's milk blue cheeses (e.g., roquefort) after all. But the problem is that the same humid environment that encouraged the Penicillium colonization also encourage other molds—many of which you don't want to eat. Also, I'm pretty sure there are blue-green molds you don't want to eat.


Should maple syrup be stored in the refrigerator? Is there any reason to store maple syrup in the refrigerator? It tastes better when it's a little warmer.

I'll assume that you're talking about pure maple syrup in a glass container; if it's that adulterated pancake syrup then it's probably riddled with preservatives, so any advice here doesn't apply.

Pure maple syrup can and will grow mold on the surface if left in a cupboard.  There are several reports of this happening, and although several of those people say that it's OK to simply strain the mold and re-boil the maple syrup, (a) I wouldn't chance it, and (b) that process is hardly any more convenient than simply taking it out of the refrigerator a half-hour earlier and letting it come up to room temperature.

Maple syrup should be stored in the refrigerator.  It doesn't have to be, and it will probably take at least a year for it to grow any mold if left in the pantry.  But it will last longer in the refrigerator; I've seen refrigerated jars 3+ years old without any mold.


What types of alcohol will make meat tender when marinating? When marinating meat for Russian "Shashlik"(BBQ) some people marinate meat in alcohol. My uncle prefers to use beer when preparing pork. My Georgian(this Georgia) friend uses red wine, which was the only ingridient I was able to get out of him. His BBQ is always very juicy and tender.

My questions: What types of alcohols should be used to help bring out meat flavor and making it tender without messing with the taste? Is there one type of alcohol that works great with all meats or should different types be used for different meats?

Bonus: What properties does alcohol possess that it makes meat tender?

Alcohol does not make the meat tender.  It even prevents the outside surface of the meat to fully absorb the flavours.  Then again, most marinades don't penetrate into the meat anyway.

When it comes to Shashlik, I think what is working for your uncle, is the time the meat spends in the fridge getting aged (they probably marinate for a day or more) and the enzymes break down the meat.

It is a myth that Alcohol or Acid make the meat tender.  In fact, they have the opposite effect.  Per food author Harold McGee's quote:

  Alcohol does denature and dehydrate meat and fish tissue, and the
  stronger the alcohol, the stronger this effect.

What you should do instead, is to cook off the alcohol from your marinade first. The ingredient that keeps the meat juicy is salt which most marinades have.

The less acidic marinade (beer versus wine) the more tender the meat.  However, some not so acidic wines end up flavouring the surface of the meat enough to provide a pleasant byte.


Storing butter for longer than a month I have had unsalted butter in the fridge for a while and used it from time to time. Now I realize that's it's been there for many, many months. It tastes fine but is it safe to keep it longer than a month?

Oxidation can make the fat in the butter rancid.  You would taste and smell that, so it's probably safe.  Refrigeration and darkness slow the process of oxidation.

I freeze butter and take it out of the freezer a stick at a time.  Butter appears to last approximately forever if frozen.


Is it true that natural peanut butter splits in cookies? I was watching a video recipe about peanut butter cookies. The maker mentioned that you shouldn't use all natural peanut butter for making those cookies, because the oils would make your dough split. You should use the other kind (I have no idea what this is).

Is this true?

My peanut butter contains these ingredients: peanuts, vegetable oil, vegetable fat, salt. I'm assuming this isn't 100% natural peanut butter? Is it only natural peanut butter if it contains only peanuts?

I've made peanut butter cookies with various "all natural" peanut butters, containing no extra oil/fat, just peanuts and possibly salt. They didn't split. I suppose the recipe you're looking at could be somehow different but it seems really unlikely. I haven't even seen splitting in cooked sauces using these kinds of peanut butter, along with plenty of other liquid.

As far as I know, the main thing meant by "all natural" is that it doesn't contain other oils like yours does; those are generally used to replace some of the peanut oil, so that it doesn't separate while in the jar. But separating over a long period of time in the jar is a far cry from splitting in cookie dough where it's mixed with plenty of other ingredients, and probably sits around for a few hours at most before baking.


How to clean stains from inside of vacuum flask? I use my vacuum flask to bring my lunch to work. I've been doing this almost every day for half an year or so. Now there are some sediments or stains in the bottom of the flask  although I wash the flask almost always immediately after it's emptied.

How can I get rid of the stain and smell inside the flask? I even used steel wool on a stick but could't make it clean 100% and I don't want to scratch it too much inside. Because I use it for food I am not sure if bleach is a good choice to go for.

Update

I have original Thermos made of stainless steel interior and exterior. Something like that one http://www.thermos.com/products/vacuum-insulated-10-oz-food-jar.aspx

Note that I am located in Austaralia so no cleaning products are available to me.

I have found that a tablespoon of Oxy Clean followed by boiling water will remove even the harshest stains inside a vacuum bottle. Fill it to the brim (it will bubble and overflow, so do it in a sink), let it sit for a bit, then rinse very very well, and you will be amazed, I promise. I do this periodically to remove the coffee stains inside our steel thermos flask. [Edited for typos]


Why do home-made pickles float in the jar, but commercial pickles don't? I make a lot of home-made pickles; mostly pickled onions/shallots/cucumbers. I use a cold process and I don't pre-brine.

I notice all of my pickles always end up floating to the top of the jars, even after months of pickling. This is very annoying because it means the top pickles don't get evenly saturated.

Commercial, store-bought pickles never have this problem. They always sink to the bottom of the jar. Even if there's only a single pickle left in the jar, it sinks.

What can I do to get my pickles to sink?

Most likely commercial pickles are preserved by an accurate pasteurisation and ascorbic acid or other chemical preservatives so that the "brine" contains much less salt as compared to your homemade ones.  It is mattert of the liquid density, yours is heavier.

(Though the density of the vegetables might likely vary a bit - and though surface/volume ratio could have an effect on how much water flow throughout the skin of the preserved vegetables - I would expect it to tend to the same value upon preparation and storage).


How much is "1-2 cents worth" of yeast in an old recipe? I'm looking through an old cookbook, ''The Art of German Cooking and Baking'' by Lina Meier (2nd Ed., 1922, Milwaukee, file on wikipedia). There is a recipe for waffles here which calls for "1-2 cents worth of yeast." How much yeast actually is it calling for?

I know how much yeast two American pennies will buy me today: none. Practically, the smallest quantity of yeast I can buy today is an envelope of Fleischmann's active dry yeast, which, according to the internet, weighs about 7 grams (0.25 oz).

I've reproduced the recipe below since it is out of copyright and I've heard yeast is one of those ingredients where you've got to consider what's going on in the rest of the recipe. All I'm concerned about is the 'yeast' ingredient: how much does this mean in today's measurements.

