Can I let food be tested for spoilage after freezer power outage? We had a chest freezer filled with beef get disconnected from power for some period of time.  Reconnected and refroze the meat.  I don't know how long it was without power.  Packets of hamburger were soft to the touch.  I didn't think to check the temperature so I don't know if it was above 40 degrees but I suspect so.

Are there facilities that will do small batch food testing for pathogens for end consumers?

I seriously doubt it. The expense and complexity of making sure there are NO pathogens in a random sample of food would be significant. And then that would be all you'd have; a statement that the tested sample had no pathogens, but who knows about the rest of the food.

Testing food in a manufacturing plant depends on the commonality of how the food has been treated; if no problems are found in the samples then you can presume no problems will be found in similarly-handled food. In your freezer, though, you may have different packagings done at different times, and when it warmed up, different parts certainly warmed to different temperatures. Finding out if one item is safe would have very little to do with whether the rest of the contents are safe.

There's also the liability of the tester; if they claimed they could tell you if your beef was safe, and then you got food poisoning, they'd be on the hook. I doubt they'd take the risk.


Use by date on cacao butter I have just used cacao butter 6 yrs out of date to make raw chocolate adding honey and raw cocoa powder. I didn't realise until after I had made the chocolate how out of date it was. Is it OK to eat?  The cacao butter looked fine.  I had it in the fridge all that time in a sealed plastic container.

I wouldn't eat it if I were you. I don't think it is safe to eat if it is 6 years out of date. I recommend you to throw it and make another one with new ingredients.


Is there a faster/less messy way to stuff manicotti/canneloni? I've had all the ingredients for stuffed manicotti sitting around in my kitchen for the past 2 days but keep putting it off because I absolutely dread the whole stuffing process.

I usually start off using a spoon but quickly give up on that and resort to my hands instead.  It usually makes a mess of my hands and the counter top, and every so often I have to throw one out because it broke.

I keep thinking that surely a fancy Italian restaurant is not going to have a cook sitting there stuffing individual tubes.  I actually thought of using a piping bag but I'm pretty sure that the stuffing is just too thick and heterogeneous (it's usually a cold mixture of ricotta, shredded cheeses, onions, herbs, and an egg).  That's about the limit of my imagination with respect to stuffing techniques.

So, does anyone know one or more ways to reduce the tedium or mess?

Piping bag is your answer. You just don't use a tip on it.


Is cheese a condiment? (Burgers, sandwiches, etc) I work at a restaurant and got a request for no condiments on a burger. I took that to include cheese as well as ketchup, mustard, etc. The customer was not pleased and requested his money back.

So what's the verdict on cheese? Is it a condiment?

I would have interpreted it to mean a sauce, chutney, or relish or similar item sold specifically as a condiment, in context it would mean mustard, ketchup or mayo, but not the cheese.

But probably as a server you would have been best positioned to ask exactly what the customer did want on their burger to prevent misunderstandings.


Canning tomato sauce I am asking for advice on canning a tomato pasta sauce. It consists of canned tomatoes, butter, and some onions.

I already did a Google search, but the results are contradicting. Some people claim that you can just pour the hot tomato sauce in a clean glass, put the lid on & flip it over until cool.

Another method seems to involve cooking the glasses in hot water (stovetop or oven). But the reason that really leaves me confused is an article that claims that you can't can a tomato sauce at all without a pressure canner because of the pH-value.

So what is this all about - can I safely can that sauce, and if so, how? How long can I store the sauce?

Tomatoes aren't high acid, so they need the addition of vinegar or lemon juice in order to safely can with a hot water bath. Honestly, I'm not sure why you would want to make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes because for me, the whole point of canning tomatoes is because the tomatoes will otherwise go bad. But anyhow...

I recommend finding a tomato sauce recipe from a canning cookbook or recipe website. Here is a recipe I found from the Ball website which is a reputable source, and here is an article about hot water bath canning tomato sauce. Notice that the recipe calls for a high acid ingredient, which is extremely important in canning tomato sauce with a hot water bath!

Secondly, it is NOT okay to seal jars by inverting them!!!! Get yourself a book about canning, Ball sells several good ones (Blue Book and Complete Guide to Home Preserving) and learn about the canning process. The steps are as follows:

(0) Follow the recipe EXACTLY, don't add any other ingredients that may change the pH of the final product!

(1) Get the hot water boiling in a jar large enough to have a few inches both above and below the jar that you'll use. You can use a metal trivet or canning rings to act as a base for the jars so that they have water going under them and aren't touching the base of the pot directly.

(2) Start with jars that are appropriate to canning and have fresh lids (or clean, working reusable lids like Weck jars or Tattler lids). If processing for under 15 minutes the jars need to be sterile (can be made sterile in a hot water bath). Inspect Tattler seals for any nicks, and throw away the bad ones.

(3) Normal canning lids and Tattler lids need to be prepared by soaking in hot water right up until use.

(4) Add the ingredients to your jars, remove air bubbles with a spatula, wipe the rims clean, and apply the lid as per the instructions of your lid. (Regular Ball lids are slightly different from Tattler lids, and I've never used Weck jars which I think are different again.)

(5) Insert into the hot water bath with canning tongs, cover, make sure that you start the countdown once the water has returned to a full boil.

(6) Remove once the time is up. Don't tilt the jars when removing them as the seal isn't airtight yet. Check the instructions for your lids, at this point Tattler lids have to be tightened fully.

(7) Leave the jars alone to cool. After a few hours or overnight, check the seals by trying to gently pry open the can. They should be "finger tight" and not pop off. The jars that aren't properly sealed can be put into the fridge and consumed within a short time. Otherwise they're good for up to a year or whatever the recipe suggests.


using potato starch to thicken jam So here is my plan. Instead of buying sugar free artificially sweetened jam or reduced sugar jelly made with extra water and thickeners, I want to take really good full-of-fruit preserves, heat it up and add my own water and thickener. I was thinking of using potato starch. Any thoughts?

Update
My goal is to reduce sugar consumption without buying artificially sweetened preserves or expensive commercially diluted preparations. My thought was to buy some really good preserves and do the dilution myself. I tried it with corn starch but it didn't thicken.

OK, to clear up some things here. The first thing: whatever you do, you will not have a shelf-stable product you can keep in the pantry. If you want to make that, you will have to follow a known-safe recipe with sufficient acid and sufficient sugar and proper canning procedures. It will still have lots of sugar though.

Let's assume that you don't need something shelf-stable, just a fruit preparation with little sugar in it. The expensive commercial "low sugar" jams are not diluted at all. They simply contain much more fruit than the others. So there is no way you can replicate them by starting with high sugar commercial jam.

