Is it possible to (safely) make dry instant rice? For lightweight camping food it would be nice to have rice that cooks quickly without using much stove fuel.  Dried instant rice is available (example) but has some downsides: The flavours aren't great (and I find them unpleasantly salty); it's being displaced in the shops by microwavable rice which is much heavier as you're transporting water (it can be heated on a stove).

So I'd like to make my own dried instant rice - perhaps with some dried veg or spices mixed in.  But rice is one of the worst foods for breeding nasties so I very much doubt you could just cook it and then put it in a dehydrator.  The few ideas I've seen searching online are basically just freezing cooked rice, not dehydrating it at all.

Is there a sensible way to produce dehydrated instant rice at home?

Typically dehydrated foods of this sort are freeze-dried rather than dehydrated by heating. This is a process of sublimation of the water out of the food in a controlled manner under very low temperature conditions. This is generally not practical at home due to the nature of the equipment needed.

However, it seems that the instant rice is dehydrated in ovens. I suspect that you could do it with quite a bit of experimentation by spreading rice out in a thin layer on some baking sheets and heating to around 60 Celsius until dried. This should be hot enough to prevent most bacteria from growing successfully. As you have used the commercially prepared versions before, you already know the texture and how you would prepare it after drying, so you could play around and see.

Personally I like to use instant couscous when hiking - it rapidly (1-2 min) hydrates on addition of just boiled water, and like rice is readily available, easily measured out into aliquots for pre-packaged meals, and can be transported in a package with salt and other dried ingredients for a rapid and filling meal.


What happens when you reduce stock all the way? If you have fully filtered stock or broth, and you boil it until all of the liquid evaporates; what would you be left with. If you boiled only until a bit before that point would you have super compact flavor?

If you reduce filtered broth all the way, you get portable soup. It dries down into a solid that looks a bit like leather. Because of the gelatin from the bones, portable soup is bendy and flexible. It was used in the 18th century as a portable food item, eg by soldiers and people traveling through the American wilderness. There's an excellent video by historical reinactor J. Townsend: Easiest Way to Make Portable Soup. I summarized the method below.
 (images is from the same video)

Put about 5 pounds of bone-in meat in a slow cooker and cover it with water; don't add any seasonings. Cook until falling-off-the-bone tender. For beef, that's about 8-10 hours on low. Townsend recommends beef shank, neck or brisket, but says poultry will also work. Choose a cut with lots of collagen, so you end up with plenty of gelatin in the broth.
Remove the meat and bones; you can use the meat for another purpose. Let the broth cool until the fat solidifies on the top. Skim off the fat. Strain the remaining broth through a cloth. Now you have clarified broth.
Rinse out the slow cooker and put the clarified broth back in it. Turn the slow cooker on low and let it cook for 18-24 hours with the lid off, until it's reduced to a "medium brow, gluey substance." (Yum!) Don't overcook it, or it will burn and ruin the flavor. You'll probably want to time your cooking so that the end of the 18 hours happens in the morning, so you can spend all day checking on it and don't have to stay up all night waiting for it to finish.
Turn off the slow cooker and let it cool. Remove the portable soup from the crock. At this point, it's still pretty wobbly and gelatinous, like Jello cubes. Put it on a cloth or cooling rack to finish drying. The final drying has to be done with just air, without heat. You can use a food dehydrator on a "no heat" setting, or put the rack in front of a fan, or just let it air dry for a week or so, flipping it at least once a day.
Once the portable soup is dried to the texture of leather (solid, but still somewhat flexible), cut it into convenient portions. Store them wrapped in brown paper or cloth. They will continue to dry and harden over time.

You can also make portable soup on the stove or over a fire, but apparently it's really difficult to do without burning. The slow cooker provides a much lower heat, so it's less likely to burn. You can actually speed up step 3 by starting on a higher heat - either simmering on the stove or using the slow cooker on high. The final stage of cooking should be done on low to minimize the chance of burning. Have a look at Townsends' follow up video, Troubleshooting Portable Soup.
To use the portable soup, rehydrate it in hot water and use it as you would broth.


What are the consequences of failing to strain my pastry cream? I've made some pastry cream in preparation to make eclairs tomorrow. However, when I was ready to strain it I realized that I did not have a strainer as I thought. I stirred it around and did not see any big particles, so I put it in the fridge anyway to set. What are the consequences to my cream of not straining it? Can I still use it for my eclairs or should I make another batch once I have a strainer?

Unless you left vanilla pods or something like that in the cream you'll be fine and the taste won't be affected, only the mouthfeel. Straining it makes it smoother and removes anything you didn't intend to be in the final product.


Julienne applications I've found that the julienne cut is an important subject when talking about knife skills, but in my recipes (from books, internet etc.) I've never found a suggestion to make a julienne cut.

Which are the applications of a julienne cut? It's just decorative stuff?

I don't know if I'd consider the cut I use for stir fries to be a jullienne, as I tend to make 'em a little larger, as I like a little bite left in my vegetables.  (I consider julienne to be at most 1/10 of an inch / 2.5mm across ... I cut my carrots for stir fries at maybe 5mm across)

I tend to julienne when adding vegetables to cole slaw-like salads  (or even apples and other firm-fleshed fruits).

If you like really crispy fried potatoes, you can julienne the potato before frying to make 'matchstick potatoes'.

Many professional chefs will have a mandoline, and so if they're preparing large amounts of something, they'll use that, rather than a knife.  (and you can get longer strips that way ... the full way down a large zucchini or long cucumber, which would be difficult with even a long knife).

Julienne is also just a step before finely diced items, so technically, I'll pass through that phase when cutting up carrots for mirepoix.

... all that being said -- you're probably most likely to encounter the term when dealing with fancier french cooking or "gourmet" type recipes where you're trying to impress a dinner party. "Home" cookbooks are less likely to get into complicated knife tasks.


Recalling poultry known to have Salmonella In the recent news, there was 91k pounds of turkey recalled because it was known to contain Salmonella,  If I've always been told to cook my poultry to full doneness to kill off Salmonella and other baddies, so why is meat often recalled if its known to have Salmonella?

I always treat each step in the prep and cooking as if it could make me sick, so it seems like a waste of 6000 or so turkeys when the meat can easily be cooked safe to eat.

What am I missing?

You may have good food safety practices but not everyone does, and mistakes happen. A hurried food service worker accidentally cross-contaminating some food could be deadly to someone with a weak immune system, or make someone with a strong immune system very ill (I've been there - awful!). Recalling the food reduces the risks from mistakes.


How edible/palatable are crabapples? I have an outstanding recipe for Apple Bread. It does use a lot of sugar, seems best when paired with firm, crisp and tart apple varieties.  Granny Smith is my go-to.

Since it still is not lacking for sweetness, at all, I began pondering whether I could make this using crabapples.  I have zero experience with crabapples, except maybe biting into them and spitting them out as a small child, back when parents let their kids roam the neighborhoods like packs of feral dogs.

Are crabapples considered to be edible, but not especially delicious, or are they considered to be, generally, not edible (or even are dangerous to eat)?

Some crabs are better tasting than others.  Ornamental crabs, to my knowledge none are inedible, but tend to be very small, and high skin/seed to flesh so tend to be too much trouble to bother with.  Larger crabs though can be very desirable for some applications.  They are often blended in mixed ciders, both sweet and fermented.  They will be tart to very tart and even bitter, but when blended with other juices add what many people consider a very refreshing bite to the juice.  Candied crabs and apple butter are commonly made with them and they can be used for jams other applications especially mixed with other apples to increase tartness.

There are a wide variations of varieties, just as with full size apples, and some will seem better than other.  If they are wild seedling trees rather than grafter varieties, the quality of the fruit may be hit and miss, and even some of the cultivated named varieties may be astringent, especially some which are marketed for their hard cider characteristics where the astringency is desirable.  If the particular ones you have will work will be mostly dependent on your tastes and the variety, and how willing you are to work with the smaller fruit.  Even the sweetest crabs are likely to have a lot more tartness than a granny smith.


royal icing and candy atop buttercream Can I put royal icing snowflakes and hard candy shards on top of buttercream icing one day ahead or will the buttercream dissolve the royal icing and hard candy?

I think you'll be fine. I had some buttercream frosting left over from answering a previous question and did a simple test not long after you asked this question (about 16 hours ago).

I put a dish of frosting into the fridge with small royal icing and sugar/starch based decorations on top and I left a similar dish at room temperature. I pushed the decorations firmly into the frosting.

The decorations retained pretty much all their crunch. They didn't leak any of their bright coloring into the frosting either; not that that would be a problem if you're decorations are snowflakes. I'm not sure whether the opposite would be a problem, i.e. if your frosting is brightly colored and your decorations are white.

You can judge for yourself whether the ingredient proportions I tested with are comparable to yours by checking the answer I linked to above. You may see different results if the proportion of wet ingredients in your recipe is much larger.


Why put flour in Oven Bag? This question is about the plastic "Oven Bags" used to roast various kinds of meat or poultry in. I have some of these made by Reynolds Co., and in the Cooking Guide that came along in the package, it says: "Add 1 TBSP flour to bag. Shake! This helps prevent bag from bursting." This was before you put the rest of the food into the bag. Well, it didn't burst, so I guess that means it worked, but they also had me cut six slits into the bag to let steam escape.

My question is how would the 1 TBSP flour prevent the bag from bursting, and why would it burst anyway, with six slits in it?

See this 1972 NYT article from back when these bags were a recent invention and the explosion problem was still current news. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/08/archives/why-cooking-bags-explode.html
In recent years, news was made of the dangers of boiling water in the microwave in something like a Pyrex measuring cup, because water heated in that manner could potentially become superheated (hotter than the normal boiling point, but not bubbling, steaming, or visibly boiling) if the surface of the container is so smooth that "nucleation sites" don't form. It then sits there, hotter than boiling but looking still (as if it weren't boiling yet) -- until something disturbs the surface (like the next ingredient, or your hand jostling the cup), at which point it can violently and simultaneously boil, seeming to explode.
Apparently the same thing was thought to be happening in these cooking bags due to water getting trapped under a layer of grease from the meat, and the flour would help those nucleation sites to form (called "boiling chips" in the NYT article) and also bind with some of the fat and water to form a gravy instead of letting the water remain separated. I am not a scientist but I don't think I've said anything egregiously wrong.
Justin Wilson mentioned the explosion risk and the need to use flour in one of his cooking shows back in the day while demonstrating the bag, but didn't go into the science of it, just mentioned that the flour was needed and went on with the show. It's in an episode called "Cajun Meat and Potatoes".