                  No. 15—YEAST WAFFLES.

                 Quantity for 6 Persons.

½ lb. of butter                    ¾ pt. of milk or cream
4 eggs                             1–2 cents worth of yeast
¼ cup of sugar                     ½ lb. of flour
½ grated lemon peel                Lard for baking
                   1 pinch of nutmeg

Preparation: Cream the butter, stir in eggs, sugar, lemon
peel, nutmeg. The yeast is dissolved in the cream which has
been warmed, stirred into the mixture, then flour added to
make a stiff batter. Set to rise in a warm place. Grease the
waffle iron, put in 3 tablespoonfuls of batter, close the iron
and bake the waffles light brown, turning the iron to bake on
both sides. Waffles must be baked and served quickly, because
they are apt to lose their crispness and become tough.
When serving, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

I have no idea about historic yeast prices or measuring units, but there are typical ranges for yeast, and you are pretty flexible on the amount you use.

In bakers' percentages, 2% is a standard (for traditional wet yeast). You use more for rich doughs and short rises, and less for long rises. Your recipe is quite rich and short raised, so my gut feeling would be to start with 5% for the first batch and adjust in the next batch if needed. 5% of half a pound is 11,34 g, which converts to 3,8 g of dry yeast.

You could in principle chuck in the whole 7 g package as Cynetta suggests, but that gets into the range where you get the side effects of too quickly fermented yeast, which consist of off tastes due to ammonia and thiols. You might like that taste (many people whose grandmas baked on the "more is more" principle are accustomed to it), in which case just go for it. Else stay with the lower amount, and give it time to rise well (probably blubb, if it is as liquid as I imagine it from the recipe).

As a side note, you might want to reduce the eggs - home laid eggs in 1922 weren't the 55 g sold nowadays as a standard. Three instead of four would give you a more authentic taste.


Traditionally, why are 'pasta bowls' wide and shallow? I was curious as to why they're marketed as pasta bowls in the UK, and it's because they're frequently used for pasta (obviously). Buy why are bowls used for pasta traditionally wide and relatively shallow? As opposed to other types of bowl?

The reasons I can think of are potentially to do with serving size (i.e. can fit more in the bowl) or thermodynamics (larger surface area to allow faster cooling). But I don't know why either of these would specifically apply to pasta dishes.

For context, this is what is generally considered a pasta bowl here in the UK as far as I'm aware:

As compared to a cereal/all-purpose bowl:

Or a soup bowl/lipped bowl:

I understand that a 'pasta bowl' is not exclusively for pasta dishes and I know that other types of bowl are also used when it comes to serving pasta. But I'm interested in why, in the UK at least, a 'pasta bowl' is sold as such.

My hypothesis is that there is no functional reason for having a wide rim on a pasta bowl.  I contend that this is simply marketing, and the choice of the person presenting the meal. It is just a name for a bowl.  Pasta is served in all sorts of vessels; plates, deep bowls, shallow bowls.  Saucing, in part, determines the vessel.  For example, you can't serve tortellini in brodo on a plate.  Plates, bowls, and dishes are often designed and chosen for the way they compliment a final dish's visual appeal.  The Chinese (and other noodle eating cultures) don't necessarily eat noodles from wide-rimmed bowls, and I would confidently guess that you wouldn't have to look that far back to find a time that there was really was no such thing presented as a wide-rimmed, pasta bowl.  So, I would say that this is not a tradition at all.  This is a product of restaurants, ceramic makers, and the media (magazines and food TV).


How do you preserve fresh ginger? For cooking it would be great to have a self made sub-product from ginger, but:

if refrigerated, you get rather something like thin ginger juice
I don't like the Asia shop variant where they put lots of salt

Any other ideas or well established experiences?

The goal: to find the optimum between "as long as possible" and "as fresh as possible".

If your goal is longer term preservation, freezing is one of the easiest methods and what I tend to do on occasions when I've bought a lot of ginger  at once (for whatever reason).  While you'll lose a little flavor with freezing, when used in cooking, I find it still works well and is often difficult to distinguish from fresh.  And it's quite convenient: you can actually pull out a frozen piece of ginger, grate off what you need, and just put the rest back in the freezer.

As a side benefit, peeling and grating frozen ginger can actually be a bit easier than doing the same to fresh ginger.  If you need chunks of ginger, though, you'll need to let it defrost a bit first (or, alternatively, cut before freezing if you have a standard recipe you want to use it for).


What are food combinations that trick your taste buds into tasting sweet? I recently tried unflavored yoghurt with a teaspoon of cinnamon, and for some reason, the combination tasted sweet. Are there any food combinations that accomplish this?

The yoghurt was non-fat; I'm assuming that because both ingredients contained carbs consequently any other combinations that also work would perhaps need to be 'carby' ingredients.

The nutrition facts of the yoghurt per 100 ml:

energy: 21 kcal

protein: 1.8 g

carbohydrates: 2.8 g

fat: 0.3 g

sodium: 0.25 g

Though your yogurt was unflavored, it almost certainly still contained lactose (milk sugar), so it should still taste a bit sweet regardless of whatever was added to it. And as Catija points out, "unflavored" doesn't apply to added sugar, of which there can be quite a lot in yogurt (and almost every other prepared food).


What vegetables hold up well for making vegetarian pot pie? I am trying to make a vegetarian pot pie, but so far I was not successful. I tried with carrots, peas, and cauliflower, but the pot pie was not that good.

What do you mean by hold up well? Structurally? Carrots and peas are rather common in a traditional chicken pot pie. Cauliflower is probably way too delicate to hold up well, also it's too mildly flavored to serve as a primary flavor.

I would suggest trying some heartier root vegetables or starches. Potatoes, squash, zucchini are some good possibilities. I'd also add some onion and celery for a better flavor punch.


I left fully cooked lasagna out all night I left fully cooked lasagna out on the counter all night. My house is 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). Is it safe to reheat and eat?

Throw this out. The general rule of thumb is that food that isn't otherwise preserved (through  large quantities of acid or sugar for example) must not be in the danger zone from 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 2 hours. In practice this is an oversimplification - see the incredible and incredibly detailed food safety section in Modernist Cuisine for the whole story. Overnight is way too long. It is quite possible for bacteria to have multiplied and secreted toxins which are heat stable. E. Coli and Staph. Aureus both do this, for example. Reheating will not make this safe. It isn't worth making yourself or your family horribly ill. Order pizza.