So your options are:

Cook jam from scratch to the consistency you want. High-sugar recipes are shelf stable, mid-sugar ones need refrigeration once opened, low-sugar ones only hold for a few days in the fridge. Here you have to use the thickener suggested in your recipe.
Don't make jam from the fruit. If you want very little sugar and have to give up the convenience of preserving the whole thing, just use fresh fruit puree.
Eat commercial low-sugar jam with something else. OK, you can in principle cook a water-based pudding (that's what starch+water makes) and add the jam, but it is probably tastier to add it to pudding made with milk, or to yoghurt.

You cannot really reprocess commercial jam well. It is thickened with pectin, which cannot be re-thickened after heating. It is also sensitive to the amount of sugar and acid, so adding more pectin and water will probably produce something weird. And in the end, if you find some thickener which produces a texture you like, the product will neither be as shelf stable as proper jam, nor as sweet as proper jam, which for most people would not be worth the effort. If you really want to try, pectin should be the thickener to go.


How can I infuse alcohol with 'fragile' herbs? I would like to infuse alcohol (gin specifically) with basil, but basil is quite a fragile plant and doesn't seem to react well to sitting in booze for a few days. I tried muddling basil and putting it in an air tight container with my gin. I stored it at room temperature in a dark cabinet and tasted it daily. After one day it was starting to get a hint of basil, but the taste was not strong enough. The color was a pleasant light green. After two days, the color had gone greenish brown and the flavor had gone south. It's hard to explain, but it was not good. I assume you'd have the same issues with mint, parsley, cilantro, etc.

How can I get a better basil flavor in my infusion? Should I just use a ton of basil and infuse for a day? Should I not muddle the basil? Should I blanch the basil?

Refrain from muddling, use more (fresh) basil, (try agitating,) and infuse for a longer duration; I quickly found one recipe for basil-infused vodka requiring a four day sit and two "fists" of basil. Vanilla and ginger can take a week, cucumber vodkas can entail a fourteen day sit.

Some constituents will infuse quickly (habanero, strong flavor), some will not (cucumber, subtle flavor)
Some should be processed whole to avoid "off-flavors" or other reactions like browning (basil), while others should be crushed (garlic, promoting allicin production), shredded (carrots, increasing surface to area to increase extraction), or chopped (pears).

Many variables play into how various ingredients will infuse various liquors, and I don't feel it would be fair to really say there is a general rule to follow. To begin, though, I would identify your main variables with respect to solute (look for basil recipes, if none then other leafy herbs), solvent (look at the pH of the alcohol in addition to the type and proof), and method (duration, preparation of solute, agitations, single v. multiple/compound macerations), and look to similar approaches.

Hands-on Patience is the real virtue here though; vis-a-vis frequent sampling. From everything I have read and seen in both my limited experience and another friend's, even returning to what you thought was a 'tried-and-true' can yield very different results.

With respect to discussions on vodka & gin VS. Everclear extractions, there is a Chow thread of interest
With respect to the industrial processing of macerations and compound distillates, I found an interesting article on ICS
If the browning continues, you might consider adding a citrus like lime or lemon to see if that stems the browning as the added acid may inhibit this (Gordon's has a pH of 6.9, others, particularly cheaper gins, range down to 3.8). That said, in my limited explorations with infused vodkas I have not run into a browning issue so it may simply result from muddling (bruising).


Why does strata have to come to room temperature before baking? I've made strata a few times before, usually for brunches where I have a number of guests coming over and don't want to spend all my time in the kitchen. I always follow instructions in the recipe; I assemble it the night before, refrigerate overnight, and then let it come to room temperature and bake it in the morning.

I've never had any problems, but I'm planning on making this for New Year's brunch that I'm hosting, and I got to thinking about why I need to let the strata come to room temperature before baking it. (Every recipe I've seen for strata says to let it sit on the counter for at least a half an hour.) I bake mine in a glass casserole dish, so I know that one reason for this is to avoid extreme temperature change that could cause the dish to shatter. However, is there any chemistry or physics reason for this - i.e., would baking it (in a disposable aluminum pan, for instance) straight out of the fridge impact the taste/texture?

My guess - and this is just a (somewhat educated) guess - is that it's just to promote more even cooking.

Since you're talking about a layered dish, some parts are definitely going to cook faster than others. If the entire dish starts from room temperature, as opposed to fridge temperature, then that means less time is required to cook it through. Less time and less heat required to cook means that all of the layers will be more likely to end up at similar internal temperatures - as opposed to having burned bread, liquefied cheese, or rubbery eggs (I'm not sure offhand which cooks the fastest).

Even if it's not an issue with the thermal capacities of your individual ingredients, you're also layering these each several times over, creating a very dense product, so there would still be a significant risk of the middle layers being undercooked, or the outer layers being overcooked.

You might be able to bake it straight out of the fridge; however, you would definitely have to increase the cooking time to account for the temperature difference, and there are a lot of variables that come into play which would affect how evenly it cooks: the intensity and location of your oven's heat source(s), the density of the casserole, the kind of baking dish you use - I probably wouldn't chance it, at least not when preparing this for other people.

You tend to see the same recommendation for anything particularly dense, such as a roast, or anything layered, such as a lasagna, and generally, you do want to follow those recommendations for the same reason. They cook rather poorly if you cook them from cold or frozen, leaving you with a charred surface and an only-mostly-cooked interior. It can still happen even if you start off at room temperature, but it's less likely and the effect tends to be less pronounced.


Why does blending blueberries, milk, banana and vanilla extract cause the mixture to have a yogurty consistency? A cup of milk
A cup of blueberries
A banana
Three shakes of vanilla extract liquid

The original plan was to have a milkshake, but the result is quite a nice desert! Like a no cook yogurt.

Looking more closely, the milk has curdled, but not like when mixing it with orange juice. Sort of reminds me of the cheese making process too

The pectin from the blueberries jelled in the presence of the calcium in the milk. The texture might be unexpected, but it is perfectly safe and tasty. It is the same process that thickens blueberry jam.

It shouldn't be curdled, that is the clumping of milk proteins in the presence of acid. Here, the milk proteins stay suspended in the milk as usual, it is the pectin that builds the "mesh" of the creamy consistency.


Electric cooktop for sous vide-level precision? Yes, I know, but bear with me here.
I've been thinking about getting an electric cooktop, and reading about them online a lot of people seem to mention that on some of the low settings, their cooktop will keep water at a constant boiling/simmering temperatures, like, say, 90 C (194 F)
In order for that to happen, it must mean that the heating element itself is only heating up to that temperature, high? And thus of course the temperature cannot get higher than the hot plate itself.
By that logic, if an electric cooktop happened to have a setting that would leave it at around 74 C (165 F), does that mean I could use it to cook some chicken breast precisely to its safe internal temperature?
Would be like a sous vide - no risk of over- or undercooking it! Right? Or am I missing something?
EDIT: For further clarification, when I say electric, I mean traditional ones with a solid plate burner. Sorry!