Maximum cooking time for beef joint in slow cooker? I usually cook a joints of beef by browing it in a pan and then putting it in the slow cooker all day (about 8 hours) completely submerged in stock.

At the weekend I have family coming over, so the joint I have got is twice the size of the usual, and we are eating a couple of hours earlier than usual.

As I do not really fancy getting up in the early hours of the morning to put the beef on, I am thinking about putting it on last thing at night. This would be a cooking time of around 15 hours.

Is that too much? Is there a maximum time that beef joints (or any meat, for that matter) can be cooked in the slow cooker?

Would I be better to cook it the day before and then reheat it?

I do think there is a maximum to the duration of stewing a cut of beef. There is in my opinion such a thing as too tender and soft. If you plan to cook the meat as one large chunk you will have to add a little to your normal stewing time, but I would not go as high as 15 hours.

Cooking and re-heating is quite an interesting option though, as quite a few dishes benefit from this in terms of flavour. Perhaps a general question on this subject, or a more directly relevant one would be of interest to you.

For me, the smaller the size of your chunks of meat, the more you should stick to your normal stewing time of 8 hours and the more you could consider making it a day early to enhance the taste.


Is pressed tofu what I want? I have been using extra firm tofu to make meals, recently. When I go out to restaurants and get, for example, Thai food, I see a much more thinly sliced form of what I assume it is tofu that is like 0.5 inches x 0.5 inches x 1 inch, and has a red coloration along the side, almost like a skin.
Is this pressed tofu, or is it something different? If so, where can I get it?
This link says "Asian markets," but I have checked a few and I have not been able to find it. Maybe it is in a different section than the "regular" tofu.

EDIT
Here is a picture:

The piece on the left is a "regular" piece of extra firm tofu (even when I press that tofu myself, which I do when I make tofu).  The piece on the fork is what I am talking about.  It is much more firm than even extra firm tofu and has a different bite to it.

You've probably seen fried, marinated tofu in those Thai dishes (my best guess without seeing a photo). The red colour would be from a short soak in either chili/garlic oil, or sweet chili sauce. Many asian markets sell tofu packaged in a marinade or breading for convenience.


Flour/Instant Dry Yeast Ratio in Thin Pizza Dough I researched this question before asking, but I could not find a clear information. I'm sorry if I missed it.

I want to make pizza from a leavened dough. I will use instant dry yeast. There are lots of pizza recipes. Is there a ratio for flour / yeast when making pizza dough? Of course, this will vary according to the type of flour. We can talk about bread flour.For example, X grams of instant yeast is used for each cup of flour.

Some sources say that you can use instant yeast up to 0.5% of the amount of flour. Can we make such a generalization?

Pizza dough is basically a bread.  So, like other bread formulas, can be developed and expressed using a bakers percentage.  For a Napolitan pizza most pizzaiolos use .1 to .5 percent yeast.  This is the percentage as compared to the total amount of flour (usually tipo "OO" for this style).  So, your initial research is a good starting point.  You will have to adjust for local conditions (and ingredients) from there. This might also help you. He makes use of fresh yeast, so that is likely why his percentage is on the lower end.


Sealed whey protein container past its use by date - is it still usable? I've had an accident that made me stop training for quite some time and I ended up with a sealed - never used nor opened - whey protein pot that expired Oct/2015.

Considering it's a powder and the package was closed and sealed, I opened and it still seems fine, with the same texture and smell as expected. I tried it and the flavour is very good as well.

What issues I could have using it? Would the proteins be "gone"? Could I have health problems?

You didn't say where your product was packaged, but according to the USDA, "Use by" dates refer to best quality, and are not safety dates.  This is especially true when foods are handled well...in your case, factory sealed.  Additionally, I can't see how the proteins would go anywhere.  Given the reportedly good flavor (not an indication of safety, but simply of good taste), I would use it.


Prevent gummi bears from drying out I have tried making gummi bears but have the problem that they dry out very fast. I'd like to make gummi bears that could be eaten for a couple days. After five days they dried out so much it was impossible to chew them anymore.

Am I missing some other ingredient to prevent it from drying out after just a couple days? This is the recipe I used

0.5 liter water
20 g gelatine
1 teaspoon salt
325 g sugar (65%)
A dash of glucose syrup
Flavoring

Try 50/50 sugar corn syrup. The corn syrup may help with retention


Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen I have a confession to make.

I was lazy, I didn't think it would cause any harm, but it did.
And now they are back. The fruit flies have taken over my kitchen, and I need help fighting them.

Story: I was preparing a must for homebrewing a batch of forest fruit wine. This all went well, the wine began fermenting and I was left with 4lb of warm soggy fruit mush. I tactically decided that the best place to dispose of this was in my inside kitchen bin.
Naturally the next morning I woke up to discover hundreds and hundreds of fruit flies in my kitchen, feasting on the fly-superfood in my bin.

Question: What is the best method of killing/removing the fruit flies from my kitchen? I have already emptied, cleaned, and sterilised the offending bin, but the flies seem to be okay with not having a food source anymore.
Will they eventually leave/die from lack of food? Can I drive them out with a smell or incense? Should I just commit mass insecticide and sweep them up afterwards?

Thanks :)

Fruit fly trap !

Put some strong smelling vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, in a glass and make the trap by making a cone with a sheet of paper. The strong sweet smell will attract them and they won't be able to get out of the glass.


Pumpkin rotting, need to process it now - any ideas with a long shelf life? I bought 7 huge pumpkins from a gardener two weeks ago. The idea was to store them in the basement, and eat them as soup during the winter.

However, sadly, they have started to rot. (I asked a related gardening question here, it seems to be a fungus from the field.) I need to cut them up, remove the rotting parts, and do something with the good parts right now, otherwise they will be lost. I know no pumpkin-lovers to give them away to, so I would like to continue to store them somehow.

I have the possibility of putting them into cold storage at about 7°C (ca. 44°F). However, I fear that even there, they will go stale relatively quickly if I just cut them into pieces and do nothing further. I have very little space in the freezer, not nearly enough to take them all.

Is there anything I can do with the good pieces that lasts a long time either in cold storage, or (ideally) at room temperature? I'm open to everything, any kind of processing into whatever.

One thing I thought about was pesto - I've seen some very oily pumpkin pesto recipes that actually work with the pulp itself, not only the seeds like most recipes. I'm not sure about the resulting product's shelf life, though. Would the oil make it last longer?

Suggestions would be very welcome, as it would be a shame to let these beautiful vegetables go to waste.

I think once the outer skin is compromised, your room temperature storage options go out the window.

Your best bet is to puree the pumpkin pieces, and freeze it. Not ideal, I know, but if you don't want the pumpkin to go to waste, that's probably your option.


What is a good substitute for Fish Sauce? Are there any good substitutes for Fish Sauce for cooking Thai food?

This is due to a severe food allergy (anaphylaxis) to all forms of seafood, so I'm unable to substitute for other fish-based products.

Try mixing hoisin or miso into low-sodium soy sauce.

From one of my favorite bloggers, Smitten Kitchen, "I often see low-sodium soy sauce suggested as an alternative but I’m not convinced it’s a fair swap. There’s something more caramelized and fermented in the fish sauce that you’d miss. If you feel like playing around, I might whisk some additional hoisin or even miso into that soy sauce for a more complex flavor."


How does "BHT added to packaging material" actually work? This is not a question about the merits of BHA or BHT (butylated hydroxyanisole or butylated hydroxytoluene).  It is a question about how BHA/BHT work when "added to packaging material".

The BHA is often added directly to food, where it has an antioxidant effect keeping fats from turning rancid during storage.  But often, especially on whole grain breakfast cereals, BHA is listed as "added to packaging material".

What mechanism allows the BHA/BHT in the packaging to protect the food?  Does it adsorb free radicals for example?  Or "added to packaging material" just a marketing trick, because the BHA/BHT actually must migrate to the food to work?

[Ref 1] Encyclopedia of Food and Color Additives, edited by George A. Burdock

BHA, BHT and/or TBHQ aren't added to the packaging to keep the cereal from spoiling. It's actually added to keep the box from spoiling.

As you stated, BHA and BHT slows down the oxidization of fats and oils. It keeps them from going rancid. And while some of this preservative will migrate into the cereal, many cereals don't actually have any fats or oils. The grains that go into cereal, be it corn, wheat, or oats, contain a small amount of fat and protein in the germ, or the tiny little center of the kernel. During production, though, the grain is degerminated, precisely because the fats in the germ spoil so quickly. Whole grain cereal, though, still has its germ. This is great nutritionally, since most of the vitamins and protein are in the germ, but then, so is the fat. And fat goes bad. So some of the BHA and BHT in the plastic bag is meant to migrate into the food. This is a bit of a semantic dodge for marketing purposes- it's not in the food, but it will be soon.

A lot of non- whole grain cereal is completely fat free though, but will still be packed in a box with BHA, BHT, and/or TBHQ. So where is the fat coming from?

During the 90s, most companies transitioned from brand new white cardboard to recycled brown cardboard. And just as importantly, they transitioned from petroleum based inks to soy based ink. Now, soy based ink is great for the environment because it biodegrades in the trash, but therein lies the problem. The soybean oil in the ink biodegrades. It goes rancid. The colorful graphics printed on the box will eventually taste and smell a bit off. Not only that, but the recycled paper is going to already contain some rancid ink from the newspaper and boxes that it was made of.

Now, the plastic bags that cereal are packed in are very, very, close to being air- and liquid- tight, but they are not perfect. In the course of sitting on the shelf, they will absorb odors and tastes from the outside world. This includes the smells and tastes of rancid box ink. In order to guard against this, manufacturers add preservatives like BHA/BHT to the box ink. Because the food is also absorbing some of those preservatives in the box, legally, box preservatives are also listed as a food ingredient.

