Increasing time on slow cooker recipes I am looking for recipes that I can put in the slow cooker before I go to work and have them done (not over cooked) when I get home.  This is about 9-10 hours of cooking.  Most recipes that I am looking at have cook times of 4-6 hours.  Most contain chicken or beef.

Is there anything wrong with keeping recipes cooking longer than 4-6 hours?  Is there anything I can do to prevent this?

It depends on the particulars of the recipe and the ingredients and the slow cooker itself.

You say you are using chicken or beef, but are the pieces of meat small or large?  Is the meat lean or fatty?  I've had problems with overcooking large pieces of lean meat, such as chicken breast, but smaller pieces and/or fattier pieces seem to hold up better to extra-long cooking.

Another issue is proportion of liquid.  For example, soups tend to work better in your scenario than "drier" recipes.

And, of course, the slow cooker itself can make a difference.  I assume you are talking about 9-10 hours on low, not on high.  But low itself is not likely to be entirely consistent between cookers.  For example, a large slow cooker is likely to put out more total energy than a small slow cooker, so for extra-long cooking times, you are probably better off using a small cooker with a full pot that a large cooker with a half-full pot.


Ingredient Ratios for Homemade Milk Chocolate I am experimenting with making chocolate.

From the research I did, the best starting point I got for ratios for normal "70% dark" chocolate is:

30% Sugar
38.5% Cocoa Butter (55% Butter of 70%)
31.5% Cocoa Solids (45% Solids of 70%)

I reckon I successfully made some dark chocolate! I am happy with the result.

I do have kids though, and they are not quite there yet on "dark" chocolate.

From research, the basic idea is to add in milk powder.

I substituted half of the cocoa solids with whey powder (does it make a difference?). The taste is "alright," but the mix was very "gritty." As soon as the whey went in, it became a "porridge" rather than a "thin custard." It has yet to set, but I think it will set fine. It's just not going to be very consistent in texture.

Can you point me in the direction of the basic starting ratios for milk chocolate? I am not necessarily looking for recipes, as those that I do find vary greatly and use all sorts of different vegetable fats, etc.

I want to limit my ingredients to Cocoa butter, Cocoa Solids, Milk Powder and Sugar.

Like Sneftel said, whey powder is NOT milk powder. Whey powder is created using curdled and strained milk by-product. It's closer to cheese than it is to milk.

Milk powder is just evaporated milk.

With that out of the way, if I were to create a ratio by making modifications based on your ratio it would be: 30% sugar, 28.5% cacao butter, 21.5% cacao solids, 20% milk powder.

Again, make sure you are using actual milk powder, not whey powder.


To make avocado oil, how ripe do your avocados need to be? I'm interested in making pure avocado oil.  (No additives).  I plan to do this in a recipe that was posted on StackExchange here: How do I press avocadoes to make avocado oil? (Anthony Njoka's answer.

My question is about the necessary ripeness of the avocados.  It would make things very convenient if I could pick the avocados before they are ripe.  They sit on my table a considerable amount of time before they are ready for guacamole, and when the tree decides it's ready to give up its fruit, I get hundreds of unripe avocados.  Making avocado oil seems like the perfect solution.

I’m not sure which kind of technology you are going to use to press the avocado oil, but if you want pure and more healthy oil for cooking or cosmetic utilization, I recommend the hydraulic cold press process. Cause physical press will keep the nutrients of oil better.

Back to the question you asked, when hydraulically pressed, the ripeness of avocado greatly affects the final oil yield. The riper the fruit, the higher the oil yield. If you want to maximize the oil yield, just wait patiently be fore the fruit is completely ripe.


How much powdered milk and water would you need to make exactly 5 tablespoons of Milk? I have a recipe that calls for 5 tablespoons of milk but only have powdered milk. And i don't want to make more than what I need as it won't get used in this house.

Five tablespoons is a smidge under 1/3 of a cup. There are four tablespoons in a quarter cup.

You don't say what the reconstitution percentages are for your powdered milk but if you do whichever conversion is for 1/3 of a cup, you should be fine. Most recipes don't need it to be absolutely exact. A little extra milk isn't going to harm anything.

One website says to use 1 tablespoon of powdered milk and 1/3 cup of water but this other one says 2 tablespoons and a teaspoon with 1/3 cup of water... so it may depend on the brand.

Please note, depending on what you're using this for, you may need to add fat of some sort unless you have whole milk powder, as many powdered milk products are non-fat. Most recipes that call for "milk" mean "whole milk" substituting fat free milk (skim) can be detrimental to the final flavor of the milk.


Baking after the first rise (without punching down) vs the regular two rise approach? Yeasted dough is usually given a second rise because after the first rise it's shaped, which knocks the air out of it and so it needs time to be leavened again.  But what if you shaped the dough before the first rise and then baked after letting it rise (without deflating the dough in the process)? Would there be any difference in the end result compared to the two rise method?  Assume that in both cases, the dough is left to refrigerate overnight for the first rise.

Part of the effect of the first rise is to develop gluten in the dough. With an overnight rise, the flavour and texture of the final product will most likely be fine. However, you might have trouble shaping the dough before it has risen and/or relaxed.

Note that even in bread recipes that explicitly tell you not to punch down the dough (such as Ken Forkish' recipes), there is a first- and second rise.


Information regarding Brassica juncea var. rugosa (芥菜) and it's bitter leaves I have several questions regarding a popular Chinese vegetable. For information purposes, I have attached a picture of the plant

I would like to know why the leaves are bitter and whether they are edible?
If edible, is it possible to remove the bitterness in the leaves?

PS: I have adjusted the title. The plaant is also called mustard greens.

Bolted?
This is a mustard related to bok choi, napa cabbage etc.  If mustard (or many other leafy plants) bolt and set flowers they can become bitter.  One would think that they would not then be sold, but sellers can cut off the flowers and hope no-one notices.  I once bought some like this at the farmers market and a different seller caught sight of it and pointed out where the flowers had been cut off.
I am not super averse to bitter so I ate it anyway.


Freezer warmed to -6C. Safe to eat the food? My freezer recently warmed to -6 degrees Centigrade during a long power outage from its usual -18C. It's now on its super freeze cycle and cooling back down again. Is the food inside still safe to eat? -6 is obviously less than zero, the freezing point of water, but I've heard that food in a freezer can go bad even below 0. Is this true?

In your question, does "go bad" mean food quality or food safety?
As for safety, you were nowhere near the "danger zone" either temperature-wise or time-wise.
Initially safe, properly stored, frozen food that warms to -6C (or 22 F) for 30 minutes will not render it unsafe to eat.
In terms of food quality, freezers (most of which these days are self-defrosting), go through temperature cycles regularly.  The problem with this is not food safety, but the accumulation of ice crystals in foods, which degrades quality.  Freezer burn is the extreme example.  Of course, attention to packaging (vacuum sealing, for example) helps.


Should I roast a rolled beef roast from room temperature? It is better to roast a rolled beef roast from room temperature? Or is it advisable to roast it straight from the fridge?

It won't make a huge difference, and excellent chefs disagree on the subject (assuming you're only thinking of leaving the meat out for an hour or so, which actually wouldn't bring it to room temp, just slightly warmer than fridge temp). If you are serving people who prefer different levels of doneness, you can take the cold roast from the fridge and put it into a very hot oven, then immediately turn the oven temperature down to the temp you want for roasting. That will give the greatest variance in doneness of individual servings. A slightly warmer roast to start and a consistent roasting temperature (particularly a temperature on the low side) will more evenly cook the roast.

Don't forget to rest the meat before slicing! And don't forget, how much will depend upon the size of the roast, but its temperature will rise upon resting.


What cuts of meat are preferable when you want to avoid drying out? I want to cook meat that is well done in an oven, doesn't have crust on the outside and doesn't dry out.

In this question What am I doing wrong when cooking meat? it seems people were saying its the cut of meat.

Are there parts of chicken that may be more suited to avoid drying out.  Is chicken breasts more likely to dry out or not?
What cuts of meat from say beef or lamb would be preferable, or is it that case when you get a well done piece of red meats, it will always be too tough?
Is steak more likely to come out drier than other cuts of meat or about the same?

1) Chicken is a tough meat to cook right, in that it dries out very easily. A few too many minutes of cooking and you can go from a deliciously juicy piece of chicken to a dry and chalky piece of chicken.

If you're newer to cooking chicken, I highly recommend using a meat thermometer and taking the meat off the heat about 5-10 degrees before the final temperature is reached, as the meat will continue to rise in internal temperature during the resting period.

For cuts of chicken, it doesn't really matter. I personally like chicken breast, which is white meat and is lower in fat. But chicken thighs (dark meat) are also great, and tend to be juicier by default because of a higher fat content. The entire chicken is great!

Start with some known chicken recipes, which include cooking times and spice/marinade combinations. Once you try a few, you'll get an idea of how to experiment on your own.

Chicken Breast Recipes

2) It will depend how you intend to cook and eat the meat. If you just want a piece of beef, you're going to usually want what's traditionally considered a steak. This will be a NY Strip, Rib Eye, Tenderloin (Filet Mignon), Porterhouse, and many more. Stay away from Chuck (stew beef), Round, Flank, Sirloin etc. These cuts are tougher and require more than just grilling or baking to become enjoyable (although can be very enjoyable when marinated, or slow cooked).

Well done meat isn't always tough - I highly suspect it was the cut of meat you were trying to prepare in your other question. Although, most people will find well done meat less enjoyable than, say, medium-rare or similar. This is preference though - so eat what you find most enjoyable. (although if you have not tried a medium-rare NY Strip or Porterhouse, I recommend it!)

3) This entirely depends on how you cook the meat and what cut of meat you start with. Things like Chuck are usually cheaper than NY Strip, because they are tougher to start with, and contain more connective tissue that must be broken down before it can be enjoyed. For example, Sirloin is usually a bit tougher than a NY Strip, however if marinaded and slow cooked properly, it can be turned into a delicate, tender and delicious Tri-Tip! Same goes for Flank, which when marinated properly can be turned into delicious carne asada for "street tacos".

For more tips on how to prepare and cook your meat, see your other question: What am I doing wrong when cooking meat?