EDIT 2: Okay, so not sous vide-level precision. I've learned a lot from your wonderful answers, and my new plan is to lower my standards and attempt the following:

Putting a pot of water with a lid on the electric coil cooker (so it's an enclosed space filled with a great thermal conductor)

Cycle the device on and off figure out a rate for, erhm... manual time modulation that would keep the coil at X+Y Celsius (where X is the temp I want and Y is however many more degrees it needs to be to compensate for heat loss, which I would need to figure out for that setup as well)

Turn it on and off again at regular intervals according to the rate I found (yeah impractical but I could get a smart outlet to do it for me if it works!)

Maybe I could get a large pot (more thermal mass, less temp variation) and exclusively use it for this (more consistent setup, less temp variation), and figure out a reliable duty cycle that keeps it at a given temperature for three different quantities of water (such as a third, two thirds, and nearly full capacity).
Hopefully I can end up with water consistently at maybe +-4 C of a target temperature, and finally achieve hands-off, dummy-proof cooking! (useful since I can be a bit of a dummy sometimes). If you're wondering why I don't get a circulator, I've made a comment down below to clarify.

Absolutely not, this cannot be built. There is a reason sous vide is called sous vide and not sous PID. Cooktops are, by design, a device that emits a constant amount of energy (oversimplified) into the surrounding space, which is the opposite of what you need for keeping a constant internal temperature in a chicken breast.
If you would build a cooktop with a heat element that would stay constantly at 74 C, then put a pot of water on it, the pot would constantly sit at (74 - X) C due to thermal loss. X will vary for each combination of pot and water volume you use. And the water is a special case which you can keep at a constant temperature that way, not a chicken breast. So even if somebody were to put in the expense and effort to build such a heater (and nobody does, both resistive and induction heaters are time modulated), you still wouldn't get what you want.
If you do want your food to stay at a constant temperature, you first have to put it in an enclosed space, then heat the fluid in that space to a constant temperature. The traditional way to do it is with an oven. Keeping an oven at constant 74 C is possible, but if you put a naked chicken breast in it, it would take too many hours to get to be 74 C internally. So the next logical step is to surround it not with a great insulator like air, but a great thermal conductor like water - and then you have built the simplest device suitable for the task, which is a sous vide.

For completeness, there are cooktops with a probe that goes into the food, although they are niche and expensive, or you could rig one yourself. They would work for the pot of water, but for frying a chicken breast, the element will be working just like an old-fashioned heat element and heat to much over 74 C, until the breast itself reaches 74 C, at which time the cook would remove the breast instead of letting it sit there, so the controller would never even get a chance to start working and the situation is equivalent to sticking an external probe in the breast.

Update in response to your Edit 2:
If all you want is to keep a pot of soup/stew in a not-too-precise temperature range, all you need is to take a standard cooktop and put the dial at the proper setting, "proper" being something you learn by trial-and-error for your combination of stovetop, pot and batch size, fine adjusted by observation during cooking. You may have to readjust a bit over time, but only rarely. This is not some new method though, this is the way everybody cooks on stovetop. I don't see why you would complicate things by trying to overcompensate (and introduce new errors) by manually turning on and off on a preset schedule. That would mean both more work and worse results than the normal way of cooking.


What are convenient and reliable ways to make the starter for rye bread? The biggest issue with make good rye bread is to make the starter since it needs to rise in a very controlled temperature for some time. What are good and reliable ways to achieve this?

I've received some portions from friends and family, which have always worked well. :-)

When I'm creating it from scratch, I mix 200g of rye flour, a little bit of yeast (which you can leave out), 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of honey, 1 dl of organic yogurt and 2 dl of water. I leave this mixture out on the kitchen table (at around 20C) for a day with a piece of wet cloth on top. After that I add 2 dl of rye flour and enough water to make the dough soft. This sits on the kitchen table for yet another day, after which is should look like a pool of lava and smell a bit acidic.

The honey and the yogurt is the magic touch that makes this starter work, according to my books and research. I've never done anything special to control the temperature or anything else.


Do you use paper or cloth towel for patting a meat dry before frying? It is advised to pat a steak dry before frying. I've used paper towels in the past for this, but sometimes parts of them stick to meat. Now and then I've used a clean cloth kitchen towel for patting and put it immediately to wash bin for hygiene reasons. This seems a bit wasteful to me.

How do professional kitchens do this? If they use cloth towels, how often they wash them and do they use different towels for different kinds of food (meat, vegetables, fish, chicken) ?

I was not familiar with advice to pat meat dry, so I asked a chef what was going on.  The answer was...  complicated.

First, if you're working with meats that were frozen, you're going to want to remove any moisture which comes from the freezer (frozen humidity, which is essentially water).

For un-marinated meats, you want to be careful how you pat them.  The important distinction, in all cases, is not to remove any natural fluids (blood) from the meat.  This would remove both moisture and flavor, resulting in bland, dry cuts of meat.  So, do not press the meat when patting; this will squeeze moisture out.  You should lightly touch/brush the surface, so excess moisture wicks away.  That's it.

For marinated meats, it can depend a bit on the marinade, and how much your supposed to keep for flavor.  Otherwise, stick with the "remove excess moisture, but nothing else" idea.

So, long story short, if paper towels are sticking to the meat, you're removing too much moisture.  Maybe try this the other way around: set a paper towel on your work surface, hold the meat in some tongs, and touch the meat to the towel as you're putting them on to fry.

As to how professional, large scale kitchens do it; they don't.  They'll take a large sheet pan, place a drip rack in the pan, and place the steaks on the rack.  This allows excess juices to flow off naturally, and everything is easily washable and reusable.  If the meat is not cooked quickly after set to dry, you can baste drippings, marinade, or oil onto them just before cooking.


What materials would work for a waffle iron? I'm somewhat curious if I could make myself something like this (though without the retro enclosure, at least initally):

While cast iron would probably be the best material, I'm not sure if I can easily obtain a billet of the proper size (likely would machine the iron), so I'm curious what other materials would be best.

Is steel ever used?  I'm imagining it would rust easily, but what if it was properly seasoned?  Can you season aluminum at all, or is it moderately non-stick by itself?  All the aluminum cookware I've seen is (cheap, and) Teflon-coated.

Waffle batter to my knowledge is fairly high in fat relative to others (pancake, crepe) so it "fries" more than "bakes", but it's not exactly loaded with it to the point of no-concern.

Aluminum is easy to CNC mill and it can be make non-stick

It needs to be finished to a semi-gloss, and have a slightly undulating (smooth wave pattern) surface to allow for release

It should be hard-anodized to reduce surface pores and future oxidation. Do not scrub hard-anodized surfaces, just soak

Cast aluminum will most likely have too many surface pores to me useful


What is the secret behind "always soft" ice cream? Since humanity discovered the ice cream in a frozen cave in Antarctica, it was so hard you had to wait 15-20 minutes to be able to use it as food and not as a blunt object for a Hitchcock's plot. Then, suddenly one day all ice cream were soft right out of the refrigerator.