Our societal push to recycle paper and save trees has some odd implications for food packaging.

Ink now has to have preservatives if it is going to be close to food. The plastic bags inside the box also have to be thicker because the boxes that our food are stored in already contains some rotten ink. And finally, we now eat more preservatives in our cereal, because the cereal absorbs some of the box.


Sourdough starter - Have I been doing it wrong? I made my own starter a couple weeks ago: flour and water, and left it on the top of the fridge.  I have been feeding the starter each day for the past two weeks.

I have not discarded any. Now the more I am reading I see I should have discarded half of the starter before each feeding. (Still not clear if that is only the first week or always?)

For each feeding I used the same amount of flour and water like I did on the first day, regardless of the growing amount of soupy starter in my super large jar.  It has smelled fine, I have even baked with it a few times.

Do I have to start over or can I use this?

You're fine. The reason to discard starter when you feed it is so that you don't end up with exponentially more starter and rapidly run out of room for it. You can slow down the growth of your starter and thus the need for frequent discards by keeping it in the refrigerator and feeding it once a week rather than every day. I've been doing this for about two years now.

If you prefer, and if you have time, there are a number of things you can make with the "unfed" starter, rather than discarding it. I personally like the pancakes/waffles (same ingredients, different technique) from King Arthur Flour.


How to bake frozen chicken without setting off fire alarms? I was able to bake frozen chicken for the longest time in my oven (~6 months). However, recently the fire alarms in my apartment started going off.  So I noticed it was a little dirty and cleaned it out with Easy Off, and cooked non-frozen chicken and all seemed to work out fine. Tonight however I tried to cook 4 frozen chicken thighs (1.75lbs) in a glassware container by themselves and put very little PAM spray in the bottom of it and placed a cookie sheet on top... the alarms went off again.  What am I doing wrong? On the package for the chicken it says to bake at 350F and I've tacked on 50% of the cooking time since it's frozen. But the alarms went off after only ~30mins.  If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

If I understand you correctly, you're putting frozen chicken thighs in a glassware dish that's been sprayed with Pam and then putting that into a 350F oven.

Since the chicken will take quite a while to thaw and begin emitting juices that will cool the dish, that dish is going to rise to 350F fairly quickly.  350F is hot enough to begin smoking with many oils. Not sure about Pam's smoke point, but I would bet that if you looked in the oven when the smoke alarm is going off, you'll see smoke rising from the pan itself, not the chicken or the oven.

Solution: Thaw the chicken before cooking or apply oil to the chicken but not the pan.


How to shell macadamias without a special tool? I know you can get tools like the Bonk and MackaWhacka specifically for shelling macadamias but I've very rarely had them handy when I've needed to do it.

In the past I've sat macadamias in a little hole in the cement outside and smashed them with a hammer but it would more often than not damage the kernels as well. I'd ideally like a way which:

doesn't damage the kernel inside
doesn't require a macadamia-specific tool
doesn't take several hours per nut, and
doesn't involve risk of missing teeth and permanent disability

I've used C-clamps before.  You set the macademia in it, then tighten it down 'til it cracks.

You can keep a gloved hand around the nut while turning the screw with the other hand to avoid the risk of flying shell bits.  (but you should be turning slow enough that it doesn't crack explosively)

It does take some time, but it's less than a minute per nut.  It goes faster when they're all similarly sized, so you're not adjusting the clamp signicantly to fit the next one.


Sourdough starter stopped growing, is it normal? I posted a question a few days ago. This was my first sourdough starter: My sourdough starter split in 2 on the 3rd day. What should I do?

and I decided to only keep the foamy part and throw the other half away. After another day that sourdough stopped growing and became kinda liquidy and I threw it away and started another batch.

2 days after and I am in the same situation. My sourdough starter split in two, exactly the same as in the above link. But this time I decided to simply stir it and feed it as usual.

After the 2nd feed, the starter kept splitting in two and the foamy part started to get smaller and smaller. The bottom part stopped making bubbles and simply stayed the same way.

6-7 hours before the 3rd feed the starter looks like the below picture. It stopped growing and it seems that only the top layer has bubbles. Is this normal?

It is also weird that two different starters have the same exact evolution, maybe there's something wrong with the flour?

EDIT:
So after 7 more days of feeding and three attempts here is my latest result:

Thank you for your advice!

Nothing that happens in a starter in the first few days is normal, in the sense that it doesn't behave like a mature starter. During this time, the bacterial flora in the starter is in constant flux, and you need to wait until the desired bacteria have prevailed, which will take some time.

It is not impossible to do something wrong, but you will only know it when the starter has stabilized, or rather failed to. Until then, just keep the regime exactly as prescribed, no matter what visible changes happen.


Is it possible to make yoghurt at home with dairy-free milks (soy, coconut, etc)? I regularly make my own yoghurt from cow's milk by adding live yoghurt and leaving it to incubate for a few hours.  Is it possible to make dairy free yoghurt (from soy milk, or coconut milk, or other dairy free milk alternatives?)  I know it is available to buy in the shops but what would the process be for making it at home?

Yes, you can.  You just have to use a culture that can be used on vegetable milks.  The method is basically the same as with regular yogurt.


What oil or fat to use for different purposes? I understand that one of the main reasons to use different kinds of fat or oil is the temperature at which it burns, e.g. an extra-virgin olive oil to fry a steak wouldn't work. Taste is also a very important aspect. Can you give a list of the most commonly used oils/fats and what they are used for?

"Commonly used" depends mostly on the culture, I'd assume.  There's a lot of different oils, so I've organized by use rather than try for a complete list.

Some of the ones that you might find in a "typical American" foodie's kitchen include:

For frying: something with a high smoke point : peanut, sunflower, soy, extra light olive oil

For baking (muffins & cakes): something with a mild flavor : corn, canola, "vegetable", soy

For baking (biscuits & pastry, or greasing a pan) something solid at room temp : butter, shortening, lard

For general pan cooking: olive oil (any kind), butter, anything from the "baking (muffins)" list.  update: this assumes sautéing heat or lower; see 'frying' for higher heat applications.

For salad dressing: any nut oil, mild oil, or virgin / extra virgin olive oil

For sauces: Butter.

For finishing: something flavorful to drizzle over at the last second... odds are, it's extra virgin olive oil, but possibly sesame or a nut oil.

Now, there's regional differences -- in the south, it's pretty common to save your bacon grease for cooking and to use shortening for frying.  Lard's still popular in hispanic (and likely other) cuisine, schmaltz (rendered poultry fat) is used in both Jewish and French cooking.  Ghee (similar to clarified butter), is used Indian cuisine ... and the list goes on.

If you're looking for a 'must keep on hand' list -- a mild oil, extra virgin olive oil and butter will get you through most anything.  Add shortening if you like baking, and sesame oil if you like to cook asian food, and you'll be prepared for most anything.


What's the difference between pink tea and other types of tea? I once went to an event where they offered pink tea. At that time I was around 8 years old and used to hate tea.

However, I loved that pink tea but unfortunately didn't have a chance to drink it after that event. Can someone tell me any differences between pink tea and other types of tea - e.g., nutrition, taste-wise (as I have met people who love tea but hate pink tea), etc.?

Also, what is the method of preparation for pink tea? I want to make for my work mates at office :)

It's hard to know exactly what you're referring to without any context of the event, location, or what you remember it tasting like, so I'll give you my best educated guesses.

If your pink tea sweet and fruity or floral, it was an herbal tea - tisane, and not true tea. ("Tea" actually refers to the plant whose leaves are used the beverage. Anything that is not made from the tea tree is usually called a tisane.) Some varieties of tisanes that produce a pink liquid include hibiscus, rose petals, rose hips, strawberry.
If the above is not the case, I suspect you're referring to Kashmiri pink tea, sometimes called noon chai.

Disclaimer: I can't find any authoritative sources about Kashmiri online; my knowledge of the subject is anecdotal from my own travels in India as well as stories from people I know who have lived or traveled in South Asia. My understanding is that, like masala chai throughout South Asia, pink tea has some general guidelines but everyone customizes it according to taste or local custom.

The basic distinguishing factors of Kashmiri pink tea compared to a "regular" black, green, oolong, or white tea are twofold: color and taste. As you mentioned, this tea is pink in color, which other beverages made from the tea tree are not. The pink color comes from the addition of baking soda. As for taste, pink tea tends to elicit mixed opinions about taste because it is salty; most people around the world typically drink tea unadulterated, or sweetened, but rarely with the addition of salt.

Pink tea shares many ingredients with masala chai, often including some or all of the following:

Ginger
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Peppercorns
Milk or cream
Sugar (or other sweetener)

Unlike masala chai, which is normally prepared with black tea, Kashmiri pink tea uses green or oolong tea leaves.

Ingredients included in Kashmiri chai that are not included in most other chai recipes:

baking soda (just a pinch)
ground pistachios and/or almonds
salt
white poppy seeds

The final major difference is in the method of preparation. Masala chai can be made in a matter of minutes by boiling the water, then adding tea, milk, spices and boiling it all together for a few minutes before straining and serving. Kashmiri chai, on the other hand, takes 1-2 hours to prepare (I believe the long boiling time is required for the baking soda to accomplish its task of turning the tea pink). I don't know the exact process and couldn't find any sources that seemed reliable.


Is spaghetti and bechamel sauce an authentic Italian dish? I have seen instances where people mix white sauce / bechamel with spaghetti or macaroni but never seen a reputable chef to do so. This mix is sometimes mistaken for carbonara since its creamy white. Is it authentic to do so? If not can please also expound what béchamel usually used for for added information.

In Italy, besciamella is usually only used on pasta when it's going to be cooked in the oven: pasta al gratin, pasta al forno, or as part of lasagne.

As for your question - is it authentic to just toss some pasta with it? I would use the same method I'd use to answer the infamous "is X a sandwich?" questions: if somebody asked for a plate of spaghetti at a restaurant and they came covered in besciamella, I think basically every Italian would be baffled. I've never seen it on a menu, never seen it on a table at anyone's place and never heard it discussed until I read this discussion, which makes me inclined to say it's not authentic. It could still be delicious though!