If you have the ability to find it, I highly recommend watching some episodes of Alton Brown's Good Eats tv show. It's fantastic, and doesn't just explain how to cook something - it explains the why reasoning behind cooking things a certain way. This will equip you with the knowledge necessary to experiment on your own without a recipe!


What is a moist vanilla bean? I'm trying to make a vanilla syrup for some flavored coffees, and the recipe I have calls for:

  2 1/2 cups water
  2 cups white sugar
  3/4 cup brown sugar
  1 moist vanilla bean, preferably Mexican or Bourbon (Madagascar)

What does it mean by a moist vanilla bean? Do I soak the bean in water or something before use?

This is not a precise term, you cannot go and buy "moist" and "dry" vanilla beans. But the pods can be prepared to different degrees of dryness, similar to prunes. And the ones with more remaining moisture have more taste and are generally higher quality. This is why they specify it. If you only have access to dry pods, I will still try out the recipe with them, just change the source for the next buy.

Regarding the comment above, I have never had vanilla beans with a grade denoted on the packaging. But I have had both moist and dry ones, so it isn't a case of only one grade being marketed to end users. It is surely better if you can distinguish them based on some kind of grading, but chances are, you won't know what grade you are buying.


How do I glaze vegetables? I'm looking to glaze some carrots, maybe some beets, and a decent chunk of the rest of the season's worth of farmshare. I'm sure there's plenty of recipes on the internet, but I'm looking for some general advice as to method: how to do it properly, what to look out for, etc. Help me out?

Trim your carrots, rutabaga, turnips, etc. to consistent sizes and put in a large saute pan.  Add stock or water (amount will depend on vegetables and their density along with quantitye of vegetables.  Start with enough to come about 2/3 up the volume of veg.) along with some salt, a couple tablespoons of butter and a couple tablespoons of sugar.

Bring the liquid to a simmer and cover lightly with a lid or a circle of parchment paper.  Simmer until vegetables are getting tender.  Remove the lid and continue to simmer until liquid evaporates and sugar and butter create a nice glaze.  Watch at the end to make sure the sugar doesn't burn.  Add any desired herbs, taste and adjust seasoning and serve.


Make sourdough starter without discarding I understand the point of discarding half the sourdough starter as the yeast develops so that you don't have exponential amounts of starter. Why not start with a half ounce of flour and just add the same weight as what's in the container? (I plan to try this.) On the fifth day, feeding once a day, there would be 8 ounces of flour.

While I have successfully begun a starter with only 10 grams of flour at the outset, I think I agree with Stephie that doing a little more is more efficient.  I used to do very wasteful starters until I happened upon this site back in 2002 or something.  (Amazingly, it's still there.)  You can read the details there, but basically the guy who did it designed his initial starter regimen based on the amount of flour he'd eventually use to bake bread (i.e., with no waste).  (It also has a way to get to a lower pH earlier which helps the starter along while inhibiting bad stuff; this was years before the internet discovered the "pineapple juice solution.")

But I think this depends a LOT more on your feeding regimen, especially in the early days, as well as the flour.  I've written a lot about the variables in my other answers here on sourdough related questions, so I'm not going to repeat it all here.

Briefly, though, YES, it is possible.  It can be just as reliable as using more flour and a lot less wasteful.  Even if you don't do a true exponential growth model for your starter, you can also be significantly less wasteful by keeping the starter relatively small until it's established.  There's no reason to be feeding and throwing away a cup or more of flour every time for every feeding, particularly if the starter isn't even growing yet.

Also, the same applies to maintaining your starter.  If you want to do detailed calculations, I've explained them here.  When I first started with sourdough, I used to produce way too much of it and throw it away.  Now I generally save just a tablespoon or two, feed it a little, and put it away for the next batch and build up from there when necessary.


We have 2 almond trees but we cannot crack the shells because they are so hard. What am I doing wrong We find it impossible to crack the almond shells on our almonds from two trees we have. What are we doing wrong?

I don't think you are doing anything wrong, some almond shells can be notoriously hard, depending on the species.

Maybe you are used to having soft shell almonds and your trees produce some hard shell variety.

Soft Shell Almonds

Hard Shell Almonds

Make sure they are ripe and dry enough (no fresh pulp around it), greener shells are generally slightly sturdier and harder. They tend get a bit more brittle/crumbly when they get ripe and less humid, after the soft skin falls off.

When I was a kid I used to eat fresh almonds straight from the tree during summer vacations at my grandmother's, and the only way we could crack the shell was literally hammering it with a small stone against the ground, and specifically on a hard surface, like a curb stone or something.

And even then it requires some skill, because hitting too softly won't crack the shell all the way through, hitting too hard will smash it completely crushing the edible part into a mush.

To do it at home a regular "pliers shaped" nut cracker should suffice, though it will require strength and more pressure then say most walnuts for example.
If you aren't afraid to break a door, a common workaround is to put it near the hinges, between the jamb and the frame and slowly close the door, that should crack it open easily.

Be warned this can damage the door, break the hinges, and dent the wood. Don't blame me for damaged property! ;)


How do I cook a chicken to make it really really really soft? I ate a dinner one time, and this guy cooked the chicken so soft it almost melted in my mouth.  Now I want to know how to make that kind of chicken.  Because when you cook the chicken regularly it comes out rubbery. You know what I mean?

How you prep the chicken is also as important as how you cook it. Cooking method is only half of the answer. Brining the meat in a salty/sugary/acidic solution will go a long way in adding flavor and making the meat moist and tender.


how to calculate a standard drink from the alcohol percentage? Part science, part arithmetic question.

For alcohol with proof x what volume constitutes a single drink?

Defining a standard drink as 14 grams of alcohol:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink

although it seems to be the wrong units.  I vaguely remember something about moles but wouldn't recall how to apply this here.

Actually, not sure where I got the 14 grams from, but a unit of alcohol looks to be perhaps a better measure:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_alcohol

see also:

How to determine the alcohol content of a mixed-drink?

It is easier to define the standard drink by volume as you won't have to switch between concentrations by volume (as is normal in most drinks) and grams.

This is probably where your recollection of moles comes in as somewhere in this morass of units they get involved.

14 grams of alcohol is 17.7 ml

so 30% alcohol (many spirits) to get to a 100% you need to add another 70/100 ths of volume.

(17.7/30)*100 = 59 ml of drink which just so happens to be two fluid ounces for our american viewers.

or, slightly less intuitive but easier to use:

the volume of your drink = 17.7 / (the concentration or your drink /100)

Now if you want to use the "proof" of your drink as a unit of volume I'll need a drink first.


How would you adapt a brownie recipe to a two-bite cupcake size? How would you adapt a brownie recipe to a two-bite cupcake size?
Additional constraint, I usually bake with whole wheat flouer, and try to reduce butter in favor of apple-sauce, olive oil and coconut oil. Eggs are fine.
Thanks for reading.

Depending on the size of the cupcake tin you may have to increase or decrease the cooking times and temperature. My favorite "brownie disguised as a cupcake" recipe is from Paula Deen - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/peanut-butter-brownie-cupcakes-recipe/index.html


How to get falafel to hold together when pan-frying? I like to pan-fry my falafel (as some of the answers to this question suggest), but have had the cakes fall apart or degenerate into mush when trying to turn them over. For ingredients I use chickpeas, olive oil, spices, and tahini. Is there a trick, either in ingredients or in preparation, to making them hold together better?

(I've seen a few recipes that include flour in the mixture; if that is the common answer then I'd like to know of any gluten-free alternatives. But since I don't know if it is really a factor I'll hold off on adding the gluten-free tag - don't want to unfairly get another entry in this week's contest!)

I used almond flour as an alternative and it worked pretty well. The perfect temperature is difficult at first but just keep trying....falafels are worth the efforts.


Removing macaron paper template under silicone mat I'm a keen baker and am now buying silicone baking mats. However when I've realised when I am baking macarons, it looks like it is going to be quite difficult to remove the paper macaron template from under the mat. Does any professional have any tips?

Yeah, don't. Either don't use guides at all (you shouldn't need them after the third or so batch), or use good ones, like this. Macarons are difficult and fussy anyway - you don't need to add to the fussiness. Eventually, you'll either thank me or curse the very idea of those wretched cookies.

I've tried to remove paper templates from under the silpat. It's an impossible headache.

One thing that does work is to draw the little circles on parchment paper. You can pipe the macarons directly on the paper, or if your silpat is transparent enough, you can just leave the paper under the silpat. I've done both of those things with some success, so it is with experience that I recommend you don't.

Caveat: If you draw little circles on parchment paper to help you pipe your macarons, flip the paper so that you pipe on the non-drawn side. Unfortunately, I speak from experience here. I used a Sharpie to draw perfect circles for my These Will Be Perfect macarons. They were perfect, except for the damn lines that baked in, transferred from the paper.


Sticky and unmanagable sourdough I've recently started a sourdough starter culture (using equal parts water and spelt flour) and have used it in a sourdough bread recipe I got from the Telegraph. I've halved the recipe in the article so that I am using 500g Brad Flour, 150g Starter, 10g Salt.

After following the instructions, I've found the dough to be a bit sticky and unmanageable to the extent that I had to add a significant amount of flour in order to make the dough workable. The dough seemed to be rising perfectly well and I baked the loaf (which turned out a bit doughy)

Is the ratio given in the recipe OK or am I doing something wrong - how can I make the dough more manageable? (e.g. giving the dough more time to rise)

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, I think the dough is just more slack than you're used to.  As @Jay noted, it can take some practice to work with a wet dough.  But once you do, you'll be rewarded with a much more open crumb and a better final product.  In my experience, I've found wetter dough and higher oven temps = better artisan bread (in general).

The recipe appears to assume the reader is familiar with the process, but does offer some hints.  She talks about scraping the dough out onto the work surface, then stretching-and-folding.

The recipe isn't as wet as the ciabatta I'm making below, but the process will be similar, so I hope this is helpful.  I start by putting a bed of flour down, then scraping the blob of wet dough out onto it.