How to make cake like almond squares into fudgy like Squares? I made Almond Paste Squares that turned out delicious, but too cake like for what I wanted.  The recipe had these ingredients: 1 C butter, softened; 1 C flour; 2/3 C sugar; 1 tsp baking powder; 3 eggs. Then this 1 C almond paste; 2/3 C granulated sugar; 2 eggs; 1 tsp almond flavoring; Sliced almonds, Opt.  The two batters then mixed together.
What can I do to make these more fudgy like brownies?

A hint is that a lot of brownie recipes don't include any leavening agent at all, so I recommend you reduce the baking powder amount, to about 1/2 tsp.
Also, it may help to replace part of the whole eggs with egg-yolks, as the richness in the yolks make for a fudgier treat.


How to tell if fish is subjected to Ciguatera? Is there any way to tell if fish is infected/subjected to ciguatera.

I understand that if you ingest fish that is infected with ciguatera you run the risk of becoming violently ill, and that subsequent ingestions will make you even more ill.  Therefore is there any way to tell if a fish has ciguatera?

I ask as I know not to eat certain fishes that I have caught in the tropics, but still do not know enough about the subject.

Not without a lab to test the fish.  Most outbreaks go unreported, or are spread too far apart. If it's local they would quit selling the fish for a week or two at a local market. That does not stop them from being shipped to a different location in 3rd world countries, or mixed in the fishing boats to be shipped wherever.


What is the real temperature to caramelize sugar? A lot of web pages claim that sugar caramelizes at ~160C. But also a lot of recipes caramelize sugar in a simmering water. The boiling point of water is only 100C. So how can these recipes succeed so well in practice?

a lot of recipes caramelize sugar in a simmering water.

Calling the solution "simmering water" isn't a good characterization.   The boiling point of pure water is 100C.  But the boiling point rises as the concentration of sugar in the solution increases.  Once you're above 75% or so, the boiling point increases significantly.  For 90% sugar (still 10% water remaining), it's up to around 120C.

As the water evaporates, the sugar concentration, the boiling point, and therefore the temperature all increase.  When you reach 160C, there's probably less than 1% water and the decomposition of the sugar (carmelization) rate starts to increase significantly.

There are some charts/tables for different concentrations here, but they only goes up to 90%


How do I reheat a casserole in the oven? How long and at what temperature should I reheat a pre-baked casserole or pasta dish for 8 people (9x12) that I am taking to a luncheon?

There is no single answer.  It depends mostly on thick the casserole is, and how cold it is.

For a not-frozen casserole, I recommend starting with about 3/4 of the original bake time at about 350 F, and then seeing if it is hot enough.  An instant read thermometer in the center should read about 150 F to 160 F for service.

You may need to put foil over the top to prevent over-browning, or increase the heat at the end to about 400 F to encourage more browning, depending on the nature of the particular casserole.

Since you are just heating it through, generally any temperature from about 300 to 400 F is going to work, with an appropriate adjustment to the time, if there are other items in the oven that need a specific temperature.


What causes gaps/holes in homemade bread? And how can I avoid them? This happens a lot when I make just regular white bread and almost every time I make cinnamon swirl bread. The top swirl creates a really big gap no matter how tight I roll the dough. Thoughts?

It's typically a problem with large pockets of air in the dough before you bake it.

For the cinnamon swirl bread, try to make sure that you're not getting air trapped when rolling it.

For other loaves, you want to make sure to punch it down well after the first rise, and make sure you aren't trapping air in it if you're doing a stretch and fold when shaping it.


Popping corn on an electric stove I have twice popped corn on an electric stove and both times resulted in near disasters with nearly burned popcorn and what did pop was minimal and flat.  I was used to a gas stove and always had beautiful popcorn. The pot used has been used before with no problems. I also normally use coconut oil for the kernels. Help me make the transition, please. Thank you

I've always popped my popcorn on an electric stove, and the kernels turn out fully-popped and delicious. Here is my technique:

I heat a deep pot on high heat and melt coconut oil inside.
I throw one kernel in, cover the pot, and wait for the kernel to pop. This indicates the oil is hot enough so that when the remaining kernels are poured in, they will pop in a relatively short time.
I then pour in all the kernels at once and cover the pot, while keeping it on high heat.
I wait for the rapid popping to slow down and take the pot off the heat and set it on a cool eye, where the remaining popping will come to a stop.


Can vegetable enzymes kill yeast? I used a juicer to juice vegetables. Then, I used the juice in making bread. Some of my friends said that something in vegetables affects the fermentation, namely the enzymes. They said it can kill the yeast. Is it true? Can you briefly explain?

This is the same user who asked if vegetable juices could stop bread from rising.  Dude...yes.  I'll try to break this down again...There's probably a combination of things happening: your veggie slurry pH is not condusive for yeast function, the enzymes in the vegetable matrix are being unleashed and working(because you juiced them, and exposed them to light and heat)--thereby producing chemicals that are toxic to the yeast, and lastly if that wasn't stopping the yeast...the beans may be so dense that the yeast organisms can't make bubbles that stay in your dough.  Try using a brominated bread flour, letting the bread rise, then fold in fat shredded veg pieces.  Pretend you're kind of making a zucchini bread. If you are really bent on success with this, it seems that more if the vegetable cell walls need to be intact once it comes in contact with the dough(inact cell walls = less enzyme activity/bioactive compound release, and maybe even pH buffer Bonus!). I cited at least 4 NCBI articles stating why the above reasons may be occuring. I can provide more reading material to supplement if those were not sufficient.

I am still a bit confused as to why you chose the green vegetables + other legumes you did, and treated them in that manner for use in bread.  Like, really confused. I can't comment yet, but if I could...I would, if nothing else than to tailor my response to you.  If nutrient-density was the goal, why remove the fiber, and place the bioactive compounds in jeapordy? I do hope that point is clear, your processing choice for the vegetables will be compromising their nutritional impact/effectiveness.

Here's why:

Many of the molecular components that make those vegetables useful for human health degrade in the presence of heat, pH, light, and exposure to air (degraded bioactive molecules are not realy physiologically useful, and just excreted...so what's the point?).  You expose those awesome vegetables to extremes in all of those cases. I would be curious to know(if you could get this to work) if there were any biologically relevant compounds left in the finished product...aside from the general macronutrients(carbs, fat,protein, fiber, etc ...they are biologically relevant too, just not what the focus seems to be for this application)

Remember, when vegetables/fruit/whatever are consumed without being overprocessed, the food matrix(even chewed up) provides a barrier from your stomach acid and other endougenous enzymes, and helps naturally preserve some of nutrients until they get to the intestines (where they are actually absorbed). Take away the matrix, your super-charged molecules lose their nutritionally active shape more easily, before they can even be utilized by your body.  The remaining food matrix has important funtions health functions too, which I won't elaborate on here.  Again, I am happy to provide peer-reviewed sources for this info, should you be interested (but if the other post tells me anything...it is that you possibly don't care).  Look yourself anyway, go be curious.  Try a pubmed search for bioavailability and the author Gibson to start, the review articles he writes are rather approachable.  I would like to mention that there are some processing and pairing techinques can enhance the bioavailibility and bioefficacy of certain nutrients(meat factor & non-heme iron sources, limited thermal proccessing on hard veggies like carrots) and that the extent of nutrient degradation can vary greatly depending on the type of processing(boiling vs microwave vs oven vs freezing vs low-temp vs fermentation...etc).