Can I just rinse the knife & cutting board, instead of washing it, after cutting washed vegetables? I was wondering something I can't seem to Google anywhere, concerning food safety/hygiene.
And that is whether I can just rinse the cutting board/knife, after cutting up some washed vegetables (e.g. cucumber & tomatoes) or whether doing so could be quite unhygienic and I ought to just wash it every time
• By rinse I mean to just let water run on the knife and cutting board vertically
• And by wash, I mean use a detergent with a sponge or a brush

As a general food safety rule/best practice, you should still perform active washing, rather than passive rinsing, even for fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are still vectors for food borne illness and cross contamination. Wide scale recalls of vegetables due to listeria and e. coli are not uncommon. Active washing with soap and water will combat this. A quick swipe with a soapy cloth followed by a rinse will clean up much better than rinsing alone.
Fruits and vegetables also contain things such as sugars, which passive rinsing may not fully clean. This can result in spoilage and/or mold growth on your cutting board. A great demonstration of this would be to cut beets, which have both relatively high sugar and an accompanying red color, and passively rinse up vs actively washing. Washing will clean up much better. The same is true for other fruits and vegetables, though the lack of red dye makes it less easy to notice.


unable to bake runny batter recipes I made a chocolate cake and recipe calls for buttermilk and oil which makes the batter liquidy,but when I bake it, they turn out rubbery or they become very dense and when I press it feels like soft boiled chocolate paste like texture and also they crack on top, it only happens with the runny batter recipes and thick batter recipe cakes are perfect and super fluffy,what could be the problem?

I bake a lot with gluten free (I cater for a wheat allergy) and as a direct result a lot of my batters are runny but I still get a fluffy final cake. Bread doughs are more like batter than bread too.

You mention folding in the comments, which prompts me to wonder if you're making a red velvet cake, given the recipe points mentioned.

If that is the case, you need to aerate the egg whites separately, and fold them in last, taking care as to not lose the air you put in.

If you edit your post to include the recipe that would help with diagnosis a lot more.


Can household dish soaps, stored diluted, breed dangerous bacteria? Keeping some of your dish soap in a spare bottle pre-mixed with water, ready to apply to rags, paper towels or sponges, seems practical to quickly clean up small spills etc - the question is, is there a risk of making the soap itself "perishable" that way, possibly breeding germs that will be distributed by using it?

I am aware that the soap is not a food, however it is something commonly used near food and on food contacting surfaces.

Molds can often live off even undiluted detergents.

I had discarded contaminated opened bottles more than once, one in recent weeks. There was growth near the nozzle and black streaks suspended in the liquid body. Given the viscosity of typical detergents, it is probable that droplets of contaminated water nurtured the growth and perhaps not the detergent itself. Either way, I would end up dispensing microbes, pathogens or not. Bigger concern is what can be lurking in other bottles without visible signs.

A quick search came up with this "Danger In The Soap Dispenser" article on albeit hand soaps rather than dishwashing soaps and bacteria rather than fungi which are sometimes more resilient.


Resting for brownie batter It's traditional to rest dough for some pastries like cookies and breads. I think it allows more time for delicate enzymatic processes, to yield a better flavor.

I would like to ask if this is also applied to resting brownie batter?

I use a brownie batter recipe with the following components: unsweetened chocolate (some kind of a Paris award winning choco), butter, salt, vanilla extract, white and brown sugar, eggs, flour, a dash of baking powder, and cocoa powder (sifted).

No, there is no benefit from resting brownies, and there would be a couple of small disadvantages to doing it.

Time will decrease the effect of baking powder since its work begins as soon as you add moisture.

Time will also cause gluten to develop in the flour, which isn't something you want in brownies. Gluten development will cause brownies to be tough instead of fudgy/chewy.

You aren't waiting for yeast to get frisky; you don't need or want gluten development; you're not shaping dough. You can and should just go straight to the oven after mixing the batter.


Why not incorporate eggs at the last moment when making crepes? My question is about the sequence/timing of adding the ingredients.
In all crepes recipes I have seen, eggs are added before the batter is mixed. I wonder if it would make sense to add them after.
Two possible advantages:

I believe if eggs are mixed too much, whites can get a rubber-like texture. This is especially true when an electric mixer is used. Is this correct? Incorporating eggs at the last moment will allow using electric mixer (on milk and flour) without compromising the texture.
Eggs are fresher when they are in their shell. I guess if the batter is left for 2-24h so that flour can absorb liquid, it does not gain much by absorbing egg, right? In this case, adding eggs shortly before baking will only have advantages (like increased food safety) and no disadvantages.

Yet, in all recipes, eggs are added in advance. What am I missing?

Your supposed advantages are not correct.

I believe if eggs are mixed too much, whites can get a rubber-like texture.

No, this is not correct. Are you thinking of gluten? That is the ingredient that gets tough with overmixing. So by that logic, you should be adding the flour last - but the whole point of recipes which are being held for a long time is to allow time for the starch in the flour to hydrate, and with the longer periods (you mention 24 hours), to allow for the building of slight sourdough flavors. So you cannot add flour last either - or you can, but then you don't need to keep the batter around. Anyhow, there is no change in toughness when you add eggs first.

Eggs are fresher when they are in their shell

They may be "fresher" by common sense understanding of the word, but by food safety rules, the two batters (the one with the eggs added before a rest, and the other with eggs after the rest) are equally safe. The food safety is not increased.
On the other side, if your suggestion is followed, there may be some slight disadvantages in handling. They are not so terrible as to make your suggestion unworkable, but together with the lack of advantages, they provide a good reason for recipes preferring early mixing.
A list of some of the disadvantages:

Not only is it more convenient to only get out a whisk once, but there are also people who prefer to mix the eggs with the flour first because this is their preferred method against getting lumps,
There are the recipes which require you to start with an egg and then adjust the consistency with incremental additions of flour and milk
There is the slight effect of possibly less-well beaten egg diffunding better into the mixture during the resting period. Basically, if you want to go to the trouble of doing a resting period, whose purpose it is to get everything to settle together, you'd better add everything before you rest it.

I must say that personally, I actually do add "egg last", but that's more of a side effect of my method. I use a very simple recipe (only eggs, flour and milk) measured by weight. I whisk by hand, and I have noticed that I get the least lumps when I first whisk the flour with the milk. This automatically means that the eggs (separately stirred, without whipping) come in last. I don't rest my batter, so there is no question of adding it after the rest (and if I did rest, I would add it before the rest). So you see, egg last is not impossible, just like Willeke said, it just has no special advantages, and in some cases it comes with disadvantages.


How to substitute vodka in home-made vanilla extract? I came across this recipe for making my own vanilla extract.
However, the vodka in my country isn't very cheap. So, I would like to replace it with a cheaper alternative.

We discussed this in the chat room already and decided that there must be some alcohol in it and vodka works good because it's quite a neutral flavour.

Anyone knows what I can substitute the vodka with?

Think about this question another way:

You are making vanilla infused liquor, you just happen to be cooking with it. And Yes, you can infuse any liquor

If you want to use a substitute for Wodka brand Vodka (i.e. use cheaper, off-brand vodka like Kamachatka), I would say that yes, you can substitute out one vodka for another with the caveat that you will want to consider the purity of the distillation you are using as it may impact the flavor of your extract. Substituting top-shelf vodka for "well" vodka may result in an inferior extraction.

If you are asking whether you can  use some other grain alcohol other than vodka, itself, the answer is that yes, you can. You can even use brown liquors and so on; bear in mind they will all extract the oils but will carry the flavors differently (vanilla infused bourbon doesn't sound half bad). In particular, I would recommend going with a neutral grain spirit like Everclear; I have used it in making lemoncello, orangecello, and homemade Kahlua and it is pretty effective in extracting flavor while having none of its own.


Chef at restaurant seemed to be using really flimsy pans I was at a restaurant and sat at the chef's table where I could see the chef making the entrees.

He seemed to be using thin pans that were battered and dented. I couldn't tell what material they were (either alu or steel; they weren't copper), but they were thin and/or soft enough to be battered and dented.

Still, he was able to cook lamb, chicken, duck, and salmon without any burning or sticking. The pans were heated very hot and well oiled.

If anything, the thinness of the pans seemed to make heat transfer even easier.

This caused me to come home and look a bit askance at my heavy, all-clad, triple-ply cookware.

Are thin-pans totally usable and it's just all in the chef? This seems to upend my purchasing habits entirely.

Are thin-pans totally usable and it's just all in the chef?

Yes, and no.

As usual, skill matters more than tool choice. A bad cook won't turn out good food with a great pan. A great cook with a bad pan will usually outcook an intermediate cook with a great pan. But the same intermediate cook will turn out better food with a great pan than with a terrible pan.

The difference the pan makes is mostly the evenness of heating, and somewhat in the food layer which gets heated. A professional cook typically pays more attention to the food and knows how to react to uneven heating, e.g. by stirring/flipping at the best moment. The pan in the professional kitchen is also better preheated, instead of being taken out for the current dish only. In some parts of Europe, the home cook also cooks on a resistive stove, so each dent or warp is very problematic, unlike cooking on gas.

Then there come the cooking techniques. The thin pan limits you there. It is well suited for standard frying and stir frying. That is, you use enough oil and keep the food moving. Many home cooks love to apply an almost imperceptible amount of oil, which means that the pan's heating evenness is much more important. Also, if you want to leave your food sitting there, an overheated pan (or a pan with overheated spots) will burn it.

There are also results which I think not even a pro can achieve with thin steel pans. For example, I have never seen crepes get a beautiful even dark color when made on a thin alu pan, while mine get it automatically in the cast iron at home.

In the end, your purchasing habit is your personal decision. A thin pan is not equivalent to a thick pan in handling and outcome, and it is up to you to choose what tradeoffs you are willing to make.