What is the magic component the industry added in order to keep ice cream always soft ?

The softness of ice cream is going to depend on a variety of factors:

Use of gums and other binding agents, amount of sugar, the amount of fat, and especially the amount of "overrun" (air) that is churned into it during the freezing process.  Less expensive ice creams will usually have a softer "chewier" texture than premium ice creams due to more gums and a great amount of air being churned into it to increase volume.

More air = more volume = more yield for the same amount of ingredients used.


Where should I store nori or laver after opening, and for how much time? My brother has given me laver for making Korean kimbap and there are ten “foils” or “sheets” in the package.

I have only used four of them today and I don't know whether I should cool or not the remaining ones. In my opinion the fridge might be too humid and humidity might have sheets stick to each other…

Thank you for your advice.

Just keep it dry. I buy 100 sheets packs and store them in a zip-loc type bag in the cupboard for over a year


What will happen if I substitute beef liver for pork liver in sausage? When we bought our cow this year, we opted to take all the organ meat. So, I now have a bunch of beef liver, I don't actually like beef liver cooked with onions or any other preparation I've encountered.  I do however like liverwurst, and braunschweiger.  Both of these sausages are traditional made with pork liver. I've never encountered pork liver in any other form though, so I don't know how it tastes by comparison.

Are the two livers roughly itnterchangable in other ways?  Fat content, texture, etc.
How do they compare flavor wise?
Am I doomed if I try and make sausage out of beef liver?

Well, at least here in germany it really is common to make liverwurst with beef liver (or more often and expensive: calf liver). So go ahead - you really won't regret it! Taken the percentage of actual liver in liverwurst you won't taste any difference, though I'd say beef liver tastes better.


Making a 2 ramekin recipe into an 8 ramekin recipe: Do I change the cooking time? I've read answers about doubling a casserole recipe in a larger container, or putting two cake pans in the oven instead of one. But what about a recipe that asks you to put your ramekins into a shallow pan with an inch of water in it, and you want to do that with 8 ramekins instead of the two that the recipe is intended for? Do you have to add time? Reduce the temperature? Both?

Should be exactly the same - what you are cooking is the same size, how many you are cooking makes no difference. One cupcake or 50 would take the same amount of time to cook, if that's easier to think of. A pan of boiling water in the oven does not care how many ramekins are in it, so long as there's some space between them


What temperature to scramble eggs? We switched from an electric stove to a gas stove. The new stove doesn't seem to get hot enough to scramble eggs.

How hot should the pan surface be to scramble eggs? All the recipes I've found just say "heat until hot".

EDIT: I measured my pan with an IR thermometer, it never got above 260F, is that too cold for eggs?

First off, measuring the temperature of an empty pan will only tell you so much. That temperature is a result of the balance of your stove putting heat into the pan and the pan transferring that heat to the surrounding air, which means it depends on the pan, and as soon as you put anything in the pan the temperature is going to change. (See also What temperatures do low-medium-high on the stove correspond to?.)

So, 260F is certainly hot enough to scramble eggs. They'll be fully cooked by around 160F, though at that point they might be a bit softer than you're used to. But the fact that the pan only reaches 260F really suggests that the stove isn't putting much heat into the pan, so once you add eggs to the pan, it might take an awfully long time for them to get hot enough to cook.

And a stove that can only heat an empty pan to 260F sounds like incredibly low power. Most stoves can easily get empty pans up to at least 400-500F. You might want to see if you can get the stove repaired or replaced.


Tomato sauce - tomatoes, then juice vs tomatoes & juice Recently I made a simple tomato sauce using canned tomatoes. In the recipe it said to first put the tomatoes in the pan, then the juice. I followed this advice and the sauce was great, but will the sauce turn out great again even if I put tomatoes & juice in the pan at the same time? Does it make a difference putting the juice into the pan after the tomatoes?

If you need more information, this is the recipe I used.

It doesn't look like it'd make much difference to that recipe. The juice goes in right after the tomatoes, so it's not like they cook on their own significantly. The one thing you get out of adding the tomatoes first is a way to get them spread evenly around the pan without having to stir, so they're mostly on top of the onions and get gentler heat at first. But you'll be stirring soon anyway, so just dumping it all in wouldn't make much difference at all.


How should I wash the potatoes before baking them? I bake Russet potatoes. I just washed them a little with cold water and then place them in a  baking pan after I put foil on the bottom of the pan. I do not peel them. Is this a good method or should I wait until they dry?

For baking potatoes

Don't just wash them, scrub them.  Otherwise you're eating dirt.  No, that's not a joke.  Potatoes grow in dirt, and are usually sold coated with dirt.  Yes, really.
Either salt them and wrap them in tin-foil, or simply bake them on a
bed of salt.  Dessication of the skin is important.
You'll probably      want to bake them longer and higher than most
recipes say.  I find       425F for 1 1/2 hours is optimal (and 2
hours is fine).  That results in skin which is dry, crispy, and slightly caramelized, while this inside still is fluffy (albeit, according to some, overcooked).


How can I replace canned tomatoes with fresh? I have a tomato sauce recipe that calls for 1 can (28oz) of diced tomatoes (including the liquid). How can I replace the can with fresh tomatoes? I'm not sure if there is a particular type of tomato I should use or how many of them to use. Also, what can I do to replace the liquid?

Tomato Sauce made from fresh garden tomatoes can be very much more flavorful than canned tomatoes. If you have an abundance, it can certainly be a delicious improvement. I would follow the directions given in the previous answer for peeling the tomatoes, with the additional suggestion to plunge them in ice water immediately following the boiling water bath. They are much easier to handle that way. The recipe may call for reduction of the sauce, and this can be done with fresh as well as with canned tomatoes.  I have also made tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes by cooking down the unpeeled tomatoes until they are soft, and then pressing them through a food mill. After that you can reduce the sauce with additional ingredients  - olive oil, garlic, onions, herbs as desired.


How about a Gouda soufflé? I'm a huge fan of Gouda and I've always wondered how it would be going into a cheese soufflé.

But has anyone ever tired it?

All these recipes call for other types of cheese.

When choosing a cheese for soufflés, the standard approach is to choose a (semi-)hard cheese with an assertive flavour - because you typically want the soufflé to taste cheesy. So many recipes suggest Gruyère, add a dash of Parmesan or similar.

Gouda on the other hand is a surprisingly vague term. It can mean everything from a young, four week old cheese to a mature cheese that has ripened for a year or more. Of course that also means a range from "mild" to "lots of character".

If you go by the typical approach of choosing cheeses, a mature gouda would be an excellent choice for a soufflé (a medium age Gouda is similar to a Guyère, but with less tang and more caramel undertones, very old Goudas show salt crystals and a flaky texture not unlike Parmesan), yet there is no reason why a younger Gouda would be "wrong" if you prefer your soufflé less "cheesy" and more "eggy".