What can I do with the white parts of kale? I like to bake, fry, cook and make salads out of dark green parts of the kale. But when I get to the middle of the kale, I don't like those whiteish bright parts, just not tasty much imo.

I was thinking about blending it in a smoothie but I don't have a blender yet.

Any ideas how to prepare those?

Just like the tougher parts of any brassica plant (e.g. broccoli), chop the stems as thinly as required and add to a stir fry dish. they typically take as long as carrots take to "cook" in the wok

Properly grown kale with a decent frost exposure, should have a softer stems with a sweeter and more flavourful taste


Is the induction cooktop sinking my eggs? Why are they sticking to the bottom I have this tried and true fried egg recipe I have done multitudes of time. It is as simple as putting in a pool of some oil and cracking the eggs into it. I can then cover it and leave it to cook for awhile for some great results.

I just started at a new place that has an induction cooktop and I have been having the hardest time doing this recipe! Essentially now every time I try the eggs tend to somehow start sticking to the bottom. This has never happened to me before.

This is probably a ridiculous question but is there anything about induction cookware that might encourage eggs to stick to the bottom or otherwise not float too well?

It is simply a different rate of heating. Your pan is getting hotter than you are accustomed to. You'll have to experiment with settings, and possibly pans, to find one that works.


My sushi rice comes out chewy on top, mushy on the bottom I recently moved & my new crappy stove won't cook my sushi rice correctly. My old stove cooked it perfectly according to the package directions: 1 1/2 cups rice to 2 cups water, combine, bring to boil, reduce to low, cover & leave for 20 mins. Now it comes out underdone on top & sometimes ever so slightly toasted & mushy on bottom.

Any way I can fix this? I've tried a larger pot, seems to make no difference. Tried turning off heat instead of low, as my new burners seem to cycle more drastically &stayhot longer, but doesn't cook the rice enough. Added more water but doesn't help overdone bottom problem. I don't rinse my sushi rice even tho you're supposed to, because I don't have time & it always came out perfectly before, but I will start if it will fix this.

Or should I just break down and buy a rice cooker? ;-) Thanks!

EDIT: I think my new stove is crap and cycles too hot on lowest possible setting.. Any suggestion of how to adapt to this, please? Thank you

If you believe your burners are getting too hot, you can always try using a taller pot with slightly more water to keep the rice from getting dry on top or crispy.  A larger pot would not work because it would increase the evaporation rate of water from increased surface area, then drying out the rice on top while overcooking the rice on the bottom. A taller but smaller pot would keep more water from evaporating out of the pot and drying out your rice before cooking is finished.

A smaller diameter pot with a 2:1 ratio of water to rice on the lowest setting would be your best bet for cooking the rice on your stove.  Possibly leave the rice covered for the entire cook time to make it cook more uniformly overall, keeping the steam inside to prevent the top layer of rice from getting crispy.  If the rice is still mushy, washing the rice helps considerably in getting that "mushy" consistency from forming.

If none of that works, you can always use a microwave to cook rice.  I had this issue a few years ago and found that a microwave was more cost efficient than buying a rice cooker since I already owned a microwave.  It isn't a fix for troubleshooting your issues with your stove, but it might save you some of the hassle in cooking rice that isn't satisfying on your stove.


How to make firm cheescake? My family appreciated very firm New York style cheesecake. How does one make it firm, almost the consistency of fork cutting a banana? I was thinking less or no sour cream and more eggs.

If you're making a no bake cheesecake, as I usually do, make sure you use full fat ingredients as they will help it firm up. You can also add gelatin to make it firmer


What are some recommended methods of cleaning wooden cutting boards? Supposedly, wooden cutting boards should not be submerged in lots of soap and water because too much moisture leads to rot. How can one optimize for cleanliness while also caring for the board?

Mineral oil is your friend

As you said, Ana, the biggest enemy of a clean — and warp-free — wood cutting board is moisture penetration. The first trick to fight this is to wipe down your cutting board fairly often with mineral oil or other food-safe wood treatment.

This helps with cleaning as it prevents liquids and bacteria from penetrating into the wood. It also has the nice effect of helping to keep flavors from embedding and transferring to other foods.

Scrape it. Scrape it good.

The second trick is to use a sturdy steel scraper to clean the surface as you go, scraping out excess moisture after each round of cutting before it can penetrate too deeply into the wood. This is something you'll especially want to do with an end-grain cutting block, which is much more absorbent than other grains.

Soap & water is (mostly) all you need

When I'm done, I usually wash with light soap & hot water on the board, followed by a good hard scrape with the steel scraper, so I have a nice dry, fresh surface for the next use. And store that board on its edge, not flat! This promotes even drying and prevents warping.

It's science

The smart people at America's Test Kitchen used science n' stuff and found that soap & hot water was pretty effective at killing bacteria, though the USDA recommends an application of bleach dilute to really sanitize that bad boy.

Maintained board = clean board

Notable board maker, Boos, has a good list of board care suggestions, including these related to cleaning:

  Periodically (once every 3-4 weeks, depending upon the use and household conditions), apply an even coat of Boos ® Mystery Oil and Boos Block ® Board Cream to all surfaces of your wood cutting board. The Boos ® Mystery Oil acts as a shampoo that contains oils and minerals that penetrates through the wood surface to increase its longevity. Next, you will want to use the Boos Block ® Board Cream, that acts as the conditioner, to seal the top coating of the wood surface.
  DO NOT allow moisture of any type to stand on the cutting board for long periods of time. Don't let fresh, wet meats lay on the board longer than necessary. Brine, water and blood contain much moisture, which soaks into the wood, causing the cutting board to expand, the wood to soften, and affects the strength, of the glued joints.
  Use a good steel scraper or spatula several times a day, as necessary, to keep the cutting surface clean and sanitary. Scraping the surfaces will remove 75% of the moisture. Do not use a steel brush on the cutting surface of your board.
  DO NOT cut fish or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board, unless you have thoroughly followed the instructions in step #1. The moisture barrier must be intact prior to cutting any type of fish, seafood, or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board. ALWAYS CLEAN THE CUTTING BOARD SURFACE THOROUGHLY AFTER CUTTING FISH OR FOWL ON THE WORK SURFACE.
  Sanitize cutting board by wiping all surfaces down with mild dish soap and water. Dry throughly. DO NOT wash your wood cutting board with harsh detergents of any type. DO NOT wash your butcher's tools on your cutting board surface. DO NOT put Boos Block ® wood cutting boards into dishwasher.