Can I leave flour to autolyse for long period of time? So, as many people in lockdown I wanted to bake a sourdough bread. I received a starter from a friend that I keep in my fridge. I took the starter out of the fridge, fed it, and mixed the flour and water for it to autolyse. However, my starter barely raised. I assume due to it being in the fridge for quite a while. So, after about six hours, I took a half of it away and fed it again.
My question is if it is OK to leave the mix to autolyse for a long time, maybe even over night, until the starter is properly ready?
Also if you have any other tips I am missing they would be greatly appreciated.

Yes letting the sourdough sit at room temperature over night should work. This is in fact the way I handle the refreshing of my Lievito Madre usually and from my experience sourdoughs tend to be robust enough that some hours more or less should not matter much. When starting a culture it´s even common to let it sit at room temperature for up to two days between the feedings. But I would not recommend to let it sit for such a long time before storing it in the fridge again because even there the process does not stop entirely and also consumes some food.
To get more life into your dough also ensure it is sitting warm enough. For me room temperature at ~20°C works well usually but if you are experiencing trouble to get it started again aiming higher at around 28°C might also help as the bacterias are getting more active at warmer temperatures.
(Autolyse does not exactly mean refreshing/feeding of sourdough. It a process where just flour and water is mixed before other ingredients (yeast, salt, ...) are added to reduce kneading and improve taste and texture.)


Is there a substitute for tamari and soy as I have a soya allergy? I'm on an exclusion diet for some time. I have found loads of amazing recipes that have soy or tamari or miso paste in them but I can't eat these. Does anyone know of something that's similar?

There are actually products that are Soy Free Soy Sauce. You can also find recipes to make your own. This Recipe for Soy Free Soy Sauce Substitute has great reviews and sounds pretty good. It is made with bouillon, molasses, balsamic vinegar and seasonings.

A lot of people swear by Bragg Liquid Aminos as a soy free soy sauce alternative, but it actually contains soy.

There are chickpea or adzuli bean soy-free miso pastes from South River Miso Company. Miso Master makes a chickpea one too.

You can also ferment your own chickpea miso, but it takes about a year. There are instructions in The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.


Copper-lined stainless steel vs pure copper skillet I want to invest in a copper skillet, the heating characteristics intrigue me.

When searching, I found a copper-lined stainless steel skillet, which has the bonus of being induction-compatible. I had no idea these existed. This wasn't one of my original criteria, but I do have an induction cooktop, so it would be a nice added bonus.

My question is: Does the stainless steel affect the heat characteristics of the copper surface at all? Could I still expect the even heating of a copper skillet on a gas range even with the steel base? Or am I wasting my money on something that sort of behaves half-way between copper and iron/steel?

As a general rule, a solid copper pan and a "copper-lined" (either plated, or possibly a thicker layer bonded in some way) are likely to be quite different in terms of heat distribution, since stainless steel is a very poor conductor of heat and copper is a very good one.

So, when heated "unevenly" a copper pan of a given thickness will conduct heat to even out  the heat the food sees, while a stainless steel pan will be much more prone to hot and cold spots. A blend or sandwich of the two will be somewhere in between, and exactly where in between is it will depend on how much of the sandwich is copper, .vs. how much is stainless steel. Copper is (at present, and for quite some time) far more expensive than stainless steel, so there's a strong economic incentive for it to be thin, at the manufacturing point.

A stainless pan that was lined with the same thickness (or nearly the same thickness) of copper as the copper pan alone was would be pretty similar to the copper pan, but I don't know if anyone makes something like that. The whole pan would be thicker, in that case.


Is soy yogurt considered a fermented food? I've heard that fermented soy products are healthier than non-fermented soy. Would soy yogurt be considered fermented or just "cultured" - or is it the same thing?

Yes, in this context cultured and fermented mean the same thing.  The bacterial culture ferments the food product it consumes, converting sugars into acids (or alcohols).

Soy yogurt is a soy milk product inoculated with the same type of culture used to create yogurt.  Given that lactobacillus is well adapted for milk, it is amazing that this process actually works effectively and at a commercial scale.


De-humidify a fridge I live in an apartment that was furnished with a fridge, but I find that it tends to be rather humid, causing condensation on my veg and consequently spoiling my veg more quickly. There isn't a humidity control, nor are there humidity-controlled drawers for use. Any suggestions on maintaining a lower level of humidity in the fridge?

I'm considering playing with quantities of desiccant to see if that helps.

Check the temperature: it should be around 37°F (3°C). If the temperature checks, look around the door for an air leak. Sometimes the door seal gets loose or dries out, letting the outside humidity in, which then condense on the food making it easier for bacteria to grow and spoil the food.

If you still find it too humid you could try a box of Polar King


Is Calrose rice a decent choice for paella? I'm making paella.

Most of the recipes I've looked at call for specialty rice varieties that are expensive and/or difficult to find.  I have a large amount of Calrose rice (this stuff) in my cupboard already.

I know I want to avoid long-grain, very-non-sticky varieties like basmati, but aside from that I'm not sure what the important considerations are when choosing my rice.  Is the Calrose I already have a good choice, or should I bite the bullet and buy something fancy?

Some will say no, some will say yes. I'm in the yes camp.

If you want to make paella, and that's the only rice you have on hand, don't let anyone stop you.

Use this as a learning experience.

Be warned that the rice might be stickier than other type or rice, especially paella rice, so be careful about the amount of liquid used.

Rinse the rice thoroughly to remove as much surface starch as possible.


What can I do with dried chipotle chillies? I have a bag of dried Chipotle chillies. All the recipes I see use chipotle paste. How can I make a sauce with them? Any good methods?

I'm not sure I've ever seen chipotle paste called for in recipes; I searched around a bit and what I found was consistent with my experience. I saw chipotle en adobo, ground chipotle, and even whole dried chipotle. I also easily found recipes for chipotle en adobo. I don't think you'll have any trouble figuring out what to do with them.

The most common way I've seen chipotles, both in grocery stores and in recipes, is chipotle en adobo. You can make your own by simmering dried chipotles in tomato paste with vinegar, garlic, onion (search for recipes if that's not specific enough). I suspect that most chipotle pastes you might find are something like this, but pureed, and possibly cooked until thicker.

The other common way to use chipotles is as a powder; that's as easy as grinding them in a spice grinder. If you're using them in something that gets cooked for a decent amount of time, I'd just do this and add them, instead of making chipotle en adobo or a paste out of them. Just think of them as a spice.


How do I prevent burning the bottom of the bread when cooking over a campfire? Over the weekend I took my dutch oven and tried to bake bread over the campfire. I had two problems, one was getting enough heat. That is really my problem and I just lowered the grate over the fire to get the right heat.

The second problem, and thus my question is that the bottom of the bread was burnt. I used parchment paper in the bottom to make it easier to put the bread in and so it doesn't stick. However the bread was burnt on the bottom. I realize this is because of the amount heat on the bottom of the pan. What could I do to help reduce the burning on the bottom of the bread? Would using a cast iron pizza pan under the dutch oven help?

I put the dutch oven on a fire grate above the fire.

Many camping cookbooks recommend picking up some coals from the fire and putting them on the lid of the dutch oven while it is on a grate above the fire. This gives a more "all around" heat rather than just trying to cook the whole loaf of bread from the bottom. This image search gives lots of examples.

Personally, I don't try to bake a whole loaf of bread - I make English muffins. Quicker time to edible food, easier cleanup, you don't need to carry a heavy pot since the frypan is coming anyway, and if one burns the rest might still be ok, so less risk. (Important when you're feeding your children in the wilderness.) I wrote it up with pictures long ago - see if that helps you.


Arctic char available in North-America I am from Scandinavia, and I am currently living in North-America. I am having problems finding this species of fish, usually referred to as Arctic Char. It is closely related to salmon and trout. Is it farmed in North-America at all?

According to the article, a subspecies is known as blueback trout but was extirpated. Does this species survive in the waters here at all? Can it be bought fresh?

I think this species of fish if referred to under a different name in the US.

My first reaction was to be surprised by your question as Arctic Char is fairly common in Alaska, I didn't realize that it is hard to find in the lower 48.

It's closely related to salmon, so salmon would be a reasonable substitute for most applications.

This article tells more of its range in the wild (far north) Arctic Char. It is farmed in the US Farmed Arctic Char but not in huge numbers. I'm not aware of it being known by any other name.


Can you make goulash using winter squash instead of cabbage? I am really craving goulash today, but I don't have any cabbage. However I have a winter squash, its orange inside, quite like a pumpkin, but not quite a pumpkin, as the skin is green-orange. No, its not an unripe pumpkin, its just squash like this.
I will also use ghee, goat meat and spring onion, because I don't have normal onions. And a tiny cast iron pot, and only making a small portion, for 1 person, 1 meal.
Will that work to make goulash?

Ok, so as we established in the comments, you don’t need cabbage for goulash. The easiest solution would be to leave it out.
However, goulash is just one version of meat stew. And the principle of stew (with or without meat) is “throw what you have in a pot” - way older than any documented recipe. The flavor profile will also be heavily influenced by the spices used and different cooking cultures have different traditions. If you have goat meat, squash and spring onions and would like to serve them together, go for it. You can call it “stew” or “goulash” just as you see fit. (Especially as you are not going to serve it to guests that may have certain expectations when hearing “goulash”.)
As far as cooking method goes, remember that squash will soften way quicker than cabbage and meat, so either expect it to fully disintegrate (like onions in goulash) or add the pieces later.


How can I fix a dish that has been over sweetened? I often made a mistake while cooking that my sweet dishes gets over sweetened.(specially while making sweet rice,sheer khorma and custard) Is there any way/trick to fix the over sweetened dish?

For desserts, you can always add a sauce or topping that is bitter or sour to balance out the sweetness. Citrus, roasted nuts, dried chiles, dark chocolate, or coffee would all help a cloying dessert.


Why does food cooked in the microwave heat inside-out? The other day I was heating a left over casserole that was placed in the freezer for 24 hours before I decided to reheat it. I heated it in the microwave for 4 min. What I noticed was the outside portion of the casserole was still cold but there was steam coming from the middle. I tried heating other items as well and noticed that even soup heats faster in the middle. What i find is that food reheated or cooked in the microwave often splatters and in some cases explodes. Why does this happen or is my microwave the only one?