Then comes the stretch-and-fold part, which is just as it sounds.  Using a wet pastry scraper and/or wet hands, just get under one edge, lift and pull it away, then plop it back on top of the main dough blob.  Then do the same with the other side.  Cover with plastic wrap and walk away.  There's no process of kneading like you're used to.  This photo is after a few stretch-and-folds at 20-minute intervals (I think!), and you can see the dough has started to smooth out and become cohesive.

By the time you're ready to shape, the dough should be a lot more cohesive and easier to deal with.  I folded mine into little slippers and put them on a couche to rise.

Add 500 degrees and a baking stone, and I'm rewarded with an open and gelatinized crumb, and a nice crisp crust.


What other vegetables can I roast with asparagus? I eat roasted vegetables at least once a week.

I usually combine two or three veggies (broccoli with cauliflower, potatoes with carrots and onions, Brussels sprouts with carrots and parsnips, etc.), toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, maybe some garlic and onion powder or herbs, and roast at 225°C / 450°F for about half an hour.

I would love to add asparagus into the rotation. The problem is that it cooks so much faster than the other veggies I'm used to working with (often just 10-12 minutes at the same temperature).

Is there another vegetable that I can roast with asparagus (aside from "white asparagus"!) that will cook as quickly, or am I stuck with two different roasting times?

Spring vegetables that are available fresh in southern Ontario, Canada would be ideal.

Vegetable roasting times are somewhat depending on what kind of vegetable it is--broccoli is always going to take longer than spring peas.  But mostly, it is dependent on the size to which you cut them.

So cutting your other vegetables in smaller pieces will help.

Also, you can start, for example, carrots and broccoli, and give them a ten minute head start, then add the asparagus.


Gnocchi - best fluffy technique What is the best way to ensure prepared gnocchi is light and fluffy, not lumpy and soggy? I've seen tips saying to use more flour, to use less, to add ricotta cheese, to air dry...

This post has been out there for a while - but I found that first parboiling the potatoes (about 10 minutes); then baking them, skins ON in a low-medium temperature oven, until cooked; then cooling slightly and scooping out the flesh; made for much fluffier and generally lighter gnocchi.

Of course, you still need to mash the flesh well, but having it pre-cooked and almost dried out, means that mashing/handling the dough is minimised.

As a bonus, you get to season and eat the delicious potato skins.


Can I use whole eggs instead of egg yolks in a lemon bundt cake? My lemon bundt cake recipe calls for 8 egg yolks. Can I substitute 4 whole eggs instead of just egg yolks?  I don't want to perhaps waste 8 egg whites or use 8 eggs when 4 would do.

In principle, you'd probably be able to find a recipe that uses ~2 eggs with a similar net volume, but it may not be so easy to retrofit your existing recipe, as it's reasonable to expect that the recipe is relying on some property of the yolk (emulsifying power, fat content, etc). You may find the result satisfying, but it is likely that you will produce a different texture than the recipe intended.

Given my experience with cake baking, I can say it's likely easier to substitute whole eggs for yolks than, for example, trying to use whole eggs in place of whites. Egg whites foamed into a meringue structure can be used to provide structure to a cake in place of leavening, for example, but whole eggs will not replicate that structure without being separated.

On the other hand, since an egg yolk does not generally provide structure as much as it does flavor, other than the extent which emulsifying power constitutes structure, it's fairly likely that you can get a pleasing cake that will perhaps be less dense than the egg yolk-only version.

Keep in mind that the egg white constitutes approximately 2/3 of the weight of an egg; the density should be similar, however. So it's quite possible you'll need only 4/3 eggs to provide similar volume of egg product; it's up to you whether you'd want to split the egg, round up to 2 eggs, or use one egg plus one yolk.

I should add, though, that there are plenty of ways to use up surplus egg whites if you make the recipe as written:

Angel food cakes typically use egg whites and no yolks.
Meringues, and variants such as marshmallows and French macarons (and American macaroons), use egg whites.
Traditional sours, cocktails with lemon or lime, liquor, & bitters, typically use one egg white per serving; when shaken, the egg white foam adds a pleasant froth.

You can freeze egg whites in ice cube trays if, like me, your best intentions to use up the surplus are likely to be delayed for whatever reason.


Is it possible to purchase Disodium Ribonucleotides (E635) in consumer/small quantities? My research has indicated that it is only possible to order in bulk through contacting large suppliers. Has anyone had any luck purchasing E635 or disodium inosinate and guanylate separately?

Alibaba looks like the place to look for "inosinic acid" "food grade"
Amazon India has it, but it looks like no one has bought it yet, and you'd have to figure out their currency system.

If you buy the free acid, you can just take the pH up with sodium hydroxide.


How do you eat this type of Gingko nut? I've looked online but found no clear explanation... I had bought these Gingko nuts because I'm curious to try new flavors, but could never find how to eat them
An article online said that the outside shell could be poisonous, so I ended up getting rid of them.

I'm still wondering how these are cooked, when sold as seen on the picture (dry, white outer shell).

You can roast them, or shell them and then put them into soups/congees.

This article seems to have pretty clear instructions:
http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-ginkgo-nu-105591


What type of lavender is normally used in tea blends? I was looking through a plant catalog, and am confused as to what type of lavender to grow this year to make tea with.

Does each species taste different?
Which ones are easier to pick?

If you want the “real” medicinal plant, get Lavandula angustifolia (formerly Lavandula officinalis), the true or English lavender. The flowers (medical term Lavandulae flos) are harvested when about half of the flowers on a stalk have opened up and the rest is still closed. Cut the whole flower stalks when the morning dew has evaporated, late morning to midday, in full sun. Tie small bundles, and hang upside-down to dry. Use the flowers for tea or other preparations.

True lavender comes in many cultivars that should all be usable in the kitchen. Only if you have set your eyes on a white or pink variety, it may be good to double-check just in case breeding for a specific color has affected scent intensity. (Which would mostly not be a problem in the kitchen and local climate may cause a greater variation, in my experience.)

As a head start, here’s a short list of cultivars that tend to pop up repeatedly when searching for culinary uses. Treat it as a starting point, not as absolute wisdom.

Royal Velvet (dark blue)
Royal Purple (dark blue)
Little Lottie (pink dwarf)
Rosea / Jean Davis (pale pink)
Betty’s Blue (classic purple)
Melissa (white to pale pink)

There are other lavenders that are commonly used in large-scale production of lavender preparations, but I wouldn’t recommend them for consumption, especially alone:

L. latifolia is more pungent, with hints of camphor - totally usable in potpourris or sachets, less so in tea.

Lavandin, L. x intermedia, a hybrid between the former two, is grown for slightly cheaper lavender products, mostly oils used in cosmetic products or household cleaners. Maybe an option, but typically considered „inferior” to the true lavender as it also has some of the pungency of L. latifolia.
However, the cultivar “Provence” is the lavender (or in this case, lavandin) of choice for cook book author Sharon Shipley, who wrote a whole book on cooking with lavender. There’s a difference between using it in teas and savory dishes, though. For the latter, some cuisines also use the soft tips and leaves, similar to rosemary.

Conclusion:
If you have room for just one or two plants, I would recommend a true L. angustifolia.


Dissolving sugar in a beverage I have a hard time getting sugar to fully dissolve when I'm stirring a cocktail (for example, an old fashioned). I'm using granulated sugar (https://www.dominosugar.com/sugar/granulated-sugar) and I tend to stir a small amount in a shaker with 100+ quick circles and the sugar still hovers in the middle and sits on the bottom without dissolving. What am I doing wrong?

Most cocktails use sugar syrup (e.g. simple syrup with a water to sugar ratio of 1:1 or 1:2) instead of granulated sugar. This eliminates the need to dissolve the grains in - typically cold - liquids.

When you consider powdered (confectioner's) sugar because of the smaller grain size, remember that they will most likely contain anti-caking agents like starch or tricalcium phosphate. I'm not entirely sure how much this would influence the final taste, though.


Do Morrocan-stye pickled lemons really need 5 to 10% salt? I want to make Morrocan-stye pickled lemons, but I was only able to find one site with an explicit ratio, and it says:

In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee suggests that a solution of five to 10% salt is needed to achieve a good North African-style preserved lemon

I make sauerkraut with 20 grams of salt per kilogram of cabbage,
so 2%. So lemons taking much more salt than cabbage is surprising and confusing; since they start out acidic, I would expect them if anything to require less salt.
I'm not worried about harmful microbes growing; I'm worried about the fermentation microbes not being able to grow. It's my understanding that higher salt concentrations with cabbage not only slow down fermentation, but actually seem to encourage surface mold growth.
One commenter on that site had the same issues:

I've never quite understood the need for such excessive salting when making preserved lemons. They still ferment great at normal levels of salt, and you then need to worry less about them being overly salty to use in future recipes. As far as I can tell it's solely from tradition.
Also, from checking out On Food and Cooking, it seems that McGee only points out that originally they are done with 5 to 10% salt content. I'm curious where you read/saw that he recommended such?

Does anyone have any text- and/or experience-based opinion agreeing or disagreeing with the "5 to 10%" figure?

As I understand it, you may be seeing some confusion between two very different processes.  When making sauerkraut, you are fermenting cabbage in brine, and the fermentation gives sauerkraut its characteristics.  I believe this means you need to have or introduce the right microbes, and give them time and space and the right environment to work, and prevent oxidation (keep it submerged), especially since you need access to the air to vent the gasses being produced, things like that?

Pickling, at least these kinds of (brine?) pickles, are not the same thing.  To make this sort of pickle, you are steeping the food in a sterilizing brine, one high in acid (usually vinegar) and salt and sometimes other preservatives, and all sorts of things that microbes don't like.  The changes that happen are nothing more than the food steeping in the brine, and osmoisis-ing the brine and food into equilibrium.  The food doesn't even have to age much in pickling - it gets the most flavor into the food, but there are shortcuts (like chopping smaller or making various "quick-pickle" recipes) which is simply not possible with fermented recipes.

The point is, fermentation preserves, it keeps food from spoiling, by using friendly microbes to out-compete the microbes that spoil the food.  Brine pickling intends not to let any microbes grow, because the pH is too low, the salt is too high, the environment is generally not microbe-friendly.  Fermentation is fussier (needs lots of variables right), but it is also transformative.  Brine pickling is easier, but also tends to produce much stronger flavors (especially at preservation strength).