Happy chopping!


Should I boil canned sweetened condensed milk before using like I do for different types of canned food? I have used sweetened condensed milk a lot in different deserts and pies, but today I wondered if boiling is needed, is it necessary?

The whole point of canning is to produce food that won't spoil.  The only reason to boil canned food is if you think it was improperly canned, and if that's true, it may not be safe to eat even if boiled.  Botulism bacteria, for example, will grow in many improperly canned foods, and it will not be completely destroyed by boiling, though most of the botulism toxin will.  Some molds and bacteria can also produce persistent toxins that won't be destroyed adequately by boiling.

In general, if you're afraid to eat any canned food without boiling, I'd throw it out rather than eating it.

Also, I'm not certain if you were implying that you would boil food in the sealed can.  I wouldn't recommend that.  Boiling sealed cans is potentially dangerous (if not closely monitored); they can explode if not kept complete submerged.

Assuming your condensed milk is sealed and was canned properly, there is no reason to boil it, nor any other properly canned food.


Colorful Marshmallow How to make colorful marshmallow without using synthetic coloring agents?

Small amounts of natural fruit or vegetable juices should provide some colour without altering the flavour too much.

If you have access to a juicer, carrot, beet, strawberry and blueberry all come to mind as colouring agents.


Is there any danger to letting food cook in a slow cooker for a very long time? I've recently started using a slow cooker and I was thinking about recipes that could be cooked for days.  My main concern is if there are any side effects for leaving food cooking for days that would make this plan unfeasible (dangerous to try).  Since it is at cooking temperature, there wouldn't be any reason to worry about bacteria growing on the food.  Liquid would be lost over time, which could result in burning if left unchecked, but if I add more every morning/night as needed, that too wouldn't be a problem.  All I can see is that most recipes wouldn't end up tasting as well, but undesirable isn't equal to dangerous.

There just seems to be something absurd with the notion of leaving food cooking for 5 days or even 2 weeks without there being any dangers, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what they would be.

It's safe. All that matters for safety is that the food stays out of the danger zone (above 140F).

But it sounds like a pretty reliable way to overcook things. Perhaps that's why it sounds absurd to you? Slow cookers tend to be somewhere between simmer and light boil (probably at least 180F), and there's very little that won't be fully cooked after half a day at those temperatures. If you cook for days, you'll start turning beans and vegetables to mush, and may manage to make meat tough from overcooking. So at best it's pointless, and at worst it's going to mess up your food.


Can a pizza stone be fixed after soap has been used to clean it? We bought a pizza stone from a thrift store (so at least it was cheap). Unfortunately we cleaned it with soap before reading up on how to clean them. I know, rookie mistake.

Is there any way to fix it or should I just toss it out and consider it a lesson is researching new tools before messing with them? Obviously, I have no idea if the prior owner misused it so this might be a lesson in not buying used stoneware.

I haven't tried baking on it since using soap on it and the soap was only lightly used. I guess I should perform an experiment and find out if it makes things taste soapy.

I would rinse well with clear water.  Allow to dry thoroughly, and then use as normal.

There is a small chance that your pizza stone will impart a soap flavor to your pizza, but I would say that it is worth a couple of pizza cooks to determine if there is a long term problem.  It's really not that much of a risk.


Is it a good idea to cook stew in the oven in a stainless steel pot? If I cook stew in my oven will it come out better using a heavy enameled dutch oven than
a stainless steel covered pot?

Conventional wisdom says use the dutch oven. Why? Because dutch ovens are heavy and have a lot of thermal mass. Higher thermal mass tends to even out the temperature experienced by the food inside of the cooking vessel. All ovens oscillate above and below the set temperature. That means an oven set to 250 may oscillate between 225 and 275 to maintain an average of 250.

That said, when cooking wet foods in the oven the quality of the cooking vessel really doesn't seem to matter. A less conductive material may take longer to cook the food, but from a scorching or food quality standpoint I think you will find there is no appreciable difference.

If we were talking cooking bread in a pre-heated dutch oven vs a pre-heated flimsy steel pot, there would be a big difference.


Backyard mint too grassy I just moved into a house with a large quantity of mint growing in the yard.

It is late in the season and a lot of the mint is going to seed.

I picked two packed cups of leaves and trimmed off all the stems.
I pulsed the leaves in the food processor with granulated sugar until it was a paste.
I then used the paste as the flavoring for homemade ice cream.

The ice cream texture was fantastic but the flavor wasn't. It was weirdly grassy and not very minty at all.
The kids wouldn't even eat it until I added a good quantity of mint extract to fix it.

I thought the mint leaves themselves were minty enough.

This is my first time using fresh mint this way.
Did I use the mint improperly or is mint only used very young?

While it is true that there are a variety of mints, I think your biggest challenge is that it is "late in the season."  I find that here (Philly, USA), in August, all of my herbs tend to develop a bitterness that is not there in spring and early summer.  While it may be the variety, I don't think it is the age of the plant, as my mint comes back each year as well.  It seems that the "soft" herbs are just past their prime now.  My rosemary and sage are fine, thyme is ok, but softer herbs like basil and lovage have a higher bitter component.  Try your mint again in the spring.

Another thought: Pulsing into a paste my also bring out flavor components that are not desirable.  What about steeping the leaves in the milk and cream (this would work if you are making a custard based ice cream and heating the cream), then straining them out?


Stock questions. What to taste for when making stock? First, what should homemade stock taste like? Should it be fairly bland? When I cook other things like pasta sauce, dressing, etc. I can always taste and add seasoning and adjust as needed while it cooks. Since it seems to be a rule to not salt stock, what should I be tasting and adjusting for to know if I'm going in the right direction? Is stock tasting during even a thing or are you supposed to rely on a proven recipe and just wait and hope?

I'm making beef stock for the 1st time and I'm around the 3 hour mark and it tastes pretty bland. I used 2lb oxtail, 4 onions, 1 large carrot, 2 celery stalks, couple bay leaves, 2tsp thyme, 1tsp rosemary and enough water to cover everything (guessing around 3 liters). If it tastes bland at the 3 hour point should I consider adding salt or something else? If after 8 hours, it's still bland, is there any chance of salvaging by reducing?