So use your favourite recipe (or scour the Internet) and select the right Gouda for you - there is no accounting for taste.


What type of sauce is appropriate for a dry-aged prime steak? Yesterday I purchased some dry aged prime strip steaks from my beloved Wegmans.  This will be the first time I will have the opportunity to eat (as far as I know) and cook prime beef.  With that in mind how should I sauce my beautiful meat?

Typically I cook my steaks sous vide to 130 degrees and then salt and pepper with a cast iron sear.  If I'm going to make a pan sauce I finish in my enamelled cast iron, deglaze with a dry red, some shallots, add some heavily reduced beef stock, and then finish with a pad of butter and demi glace.

This results in a very rich sauce which is delightful in its own right.  I'm concerned that I might be make a sauce that covers up this glorious beef.

Does anyone have any recommendations for my first time?

Things I'm particularly concerned with are:

What wine to use in the sauce - is high-end/vintage wine important, and what varieties might be best?
Should I seek out something a little more upscale than reduced Swanson beef broth?
Is this cut generally served sauced or unsauced?

This sounds yummy!

I'd recommend cooking sous vide (SV) as you suggest (130 F for 1-3 hrs). I tend not to season in the SV bag at all because salt & spices often turn out oddly; for example, raw herbs/onion/garlic are far stronger and taste "uncooked". Figuring out how to spice SV takes a fair amount of experimentation and is best done with dried & powdered herbs/spices instead of fresh ones.

VERY IMPORTANT:

Before cooking SV trim excess fat from the steak
After cooking take the meat from the SV bag and DRY it thoroughly before searing!
If you're planning to use bag juices, first bring them to a full boil in another pot and skim off the scum (myoglobin "blood"), then use whatever is left as your meat juice.

To sear, pre-heat the cast iron sear to a very high temperature (~500) and use a high-temperature oil like peanut.

The sear should be at VERY high heat for only 30 seconds or so per side - if you leave it on much longer you'll lose the beautiful 130 degree edge-to-edge miracle that should be your reward.

Using butter for the sear is not a good idea as either the butter will be destroyed by the properly high heat OR the steak will be destroyed by keeping the cast iron's heat low enough for the butter.  Rather, use compound butter as a topper for presentation.

As for using a torch, I've used a brulee torch a few times and the heat & coverage is insufficient to sear a steak well with my limited experience. You can sign your name on the steak with it, but getting a good, even edge-to-edge Maillard crust is very tough.  Using a MAPP torch is quite a bit better; MAPP gas is flavorless, it's hotter than propane or butane, and MAPP torches tend to fan out broader flames, but I still don't think they create as dense or flavorful a crust as a pan-sear. Moreover ANY torch runs a likelihood of flat-out burning areas of the meat, and that's especially true for a first-timer!

Let's talk about salt before going any further. I've always salted meat before grilling. But SV is a completely different ballgame. Salting before SV doesn't add much flavor for you on short cooks and hurts badly on longer ones (cures the meat). There are online arguments about this, but I prefer salting only after SV and preferably after searing. Taste tests support this post-SV salting approach - check out http://www.cookingissues.com/2011/10/12/to-salt-or-not-to-salt-%E2%80%93that%E2%80%99s-the-searing-question/ for a great take on the subject.

If you keep the searing time appropriately short you won't have to rest the meat before serving.  The meat is still incredibly juicy and doesn't need time to reabsorb fluids.

As for what to do with a sauce, I'd go for the butter instead and incorporate a steak-friendly sauce into a side dish.

A quality hunk of well-marbled dry-aged beef should sing with this preparation and I'd put it center-stage to sing solo, with the side dish's sauce grooving nearby ready to join in on the chorus.


Haddock Falling Apart I coated a haddock filet in flour and then fried it in olive oil.  I let it reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  When I went to flip it it fell apart and broke into sections.  What do I need to do to cook a fish so that it binds together?  What chemical processes cause this to happen?  Why did my fish not bind?

Your fish didn't "bind" because cooking fish actually breaks down the muscle fibres. Some fish have denser flesh that holds up better to frying and grilling. Tuna and swordfish are two common examples. Other fish have a flakier flesh such as haddock and red snapper.

Haddock is a good fish for deep frying.  You can also bake it to have it maintain its form. If you wish to fry it you need something thicker than a coating of flour to help it hold together.  You can coat it in batter or do a flour/egg wash/corn meal coating. If you really want just a flour coating you should probably start by cutting the fillets in half.

In terms of equipment and technique you should have a wide fish spatula and, with the fish lying lengthwise across the pan, you flip the fish away from you. You can even stabilize it with your fingers as it rolls over.

Alternatively, you could pan fry a fish more suited to the application.


Reheating in the oven: why and how? I recently made some pan-fried chicken breast halves. When I wanted to reheat the leftovers I tried to do it in the conventional oven instead of the microwave oven as usual. Following some instructions on the Internet, I preheated to 450 °F, put two chicken breast halves from the refrigerator on a baking sheet, covered with aluminum foil, and then put in the oven for 10 min. In the end, the chicken was pretty tepid. I resorted to putting them in the microwave oven under plastic wrap for 1 min and they were fine.

This raises two questions for me:

What did I miss out on by using the microwave in the end instead of sticking to the oven?
How should I have heated these up in the oven instead of what I did? I worry about overcooking or burning the food.

1. You miss out on nothing. You do risk overcooking in the Microwave, as all you need to do is reheat, so be careful with the timing

I use a glass bowl with lid, or reusable silicone lid instead of messy plastic wrap. Usually much nicer that way, as it can sweat in plastic wrap and go mushy

2.  Re-heating in the oven is not ideal for delicate food. OK for Pizza, but for food that can go tough quickly is tricky. Either use the nukelator or a medium hot skillet. The skillet will only work if there is plenty of sauce or oil


Make a cheese sauce that doesn't go solid when cooled The way I normally go about making a cheese sauce for something like macaroni cheese, I start with a roux, slowly add milk, heat to thicken then add the cheese. This works just fine and is great if the food is being eaten immediately.

Recently I've taken to batch cooking my meals for the week, so I'll cook up 7 portions of a meal and have them over the course of the week.

When I've tried to do things like macaroni cheese or a carbonara, once the meal has cooled in the fridge it becomes a solid block that's hard to serve and never really goes back to what it was when it was fresh if it's reheated.

Is there a method of creating a cheese sauce which, either doesn't solidify when it's cooled (more viscous is okay, i just don't want it to be a solid block) or at least will go back to being closer to what it was fresh, once it's been reheated?