Your microwave isn't exactly cooking your food from the inside out. Instead, what is happening is that some parts of your food that happen to be on the interior are being heated faster than those parts of the exterior that you observe. This sort of uneven heating is intrinsic with how microwaves work.

  Microwave ovens cook unevenly because a pattern of standing waves forms inside the oven chamber, and the pattern creates an array of hotspots throughout the oven's volume. An operating frequency of 2.45 GHz will produce a wavelength of around 12.25 cm, and the regions of maximum intensity (hotspots) will be at half-wave points, or every 6.125 cm, but in a complex 3D pattern

From here

So, in your microwave the waves happen to be arranged just so the inside of your casserole heats up faster than the outside.

In microwave ovens that do not have a rotating carousel, this effect is even more pronounced, although even using a carousel is not a panacea. Many microwave oven recipes often include instructions to rotate and/or stir the food intermittently as a means of distributing the heat more evenly for the same reasons; changing the position of the food within the oven has the effect of shifting the hotspots around in the food as it cooks.

So, my suggestion is to try changing the position of the food in the oven over time, particularly if it's being heated over several minutes, as that should help it heat more evenly. If you can, it is also a good idea to stir the food intermittently as well. Personally, after the microwave finishes the allotted time, I also will stir and then wait a few minutes before serving to let the hot spots naturally dissipate a bit via conduction.


What mechanism causes a butter crock to function better than other options? How does a butter crock work better than a plastic or ceramic butter dish?

I can see how the water and stoneware would slow the butter's response to ambient temperature fluctuations.  But after a day, at most, cold water would warm up to room temperature.

I can imagine how the water on the bottom layer of butter might prevent bad microbes (only those that don't water) from getting to the butter there.  But how does that improve on the wax paper that most butter already comes in?  I'd imagine that the process of getting butter from a pre-wrapped stick into the crock would have a large potential for introducing foreign materials.

Butter, like most fats, is actually quite resilient to microbes. The problem you are more likely to experience is rancidity. Fat goes rancid by oxidation. Exposure to light, heat, and air cause oxidation and accelerate the process of butter going rancid.

Putting butter in your refrigerator addresses the heat and light, but does nothing for the air. The paper that butter sticks are wrapped in are quite porous. You can see evidence of this as a rind that develops on your butter after a couple of weeks. Butter can also absorb odors in your refrigerator through this wrapper.

A butter crock, as shown in the accepted answer to this question actually serves to protect the butter from air, light, and heat. Butter does not need to be kept below 40 F to stay fresh. The butter crock referenced there will keep butter fresh up to temperatures of 80 F, and likely higher, but the butter will be too soft and slip out at higher temperatures.

A plastic or ceramic butter dish are similar in function to the paper that wraps butter. Ceramic is unlikely to seal at all, so the butter will still be exposed to air. Plastic, while capable of a great seal, will still trap oxygen in the container with the butter, allowing oxidation to occur.

A butter crock really does seem to be the best of all worlds. You get easy access to soft butter, with little risk. Mold will eventually grow on the butter, but this should take weeks at room temperature. If you don't use a stick of butter within two weeks, you're doing it wrong. :-D


Suggestions for Brie + Bread + Preserves I've now tried two different types of Brie cheese from my grocery store.  The first was a triple cream version which was very mild and nice.  The second was a "Rich and Buttery" (whatever that is supposed to really mean) version which was just a little bit stronger.  I tended to like the first version more, at least in my preparation.

I ate both by spreading a thin layer of slightly toasted, light and airy bagguett and then topping with about half as much of either apricot or strawberry preserves.  I like both the preserves and the bread is nice, but I'm not sure what kind to try next.  There are double creams, store brands, international brands, etc...

Does anyone have suggestions for:

What types of Brie should I try?  Any specific terminology that will help tell the difference between the 10 or 15 types I see in the store?
What else to eat the Brie with?
What types of bread would be good?
Any other flavor of preserves that would be nice?

Contrasting flavors and textures will bring out more excitement on the palate.

The rich buttery flavor of brie works well with crisp acidic fruit like apples,  or pears.  Consider salty items like various cured meats such as various types of ham, salami, sausage.  Smoke-flavored almonds and salty nuts (marcona almonds).

Other preserves:  Fig preserves & mango chutney

Breads:  Dark breads like pumpernickel, yeast breads containing dried fruit & nuts (especially when first toasted and then broiled to soften the brie and toppings of choice).


How to smoke chicken without it coming out tough? We bought a smoker and it has been fabulous for doing ribs. However, when we've tried to do chicken in it, it comes out "leathery" and tough. I have had smoked chicken at other people's homes that was DELICIOUS. So, what are we doing wrong? (We've tried whole chicken and parts, both were tough)

Chicken is difficult to get right in a smoker. Cooking at really low temperatures can result in a rubbery skin. Chicken is one meat where I've never seen the need to go low/slow.  Brine the bird if you're worried about drying it out or if you want to get some extra flavor into the meat, but it's not necessary. In any event, make sure you get the skin dry before cooking. Overnight in the fridge should do the trick. I like to rub the skin with vegetable oil and BBQ rub (or sometimes just salt & pepper) and cook it at around 300-350f on the smoker. Not only does it cook faster, it also doesn't take on an overwhelming amount of smoke.


What ingredient(s) available in the UK would make a passable alternative to epazote? I'm following a recipe for Sopa Azteca de Tortilla that calls for Epazote, which I haven't heard of before, let alone tasted (to my knowledge!).

Wikipedia mentions:

  Raw, it has a resinous, medicinal pungency, similar to oregano, anise, fennel, or even tarragon, but stronger. The fragrance of D. ambrosioides is strong but difficult to describe. A common analogy is to turpentine or creosote. It has also been compared to citrus, savory, and mint.

If I did swap in something (or a mix of things), for "a sprig of epazote" what would you recommend & in what quantity? Or would I be better off just doing without?

Obviously, if you can find real, fresh epazote at a local spice vendor's, go get it, it's a lovely herb. It is definitely not an herb that I would recommend bothering to substitute if you have access to the thing-in-itself (unlike, say, cassia and true cinnamon, or fennel seeds and anise; nothing in my experience is close to epazote, and so epazote cannot truly be substituted).

But since the point of this question is to do that anyway, the main flavor-purpose of epazote is to provide a sharp flavor (that's the part described as "medicinal", or "like creosote") with "smoky", "bitter" undertones. The reason the recipe mentions "a sprig" is because epazote is intensely flavored but loses that flavor quickly under heat, and so is typically added at the end; the small amount is sufficient to permeate the soup with flavor.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/substitute-epazote-402502

The site above records, supposedly from a comment on a page somewhere at the University of Graz, though the link is dead, "a mixture of savory, oregano and boldo leaves". Sadly, I've never tried boldo, though, and cannot attest to what herb would replace it. I also don't know if it's available in England, knowing only that it is Peruvian-native.

For a personal recommendation, boiled pine needle is the closest analogue for the sharp part in my experience; if you have access to pine needles (I've heard Scots pine is native to Britain, be careful of impostor junipers), don't be shy about washing some gathered needles and steeping them like tea (the sharp scent of pine mellows out with boiling into something akin to epazote).

Juniper berries have the same flavor, but juniper is toxic in high amounts, unlike the needles of other conifers; so I have never used it. Also, it makes sense that a food with a flavor described as "like creosote" would also be similar in flavor to boiled pine, since a major source of creosote is pine tar, made from pine wood fired oxygen-free.

My recommendation based on personal experience would therefore be to just add the pinewater right to the soup, together with oregano, thyme, rosemary, and a dash of cumin since all those herbs have resinous, "bitter" notes for the undertones.

...lastly, since, realistically, you're probably not going to be using pine needles either, I would recommend combining these two separate recommendations; some combination of summer savory, oregano, thyme, and perhaps mint, cilantro, or lemon zest for extra sharpness. It won't be epazote, but it should fill the role similarly.


Is putting pots on the stove without oil or water damaging the pot? My mother always told me that I shouldn't put pots on the stove without any content, because otherwise they would get damaged. Is this actually true?

Assuming your mom was talking about putting them on the stove while the burner was on, yes, she was right.

It is ok to warm them slightly just prior to adding a little oil. Some people say it helps the subsequent fried foods not to stick. Don't know if that is true, but don't leave the room and let the empty pot get too hot, which can happen very quickly.

Overheating can cause thin pots and pans to warp. An enamel coating on a pan can chip off, or even melt onto your heating element. "Teflon" type non-stick coatings can burn off and be damaged releasing toxic gases into the air. Even cast iron can get too hot, and the seasoning can be messed up.


What makes bourbon a decent substitute for vanilla? In the accepted answer to this question, it was said that bourbon can make a half-decent substitute for vanilla. I fail to understand how because the primary flavor component is vanillin and as far as i know, there is no vanillin in bourbon.

What characteristics of bourbon are analogous to vanilla? Is the similarity due to the alcohol content of vanilla extracts? Or is there another reason?

Bourbon, by legal definition is aged in a fresh oak barrel. The oak heartwood naturally contains aromatic compounds including (you guessed it) vanillin—the primary flavor component of vanilla itself.

But beyond the already-present aromatics, the wood is further treated to produce even more flavor. About 20% of the oak's mass is made of lignins. When exposed to temperatures of 750° F  the lignin breaks down to more aromatics including, once again, vanillin. Your bourbon barrel is charred in an open gas burner for 15—45 seconds, making these flavors ready for extraction into your bourbon. The alcohol will then be able to further break down some of the solid mass and dissolve the aromatics.

So bourbon is a good vanilla substitute because of the relatively high portion of vanillin that it contains


Which fuels (burning materials) can be used in a wood fired oven? I have recently made a brick wood fired oven. It's a black / dirt / Roman / traditional type of oven: where you burn the fuel (typically wood) in the same chamber where you put the food to be cooked. The normal use of this type of ovens is:

Let the fire heat the dome and floor (bed?) of the oven up.
Once the bricks are soaked with heat (or the fire has extinguished) you take the embers (or ashes) out.
Wait till the temperature drops down to the dish's required one, and put the food in.