I always got the impression that stock is pretty versatile and you can throw leftover bones and scraps you accumulate and have tasty base to use but as of right now I'm a bit underwhelmed. Have I overlooked something?

Since you are going to be using it for cooking, you're absolutely right to not add salt. Especially if the cooking involves reduction, you want to be able to control the salt level at that point. Unfortunately, that does make it a bit hard to gauge the flavor of the stock. A beef stock should actually taste like beef, like if you thickened it and added salt, it would be a passable gravy.

Especially for beef stock, it helps to thoroughly roast the meat and vegetables before adding them to the water. Don't skin your onions, roasted onion skins add great flavor and color.

If you didn't roast your ingredients before adding to the water, consider roasting them now. Fish your beef and vegetables out of the water, dry them with a paper towel, and put them in a 450°F (230°C) oven, flipping every 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile, keep the water (stock) at a simmer both for safety's sake and a bit of reduction.

Once your meat and vegetables are very brown (just this side of burnt), add them back to your stock and simmer for at least another three hours.

If possible, deglaze your roasting pan with a bit of the stock or even better, some small amount of wine. Any brown bits on your roasting pan are going to boost the flavor of your stock.

If after all of this your stock still seems flavorless, ladle a bit out and salt it just to taste (leaving the stock in the pot still unsalted).

If your salted broth still tastes too weak, yes you can reduce it. You can also add a reduced-sodium beef base like Better Than Bouillon. Doing so will add considerable salt (unfortunately reduced-sodium =/= low-sodium), so be judicious.

Like Stephie alluded to in comments, several peppercorns, a few bay leaves and some thyme couldn't hurt.


Why does my ganache keep breaking? I'm making truffles, and my ganache keeps coming apart. The chocolate acts like it's overheating, but it's not. I've confirmed the temperature of the water in the double boiler several times, and the chocolate never exceeds 120 degrees. Here's my recipe:

20 oz of chopped chocolate (72%)
1 3/4 cups cream
1/4 cup Cognac
2 tbsp Butter
splash of espresso powder

I'm making this in a double boiler, as I find it usually turns out smoother. I don't know why this recipe isn't working today, I've made it twice and it's failed both times, though I've used the recipe many times over the years.

The only difference is the cognac, but I've used other liquid as flavoring. Is there something in liquor that changes the melting properties of chocolate? The liquid is going in with the chocolate, so it's not seizing.

I've destroyed $40 of Valhrona today, so needless to say, I'd like to know why this is happening.

I found an answer in McGee's 'On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen'.

The basic ganache is 1:1 chocolate:cream (by weight). With lots of chocolate the emulsion can come apart.

In 'Keys to good cooking' McGee describes how to restore a failed ganache. You put it over a double boiler and when it reaches 33ºC y stir it vigorously. If that fails, start with a smaller batch, just like you'd recover mayonnaisse.

McGee recommends letting it sit on the counter to cool slowly overnight.

The relevant pages are not shown on Google Books preview.


Excess flour in banneton after proofing I finally got around to buying bannetons for my bread baking and just used one for the first time. Worked great! However, I used rice flour to coat the interior and, after releasing the dough, there is quite a bit in the grooves throughout the bowl and it doesn't fall out by shaking or tapping. So do I leave it there to build up for future proofing or should I get a brush and get it all out?

I have several bannetons (also called brotforms).  Two are wicker and 2 are cane (you can also find them made from wood pulp).  I simply use a small, stiff pastry brush to clean away any flour left behind.  Sometimes I find it helpful to leave it out overnight so the flour dries and it is easier to brush away.  I have even given the canes a quick rinse but I do make sure to thoroughly dry before storing.  In addition to rice flour, I have used AP and bread flour with success.

With the wicker ones, sometimes I use food grade linen that I flour and line the banneton with to proof the bread.  I have also used plastic wrap that has a light spray of olive oil.  These two methods eliminate the need to flour the banneton.  It just depends on my mood and the surface finish I want on the baked loaf.


A burger made from pastrami For the past few months, I've been doing a fair amount of curing, and I think I've gotten my pastrami down pretty nicely. Now that warm weather is here, I have burgers on the brain, and considering how to merge these two loves.

What I'm looking for advice on is how to approach this feat. I was considering one of two basic directions:

Cure ground beef
Patty-ify completed pastrami

In the former case, I would mix the cure right into the beef, rest for a few days, then form patties, crust, and slow-grill over a smoky flame.

In the latter case, I would take a completed pastrami, mince it, form it into patties (probably with a binder), and then grill.

Has anyone tried anything like this? Am I off my rocker? Are there any other approaches I'm missing here?

It strikes me that it would be a bit overpowering, and that even with a binder you would have a hard time keeping it together. Cured ground beef just seems like it would be nasty :-)

I've experimented myself with two 'inclusions' in fresh beef patties. One is bacon (cooked), the other is salami. They are both interesting, and if minced finely and added to the grind they do not interfere with texture but add some excellent flavors and saltiness.

I would imagine pastrami would give you a nice result as an inclusion too. I'd chop it up and mix it in with the cubed up beef before you run it through the grinder.

With burgers really the fresher the better. I grind about 2 hours before grill time, and that is only so I can throw the patties into the freezer. I like them thin and cooked through, so I need to freeze them so they hold their shape better during the first side cooking. If you like your burgers to have some pink you'll probably want to skip the freezer.


Why does Green Tea taste sour as it cools down? It seems every time I make a cup of green tea, if I don't finish it while it's still considerably hot, it starts to get really sour and tastes awful.

Why is this and how can I prevent this?  What am I doing wrong?

The most likely culprits are:

Steeping too long: 1-3 minutes, depending on the type and grade of tea.
Using water that is too hot or too cold: Again, this depends on the type and grade of tea.

Here is an excellent resource for getting these factors right:

On Steeping Time:

  Green tea does not require much time. Too long a steeping time will result in more bitterness and a less balanced flavor. We recommend experimenting with a range of 1 - 3 minutes. Japanese green teas generally taste best at 1 - 2 minutes while Chinese green teas seem to prefer 2 - 3 minutes (the smaller leaves of Japanese teas will extract faster than the generally larger leaves of Chinese teas). Steeping time should be balanced with water temperature: the lower the temperature, the longer the tea can be steeped.

On Temperature

  As a general guideline, green teas taste best when brewed at temperatures between 140°F - 185°F (60°C-85°C). The grade of the tea and the time of its harvest will also influence the appropriate steeping temperature. Green teas picked earlier in the spring will benefit from lower temperature brewing due to their overall higher levels of amino acids.

...