At some point, I think, "fermented pickles" became a term, or the results of fermentation were also referred to as being pickled and the terms overlapped, or something - and certainly you can ferment lemons, if using much less salt (especially given your commenters' mention).  But judging by the recipes I saw, it looks like the Moroccan preserved lemons your source quoted at 5-10% salt are simply preserved, not fermented - left in a brine with salt and acid, which were intended to keep the food unspoiled.  So the problem may be that you're mixing up two very different preserving methods, that happen to be a little bit similar and are for some confusing reason called by identical names.


Need to refrigerate vinaigrette? I've made a red-wine vinaigrette dressing using olive oil (which makes up the majority of the dressing), red wine, garlic, and basil.

My problem is that whenever I take it out of the refrigerator, especially when it gets low, the olive-oil leaves it practically solid. I understand that this is normal for olive oil, but it is rather annoying having to get it out 30 minutes before I make a salad or a sandwich (as I don't normally have that kind of time).

My question is, since everything in there but the garlic doesn't need to be refrigerated, is it safe to leave it out of the fridge and let it stand at room temperature? Or is it like all other (store-bought) dressing where after opening (mixing) it requires refrigeration?

Yes, you should refrigerate it.

Once a commercially bottled dressing is exposed to the air it is contaminated. Your homemade dressing is no different, and is likely more contaminated to begin with. The bottom line is that your dressing is food -- for humans, bacteria, and mold. It might not be the most hospitable of environments, but something is bound to find a home there. This process is arrested by refrigeration. Additionally, the garlic and basil will be going through a decay process that would be delayed by refrigeration.

I'm not sure what kind of olive oil you used, but I've never had a vinaigrette turn solid in the refrigerator. If you're in a rush I'd suggest submerging, or running hot water over the bottle you store it in to quickly thaw it. You'll shorten the shelf life, but if you're using it frequently enough (used all in less than a month) that shouldn't matter.


What is the purpose of resting non yeast flour dough? When making something like flour tortillas, which don't call for yeast in the dough, it's called for to have the dough rest for about an hour before forming to a tortilla and cooking. What is the purpose of resting a flour dough without yeast?

Flour is essentially dried ground wheat, and when you mix it with water, it takes a long time for the flour to absorb water and soften.  This is necessary for the gluten to have a chance to connect, so that you have a streachy dough.


how to make dense texture bread? I would like to make the dense&soft bread like the bottom one and the taste is plain not sweet. What techniques will make bread closer to the one I want? I also want it to be chewy, not just soft.

It is hard to say without seeing the whole loaf, but the crust and crumb of that bread look like a pullman loaf.

Pullman bread (usually called pan de mie in Europe) involves baking the bread in a pan with a tight fitting lid. As the bread proofs, it comes in contact with the lid. This restriction causes the bread to retain a very fine crumb since it can't expand too much. This fine crumb, and the soft crust caused by being completely surrounded by a pan, make pullman loaves ideal for sandwiches.

Sometimes mass-produced proof-and-bake breads for grocery chains will have a similar texture, but it is usually a combination of making the bread with shortening and a bit of sugar for tenderness, and a lot of dough relaxers and oxidizers to control the texture.


Why boil mixture when soaking fruit in alcohol for churn-free ice cream I found a recipe for a No-churn rum and raisin ice cream.
In the recipe the first step is to put the raisins and rum in a saucepan and gently heat until boiling, transfer to a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.
I'm having trouble understand the need for boiling the mixture.

Why boil the rum and the raisins before leaving them to soak?
Wouldn't it be better to leave them to soak for a longer period of time?
Is this to speed-up the process?
Or is it to remove the alcohol?
Will the alcohol prevent the ice cream from freezing properly or give an undesirable structure/texture to the ice cream?

I see a couple of reasons for bringing the small amount of rum and the raisins to a boil.  First, this process will plump the raisins fairly quickly.  Secondly, much of the alcohol will evaporate.  Alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water.  So, alcohol additions to ice cream make the final product softer.  In this case, it would seem that given the no-churn technique, a little alcohol would be beneficial. So, you could leave them to soak without boiling, but it would take longer for your raisins to plump.  So, alcohol will change the final texture, but you might like the result.  It is possible to add too much alcohol.  Max Falkowitz of Serious Eats writes that adding more than 5-6 tablespoons in a quart of ice cream base would result in an ice cream that doesn't freeze enough to be scoopable. If you eliminate the boil step, you will want to make sure you don't over do it with the amount of rum.


What kind of frosting doesn't need to be refrigerated? I'm looking for a frosting that I can leave on the counter (under a cover of some kind) for a few days.  What kind of frosting (for a cake or cupcakes) would stand up to this?

Update:  Ideally, I would like this to be something that I could make from scratch.

I've never had a buttercream frosting consisting of nothing but butter, powdered sugar and vanilla (and often cocoa or coloring) go bad. Even when it's got a little milk in it. There are two reasons for this. One, it doesn't last long enough. Hey! Where'd that last piece of cake go? Two, though I'm no expert, I think it is the high amount of sugar as Michael alluded to. I've had the infrequent cake with a piece or two that have hung around for a week without any problems other than a little drying.


Can I use short rib bones alone to make beef stock? I have almost 2 pounds of uncooked short rib bones (I cut them off short ribs  then froze them). There is very little meat, if any, on the bones. Am I able to make beef stock using just these bones? Should I add one of the small marrow bones I have in the freezer (I don't want it greasy) or buy different bones? Or do I also need to add meat to have a tasty stock that will 'gelatinize'? In other words, are short rib bones enough?

I've made chicken and turkey stock countless times, but never beef, so I am truly clueless. I generally don't add meat to a chicken stock, just whatever little I haven't cleaned off the carcass, and wonder if I would get the same good outcome with just beef bones. I have read this question, but it doesn't address my question of short rib bones. What bones for beef stock.
This question Making Beef Stock, while telling me HOW to make the stock, doesn't tell me if short rib bones work.
Thank you.

A lot of the flavor comes from the marrow of the bone. Rib bones will need companion soup bones to help them. Alone, the flavor will seem weak or watered down.
Now, if you are willing to put in the time.... Bake them first at 325f for an hour, let them cool and hit them with a hammer to crack them. you might want to cover them with a towel as not to send splinters about. This will allow the flavor to come out more during the reduction phase of the stock.


Does grenadine need to be refrigerated? I've been looking for a bottle of Rose's Grenadine for quite a while without luck, so when I saw a big ol' liter of Llord's at the liquor store, I grabbed it. I'm not sure I want to allocate that much fridge space to it though. Can I keep it behind the bar instead?

Sugar is a preservative and there's a little bit of alcohol in it too, so my guess is it's ok on the shelf.

I'm not sure about other types of grenadine, but assuming they're the same as Rose's, they do not need to be refrigerated.

It's not just that they contain sugar - they're practically nothing but sugar, water, and a couple of "chemicals."  There's really nothing in there that can spoil, unless you put something else into the bottle that wasn't there originally.

Unless you accidentally dropped a piece of chicken in there, definitely don't worry about refrigeration.  It can sit on the shelf.


Yeast for pizza doughs We are interested in a good quality year-round yeast so we don't have to switch brands or adjust too much according to season.

Any good yeast that you bake bread with will do the job.  I have very good success with so-called quick rise or instant yeast, but any of the types will do.   Fresh is more difficult to keep on hand, as it doesn't last as long.

What you will need to adjust seasonally is how much yeast you use and/or how long you let the pizza proof before baking it.   The temperature at which you proof--which is often room temperature in the kitchen--will effect how long it takes the dough to rise.


Pastry not "sticking" to beef Wellington I've cooked a Wellington a couple of times and whilst I've been pleased with the overall outcome on each occasion the pastry comes away when serving. This is purely for aesthetic reasons.

I use a 1kg fillet, seared, then rolled in to a sausage on a bed of prosciutto ham and a mushroom duxelle with some chicken liver pate mixed in.

I chill this before wrapping in egg washed puff pastry and cooking for about 40 minutes. This has resulted in rare beef, a good crisp pastry that holds its form until cutting it for serving.

It wasn't too wet - it just seems the pastry doesn't want to affix itself to the contents.

Any ideas on how to improve this?

I adapted my recipe from this one http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2538/beef-wellington

I never find that the pastry actually "sticks" to the contents when making a wellington. The meat will shrink slightly as it cooks so the pastry you have wrapped around it will have a certain amount of space between it and the contents.

Try cutting thicker servings and making sure you have a well sharpened, long bladed knife to cut it with. Use the entire length of the blade with long strokes to get through the pastry and meat as smoothly as possible. This should stop the pastry breaking or falling away, then when you serve it will at least appear to be stuck on.

Hope that helps!


Why is my lemon pie crust so wet? Why is my lemon pie crust wet? I am not sure what to do. I have tried many things but nothing helped.

I cooled the whole pie, then refrigerated it. When I took it out the next day, the lemon filling was great but the crust was wet and soft. It spoiled the whole pie.

It's been a long time since I made lemon meringue pie as I like pies too much and don't need the extra sugar and fat calories. What always worked for me was to partially blind bake the crust first and then after removing the beans, brush the bottom with egg white before baking another 5-10 minutes.

Blind baking a crust is done by getting the crust ready in the  pie plate, then covering it with aluminum foil or parchment paper before filling it with small beans. The beans weigh the crust down so none of it forms bubbles while baking. (Easy to lift the corners of the paper up with beans in it.) I'd take the beans and paper out, brush the inside of the crust with beaten egg white and finish browning it in the oven.

The very thinly coated egg white wash further seals the crust forming a water-resistant barrier to the moisture of the filling. I know most recipes say to add hot filling to the crust but I found that waiting til the filling had cooled to warm instead helped prevent soggy crust. My reasoning is flour products soak up moisture faster with hot liquids than those that are merely warm.

One further tip. Cornstarch (called cornflour in the UK) isn't as effective in acidic foods so a cornstarch thickened lemon pie filling tends to separate somewhat the next day, releasing some of the water. Arrowroot flour (powder) is best for thickening  acidic food but not always avaiable and more pricey. Tapioca flour works almost as well and is much cheaper. I won't use cornstarch to thicken acidic food - it's best for milk-based foods.