As for fuel, I use wood from pallets or wood logs from prunings (which gardeners are willing to give away, mostly if you gift them loafs of bread you make with that wood).

What are the risks of using those woods for fire lit in the same place where you'll put food?

I'm quite sure there is no biological hazard with them: any virus or bacteria in the pallets, or bugs in logs will definitely be destroyed by the fire temperature (over 800C/1,500F).

What I'm concerned about is:

I don't know if my pallet's wood has been treated or not.

Is there any way to know it for a pallet found in the street?
The treatment given to pallets, would be risky if human-consumed? After being burned to ashes?

I.E.: Some pallets are given methyl bromide as fungal treatment. But its autoignition temperature is 525C/995F. Will the subproduct, after burning, still be toxic?

I can ask gardeners if they have applied insecticide or other treatment.

Some of those bug treatments are supposed to be human-safe.

But are also safe for human consumption? After been burnt to ashes?
Is there any specific treatment I should ask the gardeners?
Could the treatment be flushed away with just water?

If I bought firewood logs, can I have guarantees that they are safer / healthier / don't have treatments?

Considering they are thought to be sold for fireplaces, not for cooking.

Regarding the use of pallets, the link below is to a site that gives good examples of why not to use them for any type of repurposed project due to unknown chemical treatment, e-coli contamination, mold, fungus and other nasty things that could leach from the wood.

We use hardwood branches from known (chemical-free) sources for smoking meat.

http://www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/repurposed-wood-pallet-toxic.html

Here is an additional link to a pizza oven manufacturer's site with their wood recommendations.  They do not recommend using any wood that has had any sort of chemical treatment.  If you do not know the source of the wood, there is no reliable way to verify that it is chemical-free.

http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza_oven_management/choosing_wood.html


Is it safe to use non stick cookware over a flame? I have recently started to learn how to cook. Whenever I am trying to make a chapati or to cook a vegetable, I start experiencing an acute headache, most likely because of the steam or maybe the flame in burner gas stove. I am using non stick cookware. Can this be the reason for getting the headaches?

Are you using non-stick cookware?

Beware because there is a well-documented medical effect caused by the fumes released when various non-stick components are heated starting at about 300 °F (149 °C) and beyond.

Polymer fume fever

You should always have something in a non-stick pan when it is over a flame.


Pork shank meat yield I am trying to estimate the quantity of usable meat four pork shanks will yield. I need to feed 10 people and I have two front and two hind shanks that weigh a total of 5Kg. I am hoping to get half of that weight in cooked meat so that I am left with 250g per person. I will braise them at low for a few hours and I seem to remember that they don't shrink that much. Can someone advise on whether that 50% yield by weight is realistic?

Well, I am in position to answer my own question now. I used 6 shanks (I got two more as I got worried they wouldn't be enough) and fed 10 adults and two children very comfortably with some leftovers.

My original shank weight was 6.8Kg and I had four front and two hind pork shanks. I would guesstimate they yielded about 300g x 12 people ~ 3.5Kg so, if ever anyone needs the info:

Pork shanks yield about half their weight in pure meat

As an aside, I would advise anyone cooking pork shanks to separate them from their skins and salt and dry the skins separately in the fridge for a couple of days before crackling them on high. The crackled skins were almost as delicious as the shanks themselves (my recipe called for very slow cooked pork which turns the skin to rubber which is a waste).

Another aside, the bones from the shanks are INCREDIBLY gelatinous (and tasty). I kept them and made terrine that smells much nicer than using trotters.


Technology improvements of microwave ovens for thawing and reheating We own an 800W microwave oven that was bought in 1999. It still works fine but I am thinking about replacing it, specifically since I hope to benefit from technology improvements that may have happened since then. But I'm not quite sure if there are in fact any improvements relevant to our use cases.

We use the microwave almost exclusively for thawing and reheating but I am not satisfied with some aspects:

Thawing food is really slow: e.g it takes almost 20 minutes to thaw and subsequently reheat 600g of Bolognese sauce.
It is necessary to supervise the thawing process and change the setting from thawing to "normal" cooking after the food has thawed sufficiently.
The containers I use are specified for microwave use, but after 15 to 20 cycles they begin to discolor and deform. Maybe today's ovens are more gentle with polymers?

So would it make sense to buy a new microwave oven for us, i.e. would there be any improvement regarding these aspects?

By the late 1990s, most microwaves had turn-tables in them.  This was to prevent standing waves from heating up specific points within the oven, while ignoring others.  It's better than nothing, but it's still not perfect.

There's a newer system in some models where the cylcotron itself moves, so that the food can remain stationary, and they can better control how the hot spots / dead spots move within the oven.  I've personally never used one of these new models, so I can't comment on how well it works.

Other recent-ish features that you might be interested in are what my model calls 'turbo-defrost', where you tell it what weight and type of item you're defrosting, and it runs through some prepared plan.  (in some cases, it'll beep and ask you to separate things ... eg, for chicken pieces).

Some also let you chain commands together -- so you can tell it to defrost for 5 minutes, then switch to 50% power for 2 minutes, then high for 2 minutes.  (I find it to be more confusing than it's worth; you might be more comfortable using it)

There are also 'combi' ovens that can defrost via microwave, then switch to conventional oven to get some browning.  (I've never used one, however).


Homemade yogurt aftertaste My homemade yogurt is wonderful: thick and fresh, made out of whole milk and cultures, no sugar, just a bit of organic vanilla powder.

There's only one thing I dislike: the aftertaste is quite cheesy and metallic at the same time. Can this be due to the cultures? Or the milk itself? The pan? The container (plastic made)? Vanilla powder?

I don't know what you mean by "vanilla powder", true vanilla does not come as a powder, but there is a variety of processed products which are used for vanilla flavoring and come in powdered form.

If your vanilla powder is made from pure artificial vanillin, or contains beta carotene, it can have an unpleasant aftertaste. I would suggest dissolving some of the powder into milk and drinking it that way, to see if the aftertaste is present. Don't use too high a concentration, this will be too strong, but you can make it more than you typically use in the yogurt.

If it is not the powder, everything else you mentioned could have been a factor. Try using a new batch of storebought yogurt as a culture. Change the container to something non-reactive, preferably glass. Make these changes separately, while keeping the other factors constant, to find out which one is the culprit.


How can I prevent my ice cream bucket from drying out? I live in New Mexico which is a dry climate. During the winter I store my ice cream bucket in the garage. While ice cream buckets that are not in use are prone to drying out, storing it in the garage certainly isn't helping. A dried out bucket cannot prevent the salt brine solution from leaking out during the freezing process.

The dryness certainly is not a huge problem as I simply soak the ice cream bucket for a few days which causes the wood to swell up. I'd like to shorten the number of days I must soak the bucket before it is usable again. Is there something I can do to help keep my bucket from drying out over the winter?

Well, if it was a boat, you'd swab it every few days ("swab the desk") so it stayed wet and swollen.

You could also treat the bucket with a food-grade mineral oil.  You can find it in most kitchenware stores for protecting cutting boards.  The oil will evaporate much slower than water will, but it will still evaporate.

You might try putting the whole thing in a large plastic bag or similar container, so whatever moisture evaporates stays in the air surrounding the bucket, slowing further moisture loss ... but moist, stagnant air isn't good for long periods of time, either, as you could end up with mold that would be even more annoying to deal with.

Or, as the bucket's only touching the ice & salt mix, and not coming in direct contact with food, you could always use wood treatments available from any hardware store.

update : I was reading up on walnut oil, and wikipedia linked to a woodworker who recommended a walnut oil & beeswax finish (1:2 blend) for finishing wood that would come in contact w/ food, but that you should re-coat each year.  I assume the beeswax would give it longer durability as compared to straight mineral oil sold for cutting boards.


How can I create a chicken substitute? How can I create a homemade product with that has the texture, flavor, and cooking properties of chicken, but is vegetarian (or vegan)?

I'm inspired by the Lightlife, the Sipz orange "chicken", and Veggie Grill "burgers" but am looking for something more flexible that I can make myself.

I'm not looking for a specific recipe, but rather general techniques and ingredients to use as a starting point.

Seitan (aka. wheat gluten/vital wheat gluten/wheat meat/fu*) can be used to make chik'n nugget type chicken, but not as in breast or thigh, etc. Recipes abound on the internets.

The gist of using it involves bringing together compositional ingredients (basically the gluten) and flavoring, mixing to develop it into a rubbery mass, forming it into and using as a dough (i.e. making chik'n nugget cutouts).

*There are differences between these, but they are all basically the same beast.


Can I steam-cook food in a distiller? I have a counter-top water distiller which I have been using to make distilled water, and it's been working fine for this purpose. Recently, my artichoke plant has produced artichokes ready for harvest, and I had the idea I could use the distiller to steam-cook them.

The possible advantages I can think of are:

Distiller would automatically shutoff when the water is boiled away.
I could set the cooking time by how much water I put in.
No steam escaping into the environment. (I live in a small room, and it gets damp in here too easily.)
Producing distilled water at the same time.

However, the possible disadvantages I can think of are:

Contaminants from the water might splash up and ruin the food.
Difficulty finding a stand to keep the artichoke out of the water.
The particles of artichoke might contaminate the steam, causing the distiller's charcoal filter or even the inside of its pipes to clog.

Anyone actually try this or know of probable problems I haven't thought of?

Here is the distiller I have: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Distiller-Countertop-Enamel-Collection/dp/B00026F9F8?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_i

I did it a few times and it worked great! My artichoke plant makes rather small artichokes, so I put one stem down in a teacup in the bottom of the distiller. I filled the distiller with 1-2 cups of water, estimating that would get me enough cooking time to cook that size artichoke. After it distilled that water and automatically shutoff, I waited until it was cool, opened it up, and found my nicely cooked artichoke. :)

For a larger artichoke I might try to find a metal stand of some sort and lay the artichoke on its side.