Your sauce is thickening up too much because it's losing moisture. After you cook your cheese sauce to perfection and mix it in with your pasta 2 things are happening:

The sauce loses moisture due to evaporation. It's hot, and even with the lid on you will still lose moisture
The pasta will soak up water from the sauce. It's just starch, and starch sponges water up. After being mixed together the pasta will continue to soften by pulling water from the sauce

The solution is easy - add more water to replace the lost moisture while it is still warm. When I make this sort of thing I let it cool somewhat and then add pasta water in small amounts until I get a slacker sauce, then I refrigerate or freeze it. Once you get the idea of how much extra moisture you need you can add some of it to the sauce to begin with, but reserve a bit for after cooking as changes in pasta types and how done it is makes a difference in how much the pasta will soak up.

I have also had some success in rehydrating too thick mac and cheese by reheating it partially mixing some water or milk in, letting it sit a couple of minutes, then reheating the rest of the way slowly.


What can I substitute for puff pastry? I have a recipe that calls for me to roll up turkey in puff pastry. What can I use as a substitute for the puff pastry, preferably that is lower in saturated fat?

Joe,

Whole wheat puff pastry.   It's expensive, and hard to find, though.

Or try another recipe.  If the recipe you're using calls for puff pastry, then the flavor and texture of the puff pastry is going to be a big part of the dish.  It never works very well to substitute a primary ingredient in a recipe.


Alternative to Escolar ("Butter Fish") for Nigirizushi I want to make Nigirizushi with a fish similar to Escolar (also called Butter Fish), but prefer not to use that fish.

Are there other fish with a similar taste and texture?

Escolar is not butterfish. It is considered to be more closely related to the Oilfish species.

Butterfishes are from the family Stromateidae, which does not include Escolar.

As far as I know, there are no digestive issues reported with butterfish. That "wax ester" is highly localized to Escolar and Oilfish. So if you're looking for a "substitute", just use actual butterfish. Source it from somewhere you trust, or look for a more specific label like Pomfret or Harvestfish.


What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches? A while back, I bought an ordinary-looking pizza cutter with a dull grey handle.  However, I soon found out the hard way that the handle is made from some weird metal or alloy that reacts with water, staining everything it touches black:

"Water" here includes even slightly moist or sweaty hands, making this a real pain to use.  What is this stuff and how do I stop it from staining?  And for extra credit, why on earth would you make a hand-held kitchen utensil from it?!

Mystery solved!  At Catija's prompting, I managed to dig up the cutter on the website of the shop I bought it from, the Chef's Hat in Melbourne, Australia:

CUTTER PIZZA W/ALUM HANDLE 95MM S/ST ($6.60)

So turns out the handle is aluminum (aluminium), which can be discolored black if the alloy is not dishwasher-safe, which this clearly wasn't.  Time to ask a new question about what, if anything, I can do to fix it!


Can you warm biga in a microwave? This might seem like barbaric question, but is it possible to bring refrigerated biga up to "frisky" temperature in a microwave, without damaging it?

I'm too impatient to just let the warm room take care of it... Thoughts?

Impatience is very hard to reconcile with baking bread (or any other fermentation process, for that matter).

If it works, it still won't be a good choice. Yeast doesn't like sudden temperature shifts, the gentler the change, the better. So, the warm room will yield the most flavorful bread, and have the least chance of failure. Putting the dough somewhere slightly warmer than the room (in front of a radiator, or on top of a running dishwasher, for example) still works, although the fermentation might go a tiny bit off. You might or might not notice a difference in taste.

But the microwave is terrible at heating, and this will affect your dough a lot. Even if the yeast does not die (before reading Elendil's answer, I'd have thought this the more probable outcome), it will go through an unpleasant shock, changing its metabolism and producing who knows what - thiols and ammonia are two things that are typical in yeast colonies under stress. The microwave also heats in a very uneven way, so you will end up with unequally heated biga, another problem. And, if you are not slow and careful enough, you might give it just a bit too much juice - and there is no way to notice it when it is too much - and vaporise the cytoplasm out of your poor yeast cells, leading to dead dough and no rise in the oven, so total failure.

Frankly, using a cold biga might be the better solution when compared to the fussiness, unreliability and quality loss from microwave heating. Or just make a standard bread without biga.


Is it possible to do slow cook things using a sous vide machine? My question is the exact opposite of this one. I'm considering getting a sous vide tool like this one. I'm wondering what's preventing me to use it as a slow cooker?

Like, would it make sense to use the sous vide thing to circulate water in a bain-marie, and cook something inside a second bowl? Maybe that's overkill, or consume an unreasonable amount of energy?

If that's not a good idea, what's the cheapest way of getting equipment that allows you to do both slow cooking and sous vide?

Sous vide cooking is often at low temperatures, for long periods of time. But, you lose out on things like evaporation which can be essential for slow cooked meals or certain types of flavor development. You can't do things like stir food in a sous vide setup easily. So you have to be careful with what recipes you convert to sous vide; some will be easier and better if you don't use sous vide.

People do use mason jars for sous vide cooking, e.g. to make cheesecakes/custards. But most things are done in plastic bags (ziploc freezer or vacuum bags).

If you'd like a setup that can sous vide and slow cook and you have an oven, you could buy a dutch oven and a sous vide circulator to put in it (e.g. something like Joule since it sticks to the bottom of the dish magnetically). For slow cooking, put the stuff in the dutch oven, leave the dutch oven covered but open by a crack and stick it in a low oven (225 F ish). For sous vide, put water in the dutch oven, put the circulator in and go. As The Food Lab states in their pressure cookers > slow cookers article, the dutch oven setup described prior will often give you better flavor development and is not necessarily any worse than slow cookers on the safety front. You also have versatility, e.g. you can increase the temperature to 300 F make a slow cooked tomato sauce and take advantage of the maillard reaction better and things like that.

Alternatively, just buy a slow cooker if you really want a slow cooker -- they're super cheap, particularly if you look at yard sales (likely under 10 dollars). The price will be basically negligible next to your sous vide circulator. Then buy whatever circulator you want and use it in an appropriate container.


Does the oven door need to be toughened glass? The glass door of my oven toaster and grill has broken. Can I use a thick glass (not toughened/tempered) in its place?

You can't use just any sheet of thick glass for your oven door. Glass for your oven has to be tempered to resist high temperatures. Untempered glass will likely crack pretty quickly with regular use. Moreover, an oven door usually made of glass which breaks into "rough pebbles" rather than sharp shards if it breaks, to decrease the risk of injuries if the glass does crack. If you replace it with a regular thick glass pane you run the risk of (worst case scenario) very sharp, very hot shards of glass exploding all over your kitchen one day.

Like @M.K. stated in the comments, your best bet is to contact the company and ask about replacements, or a reputable company that repairs appliances. They can easily secure an appropriate piece of tempered glass to replace the broken one.