What are the optimal simmering times for each stage of a traditional phở? Several of my associates and I consider ourselves phở connoisseurs, of a sort, and one thing we've noticed is the drastic variation in the quality of the broth served at various establishments.

The best takes on it - in terms of my own tasting experience and the comments I'm used to hearing/seeing from friends/reviewers - seem to have a few things in common:

A potent, but not completely overwhelming, beefy flavour. The broth needs to be flavourful enough to eat on its own, but the taste of the noodles as well as any post-serving accompaniments (scallions, basil, etc.) should still be detectable.
An absence, or at least a minimum, of grease or "scum" forming on the top. If it's visible, it's way too greasy, but even an invisible amount can still noticeably (adversely) affect the mouth-feel.
A pronounced tan or even slightly reddish hue; translucent is normal, transparent is a red flag.

Now I am aware that a certain amount of this is going to be affected by the ingredients and proportions, and I think I'm already doing the right things in that area (knuckle and leg bones with about 20% marrow, a generous amount of 1:5 flank:oxtail) but I am convinced that my inability to achieve this perfection in-home is influenced in large part by the chronology.

I've read a lot of recipes and they are all wildly divergent on their timings; if possible, I'd like to understand more about the significance of each stage and subsequently how long the unfinished broth should be left in that stage.

The basic order always seems to be similar:

Bones in cold water ("soak") - in about 10-20% of recipes, anywhere from 2 hours to overnight
Bones in boiling water (pre-clean)
Bones in simmering water (post-clean), with fat-skimming
Bones and meat
Bones, meat, and spices (sometimes spices are added before meat)
Bones, meat, spices, and vegetables
Bones, spices, and vegetables (meat removed/reserved - only in some recipes)
Strained with fish sauce and (sometimes) sugar added
Same, with cooked noodles added
Ready to serve - raw/rare meat and garnishes added

What can be said about the length of time that the broth spends in each of these stages? How important is each one, and what effect can it have if the timing is off - either too long or too short?

(For example, when making a traditional French or North American stock, it's important not to let the mirepoix sit in there too long, because most of the volatiles are extracted within an hour and afterward you're just churning in starches and mush. And when simmering just the chicken bones, most of the gelatin has been rendered within about 8-12 hours for an 8 quart pot. I'm sure that there are similar guidelines and rules of thumb for phở, but I have no idea what they are.)

This is not the answer you are directly looking for, but may be the trick

Some local Phở brewers soak the onion skins in alcohol (rice cooking wine) to extract a stock flavouring (I suspect this is Quercetin?). The resulting dark liquor is added to the broth when the meat is added

This certainly kicks up the broth flavour, a bit like MSG does in Chinese cooking (sort of)

Worth a try...

I don't think there is a magic order or timing to making Phở, as long as the flavours are extracted, and not destroyed, it comes out OK


What is the risk of food poisoning when making nattō I've been making sourdough and kombucha for a while now, and the results are great. I've never taken any particular care with the utensils. I wash my hands before handling the SCOBY, and I use fresh tap water for it and for the sourdough, but that's about it. No boiled water, no sterilised jars and bowls. So far so good.

Now I'm thinking of making nattō. All of the recipes I've seen say several times to sterilise all the utensils. I'm skeptical of this, since nattō has been made for almost 1000 years and I doubt people would have been able to achieve the level of cleanliness asked for by these recipes. Indeed it used to be made in bundles of straw, which should have had plenty of bacteria in it other than nattō-kin.

So, what is the real risk of food poisoning when making nattō? Can anyone share their experience of making it without sterilising everything?

Your question has two facets.

I’ll answer the first one. While brewing beer or wine as well, you’re advised to sterilize all the equipment and use a specific culture of bacteria. The reason for that is, if the “stuff” you’re trying to ferment gets some wild yeast/mold/bacteria, your end results won’t be what you desire. So you’re trying to minimize that risk by sterilizing it.

I believe people with relevant food-safety experince will better answer your second question on safety of fermentation. As I will leave it unanswered. Even though I also think in similar terms with you.


How can I make cookies less dry and crumbly? I have made these cookies once before. I stuck to the recipe and really liked the flavor, but found that they were very dry and crumbly. I would like to make them again with better results. Looking over the recipe, it seems like it does not have any ingredients that really bind it all together. I am wondering what I could add (and how much) to improve the texture of these cookies. Thank you!

Welcome to the forum!
Your recipe for Vanilla Latte cookies looks really yummy! However, confectionery sugar does make cookies crumble. I have actually moved away from cookie recipes with butter and margarine in them and depending on the type of cookie you want to make, you can now substitute oil for margarine/butter and keep the chewy, moist texture you probably are looking for. I don't have a recipe for the cookies you posted but I have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe I can share that has oil in it. One of the tricks to keep cookies chewy and not crumbly and hard is to underbake them by a couple of minutes. Cookies will continue to bake after they come out of the oven. So take them out a couple minutes before the recipe tells you to. Maybe that will even work with your recipe. Good luck and let me know if you want the recipe above.


How do you prevent oatmeal from overflowing? Whenever I cook oatmeal (whether steel cut oats in a rice cooker or pan, or rolled oats in the microwave), it always overflows. How do you prevent this?

Do you just use a bigger container? Do you just take the pan off the heat or bowl off the microwave when it's about to overflow? I've also heard that if you put dried fruit or something like that along with the oatmeal while cooking, that helps prevent it from overflowing -- is this true?

A bigger container is definitely the 'instant' solution.

I've never hear of fruit preventing overflow.  I'd guess the theory there is that it has something to do with the fruit interfering with the bubble to prevent them from forming...but I'd doubt it without A LOT of fruit.

Generally I've done two methods:

Reduce the power and increase the cooking time.  Cut the power by 30% or so and increase the cooking time, this seems to prevent as much of a rapid boil and alleviates the problem.
Determine the time right before it starts to boil over, cut power off, cover it tightly and just let coast the rest of the way.  This is particularly effective if you're cooking in a  vessel with good thermal retention.


Best beef joint for slow cooker I'm wondering what beef roasting joints will come out of the slow cooker best? I'd like to be able to slice it rather than pull it though. I've tried before with Brisket, it was delicious, but fell apart on carving. I'd like a cut that is soft but still sliceable.

You can cook Brisket to the point that it it is tender but sliceable, but that's tricky if you're slow cooking while at work or the like. Try topside, also often called salmon cut. It has a less a denser texture than brisket but still responds well to slow cooking.


Should beans be drained after cooking? I cook beans and then eat them (usually without adding anything else). I know that soaking water for beans should be drained. However, I haven't seen anything definitive about the water that the beans are cooked in. As far as I can tell, it contains nutrients that I prefer not to get rid of. Should I allocate it then along with the servings of bean, or is it inconsequential enough to get rid of?

It depends what you want to do with the beans.

If you cook dried beans in chilli stew, or similar dishes, you don't have cooking water, you have sauce, which is meant to be eaten. This applies to many other dishes, and of course soup.
If you want to make bean burgers, you need to drain them fairly well or you end up with even more of a sticky mess when forming them.
If you're making hummus, you should drain the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and reserve some of the water to adjust the consistency.

If you're eating them fairly plain, it's up to you whether you want to eat something very wet or not, and that might depend on what else is on your plate. If having them wet alone, over rice or something like that, I'd try not to use too much water, and season it with garlic, herbs, chillies etc., or use stock in place of some of the water.


How can I prevent mold from growing on the surface of my sauerkraut brine? Related My sauerkraut has mold covering the surface, is it ok? -- but this asks if it's ok, I am thinking it's not OK and want to prevent it from growing at all.

Usual setup:

3 heads of cabbage, shredded and mashed
5 gallon bucket, food safe, with lid, kept in basement
dinner plate on top of kraut, quart of water on top of plate
2% salt-water solution to cover kraut, with 2 inches of extra water
all floating cabbage scooped up

I still get a lot of mold on the surface and it just grosses me out. Talking about 5-10 quarter-sized patches of mold. I've seen suggestions like putting a cabbage leaf on the surface, which still results in mold, it's just on the cabbage leaf.

Do I need to scoop all the kraut into jars at the 3-4 week mark? I was under the impression that you just leave the kraut in the bucket and transfer a jar's worth out when you need more in the fridge.

Is there a tried and true method for stopping any mold from growing?

Brining vs. Dry-Salting
Vegetable fermentation is normally done by one of two methods:

brining (submerging whole or chopped vegetables in brine)
dry salting (mixing chopped vegetables with salt and letting osmotic magic draw fluid from the vegetables to create a brine)

I'm pretty sure you're describing a brining process. Kraut is normally a dry salted application. Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation" is a bible for this sort of thing. See Chapter 5 for a discussion of this; he lists kraut and kimchi as the classic examples of dry salting. You might want to try a more traditional dry-salting process. Katz's Wild Fermentation site has a weight-based dry-salting recipe.
Having said that—it won't guarantee you get no mold.
The Futility of Preventing Mold
I get that you're asking how to prevent mold, but the real question is: Can you absolutely, 100% of the time, prevent mold?
Maybe you could with with an industrial-grade setup, but I'm not even sure of that. I've been making kraut and many other vegetable ferments for almost a decade now, and I can tell you this: Sometimes mold happens. It doesn't have to happen often (I see it very rarely), but if it does? That doesn't mean you did something wrong.
From The Art of Fermentation section "Surface Molds and Yeasts" (p. 103 in my hard-cover printing):
"An inevitable aspect of [fermentation] technique is the edge, where (in an open vessel) the surface of the liquid... comes into contact with oxygen-rich air. The meeting... encourages rich biodiversity, where molds and yeasts frequently develop. Surface growth is common and normal; it should be removed, bit is not cause for alarm and it does not ruin your fermenting vegetables."
Minimizing Mold
Having said that—I'm with you. Mold grosses me out. I try to prevent it, and usually I can.
In my experience, the wider the vessel's neck, the more mold and kahm (yeast) develop. I have good results with 2-quart mason jars, which have a low neck-to-volume ratio. That minimizes the "edge" that Katz describes. For large batches, that means multiple 2-quart jars, but the control is worth it to me.
I also check the surface of my ferments every 2-3 days and skim off any developing kahm or mold. Every time I check, I'm exposing the surface to more mold and yeast spores... but if I catch it when it's the size of a pinhead, it won't grow to the size of a quarter.
I've also had much better success since I started using actual fermentation weights and vented lids for my mason jars. Any will probably do, but I've been using this weight and this lid.