Yes, artichokes produce a smell when being steamed. Will this adversely affect the innards of the distiller? I'm  no chemistry expert, but I kind of doubt it, hence my willingness to try this experiment. Probably it is a volatile gas, not a solid, that gets absorbed by the distiller's carbon filter with the rest of the volatile gases in the water. Solids should remain in the distiller's "tank" with the rest of the crud and scale that builds up like normal.

So in the end, if you're living by yourself in a small space, just want to steam one artichoke at a time, and don't want to waste space with a regular steam cooker, this seems like a good alternative. Plus, you get to keep humidity down and get clean drinking water to boot.


Why's my icecream jelly like? I was following this recipe to make some French Vanilla Icecream. I had to prepare some home-made cream from scratch, for I was very short on ingredients. After completing the cooking, during the freezing time, the mix became more jelly like - wobbly and rubbery. I kept stirring and breaking the mixture every 30 mins for the past 4 Hrs. I've followed the recipe as accurate as I could, but the home-made cream might be the trouble. Not only is it not setting, but is still in a runny consistency. Could it be the case? Is there anything that can be done right now?

Ice cream depends critically on the fat in the dairy to form the structure and mouth feel.   Ice cream mixes there fore are typically fairly high in dairy fat.

You have substituted a comparatively low fat mock cream. which simply does not have the fat necessary to create the body of the ice cream.

In fact, the so-called homemade cream recipe is just thickening milk with gelatin, the thickening agent in... jelly (as they in British English, Jello in the US).  It is no wonder that your product has a jelly like consistency.   Also, gelatin is not stable for keeping its thickening (gelling) power when frozen.

Derobert is also correct in pointing out that switching from a traditional churned ice cream to a hand stirred freezer method will also alter the texture radically, although it is likely to make it grainier and icier without the milk fat to help buffer the formation of ice crystals.

Ice cream is a recipe where you do not want to substitute for the specific dairy called for in this way.  Ice milk recipes do exist, and will perform better.


Yellow color from brand new Pre-Seasoned Lodge Cast Iron griddle (before seasoning or even heating). Is this normal? I received my Lodge 10.5 inch pre-seasoned cast iron griddle today (and I'm very new to the world of Cast Iron). I washed it with water and soap and used the soft side of the sponge and on second wash I used the rough side. While waiting for the pan to dry (before I was going to start seasoning), I tried dabbing the sides with a paper towel to remove some of the moisture and I noticed a yellow stain of sorts coming off of the pan. I washed the pan again a couple of times but there still seems to be a yellow stain. Is this normal? I haven't seasoned the pan with oil or anything.
Also, I know cast iron pans aren't perfectly smooth like a nonstick Teflon pan but there's a very small grey bump on my pan. Is this acceptable?
Edit: The pan upon drying looks rusty and it appears yellow-orange like on kitchen towels if I try it rub it.
Edit 2: Thank you everyone for your comments, feedback and advice. I'm a complete newbie and I've been reading and watching as much info about cast iron usage and I, really, appreciate them. I don't own a oven so I've been using a stovetop to season the pan. After about 3 rounds of seasoning, I attempted a fried egg test with cooking canola oil(I think my pan was too hot/medium flame) but failed twice. Today (24 hours later), I attempted the fried egg test using a teaspoon of butter (preheated the pan and used a low flame) and it came off quite cleanly except for when I tried to flip it over and a bit of it got stuck. (check images 4 and 5). However, I've noticed a dark brown color tone around the pan (image 6) except at the periphery. I don't know if this is because I've seasoned it incorrectly.

If it’s kinda powdery, it’s likely rust.
Not quite fully polymerized oil tends to be orangeish, but you usually can’t see it unless it’s your first layer over shiny bare metal, and I wouldn’t expect it to rub off on a paper towel like that
I suspect that you’re going to need to strip and re-season your pan.  You only do that first deep scrub with pans that are waxed for shipment, not for pre-seasoned pans


Problem making homemade bounty bars I tried making homemade bounty bars twice but there is a problem I can't seem to get the solution to this problem right. What I do is as follows:

I first mix a can of sweetened condensed milk with some coconut powder until a thick batter is formed. Then I put it in a mold and in the freezer (or in the fridge for a longer time). Cut into small bars, and finally covered with melted chocolate (tempered).

The problem is, as I try to coat the coconut bars with chocolate, they lose their shape and some of the coconuts pours in the chocolate and everything gets messy. I don't know how it must be done so that I can easily cover them with chocolate so that they keep their shape perfectly.

From your comment:

  I dip the bars into melted chocolates and roll, using a fork.

If you want to coat something in chocolate, you typically need much more chocolate than you expect. The height of the chocolate should be high enough to submerge the praline or bar without rolling, otherwise you start to loose material - as you noticed. Simply dip, lift out (let excess chocolate drip off) and place on a rack or on parchment to harden. Do not put the bars in the refrigerator while the chocolate is still soft.

Another approach would be to emulate the industrial process of pouring the chocolate over the bars (on racks, parchment under the racks), but the same rule of preparing more chocolate than absolutely neccessary applies. Catch the drips and re-use, if possible.

Are you satisfied with the filling, or could you tweak it a bit to make it more stable? This might also be a way to make handling the bars easier. And if nothing helps, coat twice - once to somehow cover the bars and to contain all coconut crumbs (like a crumb coating in cake decorating), once to get a nice, even cover.


Dry caramel 'curdles' when adding hot heavy cream I was making some caramel sauce today.
A simple recipe: 200g sugar (I used demerara), 500g cream (35% fat).
I dry caramelized the sugar under medium-low heat, stirring until all lumps dissolved and the caramel was all fluid and a deep amber.
At the same time, I heat the cream under low heat until it boiled.
I then combined both, slowly pouring the cream over the caramel in the pan (with the heat on low still on) while mixing vigorously with a whisk.

The thing is, at this point, the caramel on the edges of the pan 'curdled' -- and that was before all the cream got added.
It didn't crystallize into hard matter, but rather into thick, chewy, paste-like clumps.

I kept it on the heat, stirring and pressing these clumps against the bottom of the pan until they melted back into the sauce, and then added the remaining cream.
All the while, the mixture bubbled violently.

This has happened to me before, and I figured it might have been the temperature of the cream.
This time I was paying attention, so the cream was definitely hot and I am hence not really sure what the cause could be.

  Is this behavior 'normal', and it just takes some stirring under heat until it all comes together?

I remember making caramel sauce in large quantities at a restaurant in a similar fashion: dry caramelizing (granulated) sugar in the pan while stirring, then adding cream.
The ratio of sugar to cream was even less (1:1 by weight), but I don't remember these lumps in the pan.

What we did in the occasion was pour part of the cream into the caramel while stirring; the caramel would bubble violently but eventually settle, at which point we'd stir in the rest of the cream.

  If this behavior is not normal (as I suspect), what could be causing it or how could I avoid it?

When havy cream is added after caramelizing the sugar, it's done to stop the caramelization process, keeping the desired caramel flavor and preventing the caramel from becoming bitter or even burning (if making caramel for sweets/pastry coating, the caramel is used as is and is cooled by placing the pot/saucepan in a cold water bath).

When adding cream to the caramel, using cold cream will rapidly cool your mixture, keeping the caramel at a temperature more suitable for a sauce, whereas using warm cream will keep the caramel closer to a softball temperature more suitable if you're making soft/chewy caramels, which could cause the edges of the caramel to thicken and start pulling together.

Since you brought the cream the a boil, your caramel probably hit the softball stage while you were stirring the two together. Try warming the cream to a lower temperature; the cooler the cream is, the more your mixture will bubble, but cooler cream will allow for a smoother caramel sauce and a larger margin for error to stay away from the softball stage.

Once you've hit the softball stage, your caramel will not be able to be stirred back into a sauce, you'll just have really soft chewy caramels, or you can heat them longer for harder chewy caramels (I highly recommend a candy thermometer at this point, or if you're particular about the density/chewiness of your soft caramels).


Can we (safely?) use salmon after storing it (in deep freeze?) for two years or more? I'm from Poland (in case there is no such thing in other countries) and a few days ago I bought a quark cheese mixed with salmon and some herbs, produced by some German milk factory for one of local big malls network.

When I looked at factory-printed "best before" information, I was shocked. Though actual "best before" date was fine (still a few days left), there was a clearly printed notice that fishing period for salmon fish used for preparation of this quark was in... June-August, 2012.

If this isn't a printer mistake (and there should be a June-August 2014), then what? Can we really safely store (deep freeze?) fish for two or more years? Is it still usable for food preparation processes? And -- finally -- what is the reason for doing so? Wouldn't it be easier and better just to use... a fresh fish?

Yes, if it was still OK when it went into the freezer, and has been frozen the whole time, it is still safe. That's true of all foods - if kept frozen, food will remain safe indefinitely. Quality of taste, appearance and texture are likely to have taken hits in that period of time, however.


How should I store leftover uncooked lasagna sheets? I bought a package of these Delverde "no-precooking" lasagna sheets and used half a dozen to make a lasagna. Now I've got nine sheets leftover—and I don't make lasagna that often.

How can I store these noodles for the long term? I keep most uncooked pasta in glass jars in my pantry, but what about these big sheets?

Anything airtight is fine. If the sheets will fit in a Ziploc, that would be perfect. Another option that would certainly be big enough is a bread bag, well sealed. If you still have the box the pasta came in, you can put the bag inside the box to give the pasta a small measure of protection against breakage.

I checked with Still Tasty and they didn't have anything to really add to that.


How can I prevent strawberries from discolouring cream? When I put strawberries onto a sponge covered in cream, how can I prevent the strawberries from discolouring the surrounding cream?

I'd suggest 'sealing' the cut side of the strawberries by dipping them in gelatin (or a vegetarian alternative. Or you could use white chocolate.


Is "angostura" (as in bitters) a flavor? I'm confused by drink recipes calling for "Angosutra bitters".  Is "angostura" (as in bitters) a specific flavor combination?

Or is "Angosutra" a specific brand or manufacturer (like "Tylenol" is to aspirin)?  If so, what's the closest possible replacement for it?

Angostura Bitters is a specific brand of bitters.  The Angostura in the name refers to the town where it was originally produced.