How should I prepare venison hind leg sous vide? I have a piece of venison I want to cook. The package says "hind leg". It is a 1kg piece without bones, in a rather round shape.
I want to use sous vide on this piece, but I am not sure what time/temperature should be used. I have searched many sites, but answers seems to vary.
Some sites suggest treating it like tender beef; heating it up to around 57 degrees (time depending on thickness of course).
Other sites suggests treating it for really long cooking times, as one would with brisket or short ribs.
Does anyone have any experiences that I could replicate?

I always treat venison as low fat because it rarely has any. It is grass-fed (at least it is in the UK) and so cooking will be the same as for lamb. This may be a more useful for timing guide: Sous Vide Cooking Reference Guide


Is Foul Fair? (Or what is this mystery bean) I came across this at my local hypermarket, and I'm wondering what it is, and what one can do with it.

If it isn't obvious from the picture (Bigger version here https://i.stack.imgur.com/M4TKG.jpg) Its a dark brown bean, roughly the size of a coffee bean, and a medium dark brown colour. The specific manufacturer typically sells iranian/middle eastern herbs, so its likely to be from that area.

What is it, and how generally does one use this?

These are fava beans, the term "foul" (uncommon transliteration) on the pack hinting at a dish that these beans are typically used for:

A ful, a stew-like dish of cooked and spiced beans from the Middle East.


Can I purify / kill germs in a water to make it drinkable by putting it in a freezer? I've conducted a research on how can I purify the water to make it drinkable and the results are many, but most of them says that drinking a freeze water can cause cancer to us.

I am using a freezer safe container and I put it in a freezer, let that for one day then when it is freezing I will let it thaw for maybe 6 hours, then I will put it in a water container so I can drink it in the future. Is this safe to drink? Does it kill the germs?

One of the answer in a forum is this

  Cold and freezing will not kill microbes and parasites

Please enlighten me. :) I am doing it for almost a month and so far nothing bad happens to me.

The answer, briefly, is no -- freezing will not make your water safe to drink.

Freezing does damage living cells, mostly because water expands when freezing, and ice crystals can break the cell walls.  Thus, some bacteria will be killed by freezing.  And many larger organisms (e.g., parasites, pests) will often be killed by freezing.  Long-term freezing can increase the number of bacteria killed further.

However, freezing does NOT sterilize food or liquids.  It may decrease the number of bacteria present, and it will generally prevent them from multiplying.  But it is not an acceptable way of purifying water acquired from an unsafe source, because many harmful bacteria will generally still survive.  Also, many microorganisms have spore forms which can survive freezing much more easily and reactivate when thawed.

If your goal is to kill off most microorganisms, boiling may be an easy alternative (and may even require less energy use than freezing).  However, be aware that boiling will generally not affect the levels of any dissolved chemicals that could also render the water unsafe.


What is the difference between a poolish and a biga? Both poolish and biga are pre-ferments. Poolish is a French name, biga an Italian term. What other differences are there between the two?

Just to give some direction: are there differences in making them? Can you both keep them as long? How does the dough feel with it? What difference does it make in the end result? Is there a difference in flavour/colour/texture?

I had to consult my copy of Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart to be sure, but here is a quote:

  There are two types of firm, or dry, pre-ferments and two types of wet
  pre-ferments. The firm pre-ferments are known as pâte fermentée and
  biga. The wet pre-ferments are called poolish and levain levure.

  ...

  Biga, an italian style of firm pre-ferment, differs from pâte
  fermentée in that it doesn't have any salt in it. Also, rather than
  cutting off a piece of finished bread dough to hold back as an
  improver, a biga is made specifically to be used as a pre-ferment.

So, it seems the main difference lies in the hydration of the dough, where a poolish is made with a ratio of equal water and flour.  There also seems to be a few other differences. A biga apparently uses .5 percent yeast to flour, while a poolish uses .25 percent.

Mr Reinhart does not say anything about a concrete difference in final result between these methods - just that a 'wet' pre-ferment is faster. Faster in the sense that in the same time-frame a poolish will develop more flavor and character than a dry pre-ferment.

Sadly I've personally only used a wet pre-ferment, since it is easier to handle. Just whisk it prior to bed time with a wire whisk and mix in the rest of the ingredients the next day. Having a full blown dough makes it more difficult to incorporate the rest of the ingredients.


A good way to smoke Picanha? My friend and his Brazilian wife are pretty crazy about Picanha. As I understand it, this cut is also called Coulotte and is a part of the top sirloin cut with a fat cap on top.

Typically, it's skewed and cooked over an open flame - which hardens the fat and provides for a nice char over a medium/medium rare cut.

I'd like to make some Picanha for the next time we have them over - but I don't have the luxury of a grill. I do, however, have a Traeger smoker.

The Traeger tops out at 400 degrees. So, I'm wondering if I should smoke the Picanha low and slow or crank the Traeger to 400 and go hot and fast.

I'm hoping for the fat to render and become edible and for the meat to be very tender without being overcooked.

What would be the best way to go about cooking this cut in a smoker?

I'd put it in the smoker low&slow until the desired internal temperature is reached (minus some degrees, depending on the size of the meat), then brown it in a hot pan.


How can I imitate the flavor of lamb? I would like to try and imitate the flavor of lamb in a plant based dish.
Googling "why does lamb taste like lamb" I found that the most common explanation is that lamb fat is comprised of, but not only, branched-chain fatty acid, which give it the distinctive taste.
Is there a plant based source for branched-chain fatty acid?

Imitating the flavor of the lamb itself will probably be much more difficult (if not impossible) than manipulating the other ingredients in the dish. That way, the brain is tricked into thinking it is eating lamb, when it is not.  For example, let's say you want to make a meatless lamb biryani.  If you can get the texture of a meatless lamb substitute close enough (for example, by using seitan or some other substitute), then use the proper technique, and ingredients for making a biryani, it will "feel like" you are eating a lamb biryani.
I realize this doesn't directly answer your question, but I think that creating imitation lamb (or any meat) flavor is a difficult problem that challenges food scientists and companies trying to create meatless "meat."  It would be pretty impressive (and possibly lucrative) if you could easily do that at home, but it would surprise me if it is easy or straight-forward. Brached chain fatty acids could be important, but my hunch is there is a lot more going into how we experience those (or any) flavors.


Can Soda Lime glass handle hot liquid? (Like tea, soup, etc.) Can Soda Lime glass handle storage of hot liquid?

Like tea, soup, hot chocolate, etc.

Yes and No. Soda lime glass is not resistant enough to thermal shock to withstand quick changes in temperature, if you pour boiling liquid into cool soda lime glass it is likely to shatter. If hot glass is suddenly exposed to cold it is also likely to shatter. This means to use soda lime glass with hot liquids you need to gradually warm them close to the temperature if the liquid you are about to put in. Many big temperature changes is likely to weaken the glass, making it less resistant over time.

So can you? Yes, if you are cautious and cushion any large temperature changes, but it is not recommended.