Does starch thickened custard get thinner after a few days? A few days ago, I did a crème pâtissière (thick vanilla custard), using

milk (300ml/1.25 cup)
egg yolks (2)
sugar (15g/1tbsp)
potato starch (10g/1tbsp).

The end result had a relatively thick consistency, fit for my purpose. I had a bit left over, so I put it in the fridge after it cooled down. After a few days in the fridge, the custard got thinner, like a crème anglaise (thin vanilla custard, picture an eggnog-like consistency).
I wonder what happened. One of my guess is that the amount of starch was too small, but I can't explain the change of consistency.

It is not the starch alone, but the combination of starch and egg yolks. Yolks contain an enzyme which digests starch after some time, making the whole custard thinner.
If you absolutely have to use a custard with both starch and yolks, either consume it quickly, or boil it well (at least of minute of visible bubbling) to deactivate the yolk enzymes.


What safety precautions should be taken when attempting to flambe at home? Is this one of those things that unless you've been taught by an experienced person and you know what you're doing you probably just shouldn't try? If I did want to try, what precautions should I take? Is this a valid cooking method or is it mostly just done as an impressive visual effect?

Flambe is a valid cooking method. It allows you to flash off most of the alchohol from your chosen liqour but keep the flavour.

I'd suggest that you have a wet towel at hand or a fire blanket in your kitchen if you're going to embark on this cooking technique as a first timer.

Also don't run your extractor fan above the cooker if you're using your hob. You have the potential to draw in bigger flames and ignite any grease present in your filters or pipe to the outside world. My brother worked in a professional kitchen where this happened. They couldn't get the extractor turned off for a while due to the resulting fire and they managed to light up a good length of the extraction pipe to the outside. It was like the after burners on a jet engine. There was a fire appliance involved that night.

Ultimately it's all about common sense because fire and alcohol are a fairly dangerous combination.


Do I need a specific pot to cook Japanese-style rice? So, I've been rather curious lately as to what I'll be needing in order to prepare/cook some Japanese-style rice. I wanted to say sushi rice, but I believe it's prepared a bit differently—or rather, it contains a different set of ingredients (depending).

Anyway, I have a regular medium-sized pot that comes with a very flimsy metallic lid. There's almost no weight to it. Out of curiosity, I tried out a method/tutorial I found online. This person used a similar pot, but the lid was glass. I initially boiled the rice, later covering it up to let it steam, and had to stop after about 2-3 min due to the bubbles forming from the pot. I prepared everything to a T and didn't really get to eat it as I couldn't even cook it.

So, from my understanding, there's like a minimum wait time when boiling, and then you pretty much just leave the lid on for a certain amount of time for it to cook.

While I could just as easily purchase a rice-cooker, I'd like to master this method first.

Am I doing something wrong or is there typically a specific pot you'd need to use in order to do this?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
Link to resource. It's not the exact one I viewed before, but the setup is the same and the process as well as the tools used is very similar. Coincidentally, I also used Nishiki short-grained rice when I did mine.

In my experience, rice can be cooked in any pot. I cook quite a lot of Japanese style dishes, and as far as I can tell the rice is cooked in the same way as any other.

For myself, I've done it in good "induction-able" steel pots, as well as huge (navy galley) aluminium pots, and a couple of low-quality stainless steel things too. They're all fine.

Normally, as soon as the pot is at/near boiling, turn the heat down to a low setting and leave it in the pot until it's ready. Then take it off the heat, but leave it covered (don't peek) for another five minutes.
Generally, once you've added the water, you put the lid on. You only start the timer when it's boiled and you turn it down, though. That's probably why a glass lid is better, so you can see the boiling. It's not critical to the process, though.


Three day old pancake batter with grey spots I know from experience and Googling that day-old carrot cake can result in green carrot bits due to oxidation but remains perfectly edible. Has the same thing happened to my pancake batter? Or are these grey spots speckled throughout mold? It doesn't smell nor taste off.

Yes, the pancake batter is going bad and bacteria is developing. No mold is good. In a restaurant environment I would sometimes keep it over night in the fridge but not any longer. From a food safety standpoint, food should not be left out longer than 4 hours before being discarded. Just because it does not smell does not mean it is OK. Pancake batter is cheap so tossing it is no loss. If you are asking your question from a chemical reaction standpoint, I am sorry I can't help. But I do not think you would want to go to a restaurant and be served pancakes with grey spots.


What kind of steak is this? I'm trying to identify what this steak is typically called, so I can know whether I am trimming and preparing it properly. I've been unable to find any photos of similar cuts.

I recently purchased a side of beef and we have some packs labelled "rib steak". These steaks look like this:

The steak is wedge-shaped. As I've indicated, a curved rib bone runs along one edge of the steak, and a strip of thick tissue runs along the other edge. About half of the cut (the narrower half) is mostly fat. When I trim this steak, I end up with the portion which I've colored red in my drawing.

Thanks in advance.

I believe that you have what's commonly known as a rib eye. It comes from the same primal as the prime rib roast (or standing rib roast). Rib eye steaks are also known as rib steaks, delmonicos, scotch filets, etc. They can be found bone in or boneless and with the fat caps trimmed or not. It sounds to me like you have a bone in rib eye that hasn't had the fat trimmed.


Fried rice vs pulav vs biryani How can we differentiate between fried rice, pulav and biryani? As these three rice dishes look similar, are there any differences between three of them?

The difference is in the preparation, which may not be as obvious when the food's served.  I'm not an expert on the variations of pilaf & biryani, but here's what I understand:

Pulav / Pilaf / Pilau  / Plov / Pulao / etc. are dishes where the rice is cooked in a seasoned broth.   Some variants include cooking the rice in oil before adding the broth.  It may contain meat, seafood, vegetables, eggs, etc.  When it's finished, there's very little liquid left.

Biryani is a type of pilaf, but you cook the meat and rice separately. The rice is cooked to ~70% in a pot, optionally with very mild spices. Then a layer of meat goes at the bottom of a separate pot & the semi-cooked rice goes on top of it in layers, each layer seasoned with distinct aromatic spices. And the entire set-up is cooked on a low heat. They also tend to be more heavily spiced than Pilafs, with most of the spice generally at the bottom of the pot. They may be a bit saucy, not entirely dry. The bottom-most layer of spice mix often contains yogurt, but may include dairy or coconut milk, not just a broth. Traditionally, the giant pots are  sealed with dough & the lid loaded with weight to simulate pressure cooking and while serving, they split the mix vertically to ensure every one gets a generous portion of each layer. If they're cooked in the clay pots, they aren't opened until serving, so everyone at the table gets the aroma that's released.

Fried rice uses cooked rice (some ay freshly cooked so it's fluffy, others insist you have to use day-old rice so the starche change first).  You cook whatever meat or vegetables you're using in oil (typically stir-fried in a wok), and add the rice and continue to stir-fry.  It tends to be saltier than the others, due to the addition of soy sauce.  It might be a little bit greasy, as the last step is frying, not the first step.  It also doesn't contain saffron which are frequently in the other two.

A few others that I'll add :

Nasi Goreng  (Indoneasean / Malasian / Dutch) are varients of fried rice, but it's made with kejap manis (a spiced, sweetened soy sauce), more heavily spiced then Chinese-style fried rice, and often contains shrimp paste, eggs, sambal, and fried shallots or onions.  There's still a bit of variety, as some say there should only be a paste for flavoring (no chunks of things) and accompaniments on the side, while others have ribbons of eggs, fried onions, and shredded (uncooked) lettuce.

Paella (Spanish) is a type of pilaf, but it's medium grained cooked over high heat in an uncovered, very shallow pan.  A good paella should have a crusty layer of well-cooked rice at the bottom because it's not stirred towards end of the cooking.  If you're adding meat or vegetables, they're typically cooked first, then placed on top of the rice while it finishes cooking.

Risotto (Italian) is similar to the others, but the unwashed medium grain rice is cooked with aromatics (eg, onion) first until it's toasted (lightly fried), then liquid is slowly added with lots of stirring to scrape off the starch on the outside so it thickens the sauce until it's creamy.  It often includes wine as the first addition of liquid.

Jambalaya (American Cajun) is a pilaf with browned vegetables and/or meat, then the addition of tomato paste, tomato juice, or crushed tomatoes (and no saffron).  It's often served wetter than a standard pilaf.

... and dirty rice, arroz con pollo, jambalaia, spanish rice, yellow rice, etc.


Is there a way to grate a block of cheese entirely without hurting one's fingers or knuckles? You know the scenario: You grate the cheddar until you're left with a quarter-inch. What do you do? Try to grate it and risk cutting your knuckles, or pop it in your mouth and enjoy?

Usually I do the latter, but I wondered if anyone has any tips for grating cheese down to the last bit?

Is there some kind of small tool that you can use to safely grate the last of a block?

By the wording of the question, I'm pretty sure you're using one of those pyramidal graters or a "sheet" grater.

That's great for getting the "bulk", but if you want to grate a small amount of cheese (or the last bit of a large amount, if you don't want to just eat it) then you really need to get yourself a rotary grater.  They're more commonly used for fine/hard cheeses such as Parmesan, but most half-decent ones will come with a "coarse" blade that can be used for cheddar, mozzarella and so on.

Rotary graters all have a plate at the top that lets you push the cheese down onto the blade.  Higher-quality graters will give you slightly better results; the $10 cheap ones tend to leave a mush at the bottom that's hard to grate, even if you squeeze really hard, but that's easily remedied with a small wooden block or really any object at all to put between the top plate and the cheese you're trying to grate.


How to not make my macarons rip? I just made a batch of macarons. This is my third total batch of them, and they become increasingly better - alas compared to my previous batch, these don't show much if any improvement even though I've changed how much I mix the macaron mass and how I pipe them.