  The most accurate way is to use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water in the kettle. One approach is to heat the water in your kettle to the desired temperature and then pour it into your teapot. Another approach is to heat the water to boiling and then let it cool down a bit before pouring into your teapot.

Read the whole thing for further background.


How to deal with a fresh hare? My neighbour has just given me a freshly shot hare, but has been pretty unhelpful as to what I should do with it. Pheasants I can deal with, but this is a step too far.

Any suggestions (apart from get rid of it) on how I can use it? How should I prepare it and what cooking methods will be effective?

Note by the moderators:

This question is not looking for recipe suggestions. It is OK to explain what methods (e.g. slow cooking, grilling, etc.) are generally good for a whole hare not prepared by a professional butcher. Answers about how to prepare it for cooking (e.g. gutting) are also welcome. Recipe suggestions will be deleted, as they are off-topic on our site.

How to deal with a freshly shot hare.

Immediately it is shot, or as soon as possible thereafter, take hold of the carcase between the rear legs hold the legs downwards and apply pressure with both thumbs between the legs on the bladder to expel any urine onto the ground. This will stop stale urine tainting the meat.
Do not paunch the hare. Leave the entrails in situ and hang the hare by the hind legs in a cool dry place. Use a perforated metal fly proof game larder if you have one. If not, a cool dry area of a garage will suffice but you will need to inspect the carcase regularly to see that flies nave not laid  eggs that have hatched into maggots. Do not worry if it happens, just cut away and discard the affected area when you butcher the carcase. The hare may drip blood from the nose this can be collected by tying a jam jar around the head to hang under the nose.
According to how gamey you like the meat to taste and the local temperature, ideally 40 – 50°F, hang the carcase for a week to two weeks. After five days sniff it regularly to judge how ripe it is. Fresh hare is tough, the longer it is left the tenderer and tastier it will become.
Paunch (remove the entrails) and skin the carcase. Remove the head and tail but retain the liver, kidneys and heart to give added flavour to the stew. Joint the carcase into from eight to ten pieces.
Cook according to any recipe you fancy, There are lots on the web. To my taste the essential ingredients among the many herbs listed are, in order of priority: juniper berries, a hot peppercorn (remove before serving), a glass or more of port, an onion studded with cloves (remove before serving) and other herbs to taste.

The keys to success are hanging the carcase until ripe and gamey and long slow cooking with plenty of herbs. The dish is always nicer if left to cool overnight and then reheated. Bon Appetit!


Substituting white chocolate in Julia Child's mousse I've been making chocolate mousse à la Julia Child since I was 12.  I vaguely recall trying it with butterscotch chips, which didn't work.  Now I have high quality white chocolate I'd like to try in lieu of semisweet, but what to substitute for the two liquids, espresso and liqueur/orange juice?

I want this mousse to taste like white chocolate, so orange juice, Cointreau, Amaretto, and coconut milk are out if a quarter cup would compete flavorwise.  Rum may be a safe choice, but I only have Captain Morgan's on hand.  I won't up the liqueur to a half cup.

I appreciate the mocha flavor of the original, and wonder if using espresso would overpower the white chocolate, or if orange juice would any more than rum.  I have a couple more days to figure out what to do.  Suggestions?

Guittard replied to my query after the fact, so I learned firsthand that one should use less liquid because cocoa solids in dark chocolate are absent from white chocolate.  I substituted 1/4 cup milk for the same amount of strong coffee in the original recipe, and the Baker's Premium White Chocolate liquefied.  Melted semisweet doesn't pour like it did, and I was paranoid my mousse wouldn't set.

I studied my liqueur options at the store.  A 750mL bottle of crème de cacao tempted me with thoughts of frozen cocktails, all requiring additional 750mL bottles of other liqueurs, and I didn't want to go there.  The selection of 50mL bottles was limited, but I settled on E&J Vanilla brandy.

When I opened it, there was no essence of vanilla; I smelled only brandy.  The 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract I added to the milk was imperceptible, as well.  My attempt at white chocolate mousse was more like a brandy Alexander custard.  My official taster said he wouldn't have known I used either white chocolate or vanilla if I hadn't told him all about it.

His initial "Wow!" and the way he savored it conveyed his appreciation nonetheless.  Brandy made for a good flavoring.  If I found Baker's 4-ounce bars on sale again, I'd forgo using liquid in the melting step, and hope for a less custardy consistency.  I even reduced the butter by 2 tablespoons, and beat the living daylights out of it before folding in the egg whites.  It set, but a spoon won't stand up in it like the original.

Thank you for your advice:)


How do you peel chickpeas? When making a hummus one of the key factors seems to be removal of chickpea white skins.

Are there any tips on how can I effectively peel the skins off in an efficient way?

You can also try doing it in a bowlful of water; the skins will float to the surface when they come loose.


Breakfast burritos from 16 egg casserole, how to cook everything uniformly? I am baking a 16 egg casserole that will be used for breakfast burritos and so I want the egg mixture to be cooked uniformly through. Once the breakfast burritos are made I will freeze them all. What is the best way to cook the egg casserole uniformly?

over the stove with a large skillet? large wok over stove?
baking with a casserole dish or metal skillet in oven? with lid or without lid? what temperature time (i.e. hot 350+ F and shorter time or cooler 250-300 F and longer) and how long?
(maybe you have another way that is not stove+skillet nor baking.)

I chose to go with baking because I think such a large volume of eggs is too difficult[1] to cook over a stove in a skillet/wok.

[1]
I say difficult because when I cook a 10-11 egg mixture over a stove with a 10 inch skillet the cooking requires stirring vigorously the entire egg mixture throughout the entire cooking process and the total time is something like 5-10 minutes plus or minus (I haven't measured how long I just look at the egg consistency). So after half way through finishing stirring you start to get tired and sometimes you get parts that get harder if you slack in your stirring. And so I can't imagine doing the same thing with 16 eggs I don't think I would have the stamina to cook stirring that long and I would be concerned about food safety with everything cooking through.

Baked, covered, at low heat :

ovens self-regulate, so you're going to get a more consistent result each time than doing it on the stovetop.
covering will minimize evaporation, which will cool the top more.
low heat will minimize problems with the edges cooking before the middle ... but eggs also have this strange thing where it's more difficult to over cook them at low heat ... and it's not just an issue of carry-over cooking (which lower heat will help to minimize, too).

As for shape of the vessel, I'd go with a rectangular baking dish -- because then I could more easily portion out 16 equal sized servings than from a round or oblong vessel.


What is the best way to store prepared raw vegetables I help and elderly friend who has asked me to pre-prepare some vegetables for her. This way she'll be able to cook them for herself later.

I would like to know the best way to store pre-prepared vegetables such as, carrots, broccoli, sprouts, cauliflower and potatoes that are not going to be cooked for 3-5 days.