Recipe:

  ~150g egg-whites
  ~70g finest sugar (not powdered!)
  Mix with an older Kenwood chef until stiff and glossy
  1 very flat teaspoon of vanilla extract (so about half a deep spoon)
  ~3g of powdered green food coloring
  More mixing with the Kenwood until well mixed, still stiff and glossy

  ~150g sifted almond meal
  ~250g sifted powdered sugar
  pinch of salt
  Mix well

  Mix the almond/sugar stuff into the egg-whites using a rubber spatula until the consistence allows me to pour a figure-eight without globs breaking off

  Pipe onto trays, let sit some 10-15min and rap every ~5min (rap 4 times, turning tray 90 deg after a few hits/raps)

  Bake for 20min, middle height of oven1, at 150C

The first tray went into the oven as soon as the latter hit 150C:

The second tray had to wait for some ~20min while the other baked, during that time I rapped it a few times more but mostly let it sit:

What can I do to prevent my macarons cracking / how to change my recipe and/or process?

I see that there are positive results by letting them sit for more time, so I'm thinking about letting them sit ~1 hour next time I make a batch, and def rap them every 15min or so. What other changes/improvements should I make to my recipe?

1what's that called in english? I call it "Mittlere Backofenrille" in German

While there is no standard, products marketed as Almond Meal typically have larger grains than products marketed as Almond Flour. I am not sure if this could be the cause of your problem, but I would recommend trying an Almond Flour, or grinding your Almond Meal in a food processor.

Also, I notice that while your second batch is much less cracked, it still is not well risen. I believe your problem may be oven temperature and heat circulation, and you can confirm this by watching your macarons in the oven. I don't know a silver bullet solution, but I am putting some more analysis below, which I hope is still helpful.

For comparison, a well risen macaron has a "belt":

This belt is essentially a crack of its own, and the difference between belted macarons and yours would be the stage of cooking when the crack forms.

In either case, the shape of your macarons is controlled by the release of moisture as steam.

First, the heat of the oven will crisp the outside shell of the macaron. As it cooks from the outside in, moisture in the batter will start to evaporate. The meringue traps air in little pockets, and the steam expands in these pockets, ideally so that the shell will nicely and uniformly rise until a belt opens up to release the steam. A similar process happens when baking bread, and this is why bread bakers will cut slits on top of their loaves.

When bringing the macarons back down to room temperature, the steam contracts again. Typically, cracks on the top of macarons (also choux pastries) occur when temperature changes too quickly. The pressure inside will suck in the outer shell and cause it to collapse.

Is it possible that you took your first batch directly out of the oven (possibly into chilly air)?

I believe that rapping the baking sheet helps break any especially large air pockets, to help keep the rise uniform. But you would want to do this as little as possible, to avoid deflating the smaller air pockets in the merengue.

Based on my understanding, I have the following recommendations:

Watch your macarons while baking. Does the belt form midway through baking, or never at all?

If the belt forms, but collapses later, and before you actually open the oven, then your oven may be circulating heat badly. This is unlikely, and it would only happen if your merengues somehow cool off while they're still in the oven.
If it forms, but collapses when you take your macarons out of the oven, try instead simply opening the oven door and turning the oven off. Leave the merengues on the middle rack. The air inside the oven will mix with outside air and cool down more gradually. You can also try baking your macarons longer, in case your [oven + bake time] happens to be leaving them underbaked, but I don't think this is happening.
If the belt never forms, your merengue is probably deflated. Try leaving them sitting for 10 minutes, and only rapping them once. Also try whipping stiffer peaks.

Lastly, I have an extra comment for the second bullet point – I noticed that the crusts of your merengue are a light brown, while the insides are a light green. Your outside is browning and your merengues are possibly overbaked. Try either reducing the bake time by a few minutes, or putting aluminum foil over the merengues to stop the browning of the outsides.

If you do the aluminum foil trick, be extremely careful to place your foil in the oven very quickly. Before they're finished baking, the macarons are especially sensitive to temperature drops, so you can't let in too much cold outside air.


Is it safe to cook with rainwater? Is it safe to use rainwater as an ingredient versus tap water - or even cooking things in it like pasta?  Would there be any differences in measurements or cooking times - the thought being that there are no chemicals in it versus Tap Water?

You really need to filter it first. If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it (also good advice re: wine). There seem to be sources on the internet regarding how to make rainwater drinkable, so I would start there.
(example: http://www.rain-barrel.net/drinking-rainwater.html)

If you're already drinking your rainwater, and haven't died yet, it's probably safe to cook with.

If you're planning on using it as an ingredient in baking, or any dish where the pH is critical, you may want to actually test the pH of the water you're putting in and try to balance the recipe accordingly (substitute some baking soda for baking powder, for example).


How warm must dough be in order to rise? While making some focaccia this afternoon, my wife said, "sure the house is 'warm'; it'll be fine." One hour later, no rising. It may be worth noting that our house is 66F. So we stuck it in a warm oven and it rose just fine. It turned out fine, I'm just glad we weren't trying to get it done for a meal.

So the question is, how warm does dough need to be to rise properly?

Optimal yeast growth happens at around 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but dough will rise at any room temperature. As the temp rises, the yeast becomes more active, which is why you'll sometimes see recipes call over overnight rests in the fridge, where activity slows or stops. Yeast dies at anything above 50 C (122 F).

The important thing is knowing the temperature and, if you're really particular, the humidity in the air around your proof. This information is used for the sake of timing consistency, more than anything else.


Storing Iberico and Serano ham long-term What is the best method for storing unsliced Iberico and Serano ham?  Is there a 'recommended' temperature or humidity level that I should be aiming for?    How long will it last?

You can store a complete un-sliced Iberico or Serrano ham hanging it (with the hoof upwards) in a cold and dry place, away from direct light. The ham should be uncovered (no plastic, no paper or any kind of wrapping).

If you are going to keep it for a long time, you can rub the surface with a cloth impregnated with sunflower oil, especially the part of the leg where it joins with the hip.

In pre-crisis times I usually received two or three hams for Christmas, and I store them hanging in the pantry for months without getting spoiled.


Cooking turkey joints Having been thoroughly indoctrinated about thoroughly defrosting poultry before cooking, I now find 1.5 Kg frozen turkey breast joints with the cook from frozen instruction. How can this work? Surely by the time the centre is defrosted and cooked the rest will be dried out.

I guess you are talking about a pre-seasoned convenience product in an oven bag like this Butterball Ready to Roast boneless skinless turkey breast?

Well, the website writes:

  Ingredients
  Boneless Turkey Breast. Contains up to 25% of a solution of Water, contains 2% or less of Salt, Sugar, and Sodium Phosphate to enhance tenderness and juiciness.

This is like a super-brined piece of meat that consists of 3/4 meat and 1/4 watery brine. You don't want to thaw that because during thawing you'd likely lose a lot if the additional liquid. In the oven, the product thaws and the additional water keeps the meat moist, the sealed bag contributes to this.

It's imho not a classic roast (different ingredients, different preparation method), for an untreated turkey breast the "defrost first" rule is still valid.


Can you reuse marinade used with raw chicken? I marinated chicken a couple weeks ago, and stored the marinade afterwards in a jar. Can it be reused, or is that dangerous? I've been told conflicting stories here. The marinade is mostly teriyaki if that makes a difference.

Intended use of used marinade: Marinate chicken which will then be cooked in the oven. It will not be used with anything that won't be cooked (like a sauce).

Most reliable sources will warn you strongly against reusing marinades because they can continue to harbor bacteria. Even though the second batch of meat will be cooked, there'll be lots of time for the bacteria to multiply in the meantime. (And given the symptoms caused by foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria like salmonella, the risk isn't worth the few cents you'll save on marinade.)


What are "parsley greens"? I have a recipe that calls for 2 cups of "parsley greens". Is this referring to chopped parsley?

In most contexts, I would assume that simply means the leaves from the herb parsley.

Depending on where your recipe originates—especially central Europe, or some Asian cultures—parsley root may also be used, so the recipe might be trying to make that clear.

I suspect, however, it really is the recipe author's idiosyncratic style.

Now, as to chopping them, that would depend on how it is used and what the rest of the recipe says.


is it okay to wash vegetables by soaking/submerging? I go on frequent long-term road trips, and I don't have access to running water during those times. Is it okay to fill up a bowl of water and just stick the vegetables in there and rub them, take them out and be done? If I wash one veggie after the other after the other using the same water, I'm thinking I'd just be using contaminated water to clean vegetables after the first set.

Any ideas or recommendations? Is the method I'm asking about good enough?  I was reading adding white vinegar helps but the articles didn't provide any scientific studies or anything.

Rinsing vegetables doesn't really "decontaminate" them, whether you're using running water or not. The main purpose of rinsing vegetables is to remove dirt and grit that would make them unpalatable to eat, it doesn't actually make them that much safer to eat. If a vegetable was somehow contaminated with salmonella before rinsing, it would still be contaminated after.

When you're eating uncooked vegetables you're relying on the fact they don't normally harbour things that can make you sick and have natural resistances against acquiring them even after being harvested (eg. they don't go moldy overnight). That and whoever prepared them washed their hands first...

So rinsing multiple vegetables in a bowl of water shouldn't be a problem. Spreading a contamination around won't increase the amount of it you end up consuming.


How can 100% peanut butter have more protein than 100% peanuts I am looking at:

100% peanut butter (no added salt, sugar, oils or anything else)
100% roasted peanuts (no added salt, sugar, oils or anything else)

When looking thought different sources, I can always notice the following:

Peanut butter has more protein (as % of calories) than peanuts

example sources (I've looked through a dozen more, but please check others, maybe mine are not representative?):

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-5588-Waitrose+LOVE+life+roasted+peanuts

http://shop.wholeearthfoods.com/collections/award-winning-peanut-butter/products/whole-earth-100-nuts-crunchy-peanut-butte-227-g

Why is this? If no ingredients are added, how is it possible for the macronutrients to change (as % of the calories). Different levels of roasting cannot be the reason because they should not change macronutrients disproportionally.

The only explanation I can think of is if in the process of making peanut butter, some part of the peanut is removed and that part contains a low protein amount. Some sources say that when peanut butter is made, the 'bitter heart of the peanut' is removed. Could that explain it?