Thank you.

It's really difficult to answer, as there are way too many variables.

Which vegetable?
What is being done to it before storage?
What will be done to it after storage?
Is it closer to 3 days, or 5 days?

For instance, let's look at carrots, one of the items that you mentioned.  Cut carrots can be stored in water, in the fridge, and they'll do just fine ... but if you're going to try stir-frying them, the extra water has to be dealt with, and so that won't work (unless you remember to drain them and give them time to dry before you're going to use them.)

Brocolli's another strange one ... if you're slicing up the stalks for using later, once again, water's a good idea ... but I've never had good luck with soaking the florets, as they just take way too long to try to dry back out to use.

Potatoes are one of those things that you might want to do more than just cutting or peeling them -- I typically bake a few off to use in later dishes, like hash.  (and I leave 'em whole, and cut them up as I need them).  But if you're going to leave them raw, you really should put them in water, or they'll oxidize and turn brown.

The time's also another issue -- not everything can be stored for 5 days without freezing, but that brings in lots of other issues.  If I blanch brocolli, 3-5 days is what StillTasty gives in the fridge.  (they claim the same for raw, but I know I can keep brocolli from the farmer's market for 7 days ... part of it's buying firm heads .. if the florets give at all in the store, you're not going to get very long out of 'em).

... if it were me, I'd also try to look into what issues your friend has ... there might be tools that could help her (eg, if it's an issue that she's unsteady with a knife, could she use a box grater, food processor or mandoline for slicing things?).  If it's an issue with grip, would a vegetable peeler with a larger handle give her more control?


Coffee foam vs. Tea foam One sign of really good fresh well-roasted coffee beans is foam.  When you pour hot water into the French press, it foams, often forming a head up to 2" high.  And when you use an espresso machine, you get a nice foam called "crema".

However, if you pour hot water into a teapot and see foam, that's a sign of terrible tea and you should throw it out.

Questions: what chemical reaction is taking place in each of the two cases (coffee and tea), and why does coffee get less foamy when it gets older whereas old tea gets more foamy?

During roasting, carbon dioxide is generated (the beans are burning, after all) and trapped in coffee beans. According to the book Espresso Coffee, a kilogram of freshly roasted beans contains as much as 10 liters of carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is the main gas component of espresso foam. Over time, unused beans will release that gas into the air, or de-gas, leaving less to create the crema on your espresso.

They say that coffee is not best immediately after roasting, but needs a few days to reach its peak. I've heard that this is because of the excess carbon dioxide, and I've heard that the "flavors need to develop." I'm not sure what the truth is. I don't normally get my beans that soon after their roasting, so I can't speak personally to the differences.

I don't know much about tea, so I can't help you there...


Do you need a rice cooker to cook sticky rice? I know that cooking sticky rice uses a steamer setup. But do you need a rice cooker to cook sticky rice property, or can it be done using regular kitchen tools, e.g. pots and pans?

Rice cookers are not magic.  They do not do anything, for any type of rice, that cannot be done with a more traditional pot and heat source.

What makes a rice cooker effective at what it does is that it has a thermometer measuring the temperature of the pot, at least at the edge.  This allows it to detect when all of the water has been absorbed, because only then can the temperature rise above the boiling point of water.   The logic or circuitry built into the cooker than shut off, or change the heat level to warming.

So of course, with experience and good technique you can cook anything in a regular pot that can be cooked in a rice cooker, including sticky rice.

Did you mean to ask how to properly cook sticky rice with traditional equipment?  You can google a myriad of recipes.  The common theme appears to be soaking and steaming (as you mentioned), for best results.  For example, this one from Food Network requires no rice cooker.


Shrimp/Fish Paste with rice When I was young my step-mother, who was Filipino, did most of the cooking.  She often served plain white rice with this Shrimp/Fish paste on the side instead of soy sauce.

I'm trying to find the paste.
(it wasn't a paste-paste or dry)

I have no idea what it was called.  It was bought in an Asian market.  Came in a tiny glass bottle. Was a redish/brown colour.  It had a little liquid in it, and was crunchy if you accidentally ate too much.  Something you didn't want to do since it was so salty 1/2 a dime size amount was more than enough for a full bowl of rice.

Everything I've found on-line says it must be cooked in.  It was never cooked in.

What you are describing sounds a lot like Belacan which is a very strong, very salty shrimp paste, that can be crunchy, as you describe, if you were to eat it by the spoonful.

Around where I am (Northern Virginia) you would find ingredients like this in one of the Korean groceries, like H-Mart or Lotte.

I snooped online looking for your small glass jars. I was able to find some that looked about right on Amazon. Only you can tell what brand your step-mother used to get (if it even exists any more), but it should be very similar to the block form that I am used to.


Why did my pork center cut loin turn out tender but tasteless? Why did my pork center cut loin turn out tender but tasteless?

First I marinated the meat for two hours with a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and Italian seasoning. Then pan-seared it to brown its surface. Finally I braised it in the oven, covered with aluminum foil, using a vegetable sauce, until the internal temperature was 150 F.

The result was a tasteless meat, very tender but with a mushy texture.

Did either your "Italian Seasoning" or the sauce contain salt? If not, then your pork was almost certainly tasteless because it needed salt.


How do I separate my melted rock candies? I recently bought a a jar of rock candies and after one night, they have melted and all stuck together. How do I separate them again to eat them? (I tried freezing, it didn’t work!)

If you can get them out of the jar, I would suggest a hammer.

Put them in a plastic bag and whack them with the hammer.

You might be able to use a knife (carefully) to pry them apart depending on much they are stuck together.


Chocolate cake vs Brownies I have heard people saying that brownies are simply a smaller version of chocolate cakes, is that so? If not, then what could be the differences between  brownie and chocolate cake?

Brownies are denser then cakes in general. This is achieved through the different cooking methods and some slight differences in ingredients.

The main difference in ingredients is that chocolate cakes tend to get their chocolate flavour from cocoa powder, whereas brownies use melted chocolate (and possibly some cocoa powder). Melted chocolate gives a denser texture than cocoa powder.

Brownies tend to be prepared by simply melting the butter and chocolate, and stirring all the ingredients together. A chocolate cake tends to either cream the butter with sugar or whip the sugar and eggs until fluffy, and then just fold in the remaining ingredients. This adds air to the cake which the brownie lacks, leading to a cake that's less dense than the brownie.

All that said, chocolate flavoured baked goods come on a texture scale from really dense (a very fudgy brownie) to really fluffy (a chocolate angel food cake). Many recipes are somewhere in between and it's up to you whether you call it a cake or a brownie.