If anyone has some insight I would be very interested to learn.

There's definitely some rounding going on because the peanut butter has 100.1g of nutrients per 100g of product.  This isn't enough to explain the discrepancy.  Adding up the nutrients on the roasted peanuts gives 95.4g.  I think we can assume the other 4.6% is water.  So perhaps more water has been driven off the peanut butter.

What I think is more likely (though could be additional) is that there's significantly less fat in the peanut butter (48.1% vs 51.7%).  While this could be down to different varieties of peanut, I suspect some fat is removed in the processing, perhaps to avoid an oil slick on the surface.

Most likely of all is just different source data. Different peanuts may have been used in the calculations -- whether that is consistent with the actual ingredients used is another matter.  In fact if you look at nutrition information for raw peanuts online, you'll get a range of values.  There's nothing special about peanuts, the same is true for bananas.  I'm sure if you look at the scientific literature on any foodstuff, you'll find a range of values published, reflecting natural variation as well as measurement variabilility -- this will then propagate to the values published to the consumer.


Had a small oven fire, how do i get the smoke smell out of the oven? I was baking a buttermilk pie. I accidentally spilled it as i pushed the oven rack in. The oven caught fire. Now there is a slight smoke smell in the kitchen. I need to get rid of that smell.

Bicarbonate of soda is the most effective agent for removing odours in my experience.

I've used it to detox a fridge that stank of fish after I accidently left fresh seabass in there before going off on holiday.

Just scrub it in using a scourer and warm water, followed by a thorough rinse.


What the expected temperature veration between shelfs in a fan oven? When a fan oven is set to 200c, what is an reasonable range of temperatures to expect on each shelf?

I have a tenant complaining then does not cook correctly and when I measured the temperature, the top shelf gives 180 and the middle shelf 160, with the bottom shelf at 150.  I have replaced the thermostat and the fan seems to be working OK.

Isn't the point of a convection oven to move the air around and create a more consistent environment in the oven?  People get caught up with the idea that an oven needs to be precise, when, in fact, very few ovens are accurate (with respect to the number on the dial and the actual internal temperature), and it is not uncommon for the temperature to range significantly within a cooking cycle.  It is also not uncommon for the temperature of a standard oven (no convection) to range in different places within the oven.  Ovens are not precision devices.  In fact, some argue that we should stop worrying about exact oven temperature (I whole hardheartedly agree), and just think in terms of three or four basic ranges (low, medium, high...or...really low, low, medium, and high).  The article specifies the temperature ranges.  Nothing that is cooked in an oven requires more specificity than this.

It seems to me, you've gone above and beyond to please your tenant.  Now, it is up to them to understand oven cookery.


Make catsup more clingy I made traditional catsup with tomatoes, vinegar and spices, boiled down.

It is very tasty, but consistency is quite stiff, with a lot of structure. The problem with this is that it does not dip well. For example, with shrimp cocktail, it tends to fall off the shrimp and not stick to it.

I think the reason why regular catsup is more soupy is because it is mechanically pureed, so it gets chopped into very small particles that ultimately makes it into more of a sauce.

My catsup, which is mashed, not pureed with blades does not have this liquid nature.

Short of puree'ing it, is there any way I can saucify my catsup?

(Note that simply adding more vinegar does not help because the tomatoes keep their structure and vinegar separates out in a puddle.

The go-to industry standard additive to ketchup to make it "optimally clingy" is xanthan gum. It makes all water-based fluids into shear-thinning non-newtonian fluids, which means they flow just okay out of a bottle, but cling to surfaces well.

If you can't (or don't want to) use that, there's a bunch of easy natural thickeners. Potato or bean puree (blend with a small amount of your ketchup to make it easy to mix in),  gelatin or potato starch (prepare hot with water, pour/mix when lukewarm). Arrowroot.

Also, consider reducing the tomatoes some before preparing the ketchup. Less water since moment one will make it thicker.


How important are each of temperature, humidity, and vibration for storing wine? I'm deciding whether to buy a wine chiller for my apartment, maybe this one. I could only realistically keep it on top of my refrigerator. The alternative would be to keep wine in my fridge (the temperature in my apartment often gets into the 80s which I understand to be unacceptable). People who take wine very seriously do not recommend keeping wine in the fridge for three reasons:

A standard kitchen refrigerator is too cold (35-38°F vs 45-60°F)
The motor in the refrigerator makes everything vibrate too much
Refrigerators are dry (30% humidity), whereas wine likes 70-90% humidity.

I need to know which of these actually matter for a casual wine drinker like myself. A wine chiller will address #1 for me (though I might get one that offers only a single temperature rather than separate from reds and whites) but I could also see keeping my wine in my regular refrigerator or giving up entirely. Unfortunately a wine chiller doesn't fix #2 for me since the chiller would be on top of my fridge.

Which of these three concerns, if any, should I actually be worried about?

BTW, the wine may wait around for a period of months before it gets drunk.

For a few months I would really not worry too much about your storage, half a year at 80F is not going to destroy your wine. If you have the space in your fridge then that is a better option, but I doubt even the most dedicated wine snob would be able to tell much of a difference.

Humidity only matters if you have wine with traditional corks as low humidity will dry them out and spoil the wine, if you are buying twist caps and synthetic corks then humidity is not a consideration. A few months in low humidity should not result in cork drying, but year will.

Vibration used to be a problem with older fridges, most newer fridges are pretty quiet and low vibration so I wouldn't worry there, especially for shorter term storage.

Colder temperatures for storage will not cause a noticeable effect on wine's flavor over a few months, you'll want to let it warm up some for the best flavor though. Storing an opened bottle of wine in the fridge is a good idea in fact, as it will keep it drinkable longer.

So unless you are buying expensive wine to keep for a long time you should be fine no matter which option you choose.


What to do with Cocoa Pasta I have recently bought, on a whim, a package of Cocoa Pasta ("barilotti al cacao"). Is it sweet? What sauce goes with it well?

I have bough pasta that contained cocoa, here in Italy, and it was not that sweet.
The pasta package suggested to use red pepper in the sauce (e.g. olive oil and red pepper).


How long can I keep pureed root ginger As the title says, how long can I keep pureed root ginger in the fridge?

If you have a lot or don't anticipate using it in the next 5 days, then freeze it.
If it's already minced or pureed then simply measure it into quantities that will be the easiest for you to use and then freeze them on a tray lined with plastic wrap.  Once frozen, remove and put into a self-sealing bag and keep in the freezer for future use.

Whole ginger can be frozen simply as it is.  Just put it a bag in the freezer. Galangal for example, is commonly sold frozen in asian markets  You can pull it out and grate what you need on a rasp style zester while frozen.  I never even peel ginger as most uses for it require it to either be minced finely or strained out all together.  A little gingerroot skin is just more fiber for the diet.


How do I skip the planning and shopping? I really enjoy cooking.  I enjoy the creativity, the experimentation and trying new foods.  I HATE the planning, list making & shopping.

Is there any service or "technique" for avoiding everything leading up to the work in the kitchen?

Depending on where you live, there is a pretty simple approach you can try. In the next few days, head out to places that specialize in particular kinds of foods and in making them appeal to you. A farmer's market, a butcher's, a cheese shop, a bakery, etc. Chat with the staff and buy whatever speaks to you in the store. When you come home, make whatever meals you feel inspired to make according to what you've bought. Be creative and impulsive and seasonal. Keep doing that until one day you notice there isn't any food, and either go out and shop or eat something canned and go to shop the next day.

In probably a week's time, one of two things will happen. Either you will be feeling free, creative, inspired etc and so happy you are doing things this new way, or you will have thrown out a lot of expensive food that spoiled before you could use it, and be feeling very stressed and unhappy at 4 or 5 pm each day because you have to figure out what to make. If it's the former, mission accomplished. If it's the latter, you now have your motivation for the planning and the list making, and should find it more pleasant since you know its purpose and what it is saving you from. Either way, the "I hate having to plan my meals" feeling should diminish drastically.


Salt turned peas from creamy to crunchy Here is what I did, I boiled a bag of frozen peas,about 400 grams, in a pot of water. I checked for tenderness after a while and they were creamy on the inside like I wished they were. I take some out and salt them generously and soon after they turn to a somewhat unpleasant crunchy texture.
Is this normal? how can I season my peas without changing their texture?
edit: I tasted some after writing this and it seems that they are getting crunchier as they get cooler as well even without salting

Frozen peas don't really need 'cooking' at all.
The smaller they are the less they need, too; so anything labelled 'garden peas' or 'petit pois' really all you should do is drop them into boiling water, stir & give them maybe 1 minute maximum to heat. Drain & serve immediately.
Don't wait for the water to return to the boil, assuming you have maybe twice the volume of water as peas, just keeping the heat under them for a minute will be sufficient.

They will keep cooking as long as they remain hot, which is possibly why you thought adding the salt afterwards was the trigger. It wasn't, it was that they will simply keep cooking; so the trick is to drain them early rather than late.
I usually drop them as I'm serving the rest of the meal, so they're not waiting around at all, they're just the last thing onto the plate. If I'm adding to something like risotto, I will add right as I'm going to serve. Drop, stir, serve. They'll finish cooking on the way to the table.

If you leave them too long - 2 or 3 minutes is all you've got, maximum - then they will just get harder & harder over time. There's no rescue at this point, they're ruined. Switching off the gas isn't sufficient to stop them over-cooking, you need to get them out of the hot water straight away.

If you want them salted, salt the water first; though I never salt peas, they don't really need it. I do salt almost all other veg, just not peas.

The same, incidentally, applies to sweet corn. On the cob, 6 mins max; as individual kernels, drop them in boiling water, stir, done.


Kombu in beans -- granules or powder OK? I have been using kombu in my beans for a couple of years and I love it: the beans are more tender and easier to digest, and the pot liquor is richer. I've noticed that there are kelp granules and powder for sale in a lot of health food stores. Two questions:

Do all varieties of kelp help beans the way that kombu does in
particular?
Can kelp granules or powder be used in place of whole kombu when cooking beans?

Thanks!

I don't know that there are studies on using different kinds of kelp with beans, but I have used both kombu strips and kelp granules interchangeably when cooking beans. The results seem to be the same either way.