Can I replace honey with maple syrup in recipes that require honey? There are many recipes (or recipe variants) that require honey as ingredient.

Barbecue Spareribs
Honey Lamb Chops
Honey Raisin Choc Drops
Honey Shortbread Biscuits
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Krispie Shortcake
Honey, Lemon and Rosemary Marinade
Pear and Almond Tart

May I generally use maple syrup in recipes that call for honey?
Are there guidelines for when that substitution will work well?

Generally speaking, maple syrup will work fine in any recipe that calls for honey. They may have slightly different viscosities and water content, but that could be true between two honeys as well, so I wouldn't worry about it a lot. The only thing I think you really have to consider is whether the flavor of maple syrup is appealing in the dish you would substitute it in. In most cases, I think it will be fine, especially if the dish would have worked well with a dark, fully flavored honey. You might also like to try sorghum syrup, molasses, or agave nectar as other possible replacements.


How can I fortify homemade soy milk? Commercial soy milk is fortified with lots of different vitamins. Is it possible to add these vitamins to homemade soy milk? If so how would you do it?

I'm not sure if we absorb the vitamins or if they are important or whatever, but just curious about how this would be done in a home kitchen.

Edit:

Found some links, neither of which gives a great answer considering both only really cover calcium, and state its a matter of mixing in a powder and shaking before drinking to keep dissolved:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/362920-how-to-fortify-homemade-soy-milk/

http://www.makesoyamilk.com/soya-milk-benefits/should-you-fortify-your-soy-milk

But commercial soymilk can include a ton of others (A, C, D, E, K, B6, Iron, Riboflavin, Folate, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium...). Wondering if it's also just a matter of mixing in a powder (like ground up multivitamins) and keeping suspending by shaking or the edition of additives like emulsifiers.

You won't be adding any ascorbic acid or such -would curdle the milk- but an oil based vitamin such as found inside a vitamin E gel-cap would mix in fine. Would only be as absorbable or bio-available as the original vitamin product.

The idea of fortifying soya comes from the notion that we get a large amount of our nutrients from cows milk and without it, must substitute. The answer in general as to 'how important' is to eat a wide variety of whole foods instead of relying on fortified foods.


Combining whetstones from different manufacturers I recently received two whetstones for my birthday, this chroma and this naniwa. The chroma stone feels very "hard" and heavy, while the naniwa stone is considerably "softer" and lighter. I am a beginner in sharpening knives, so I started practising on very old knives. The results are acceptable, but not too good. It feels like the naniwa stone (both sides) doesn't add to the sharpness anymore. Also sharpening on the chroma is much louder and feels more productive than on the naniwa, even when I change from 800 on the chroma to 1000 on the naniwa.

Is it possible that those two stones are not compatible somehow, because they are of a different sort (the chroma feels "hard" while the naniwa feels "soft")?
Is there maybe a different explanation, why I feel like the naniwa stone doesn't add to the sharpness anymore? Or is it just due to my inexperience in sharpening?

Thank you in advance!

How high a grit will yield an improvement, and what which brand and series(!) of stone will achieve, is somewhat dependent on the steel and heat treat used in the knife you are sharpening.

A "very old" knife could be an obsolete stainless formula/heat treat yielding a very coarse (and/or unstable) grain- commodity stainless steels and their heat treating were still experiencing development in the 1940s!, OR be sub-par steel from the start, OR have suffered abuse by dry grinding (damaged temper), OR actually be a non-stainless steel (not that likely - with non-stainless even grits up into the 10000s can yield an improvement).

While not the case here, a general answer to this question needs to include the fact that there are different systems of grit numbering (not a problem here since both are japanese style stones - if you had european oilstones in the mix they could easily be of a seemingly lower but actually higher grit, reversing your progression!).

Make sure your deburring is good.

Be aware that a 3000 grit is kind of dual-purpose: It is in the high end of sharpening grits, and on the low end of polishing grits, and can be used in either function. Use technique that matches your choice.

Make sure your final strokes on the high grit stone are very light, and/or try stropping on a paddle, newspaper (no polishing compound needed in either case. final strokes gentle here too!) - both will make sure to align the edge.

For some users, the kind of sharpness you get from a 3000 grit or higher could APPEAR less sharp since it will be potentially less aggressive in slicing cuts but actually sharper in push cuts (try with a sponge - a perfectly executed edge on a 3000 should be able to be pushed into it without moving the edge, a good 800 edge is unlikely to even if it will very likely slice the sponge easily).

If you are testing sharpness by cutting food, some foodstuffs might not feel more easily cut with a sharper knife beyond a certain level of sharpness, since the factor limiting the ease of cutting will be edge and/or blade geometry (including things like behind-the-edge thinness, bevel asymmetry and steering....) and not edge sharpness.

Mind that soft stones easily go badly out of true (even the Chroma stone will ;), and that can affect your sharpening result especially if you are inexperienced. Flatten them.

About "different manufacturers": This is less about manufacturers but about exact stone properties - eg Naniwa will make very soft stones (as you have) and some very hard ones (the pro/chosera series). While there is some interaction between what one stone leaves and what the next can make of it, this is an advanced topic more relevant if cosmetically good polishes are intended; failure to obtain performance from a knife is unlikely as long as each of these stones is used correctly.


Have strawberries changed or have I? Strawberries used to be one of my favorite fruits. I am continually disappointed when I bite into them lately and they have little flavor unless it's that slightly fermented taste. I am sure that large fruit distributors supply all the local grocers with bright-red, bruise-resistant product without any concern for flavor. However, even when I go picking in the short northeastern season, it's hit or miss. It's almost picking season and I want to know what varieties I should be looking for at the local farms. Any advice for finding a sweet but tart berry like I remember?

There are quite a few different strawberry cultivars. It'd be surprising if farmers didn't change which ones they plant in response to changing climatic and economic factors. Size and taste changes when they do that.


I fancy making flavoured 'spaghetti', any tips? I would like to experiment with flavoured 'spaghetti' by taking a juice and gelling it in spaghetti shape, so I could have beetroot strands that I could use in a pasta dish.

Anyone done this?  Got any tips on gelling agents to use and what I could make the strands with ie moulds etc?

Also any flavour ideas would be appreciated.  Lobster bisque flavour appeals for a hot clam based 'pasta' dish or maybe an apple and cinnamon with ice-cream

Why actually, I have just the link for you.

http://www.eatfoo.com/archives/2007/12/recipes_more_spherification_wi.php

Is exactly what you are looking for.

And http://www.albertyferranadria.com/eng/texturas-gelification-dosages.html for supplies.


How to wash pesticides from fruit skins? We eat many fruits and veggies at home and I am concerned about the amount pesticides on fruits like strawberries. Is washing the fruit effective enough? Does a thorough wash vs. a quick rinse make any difference?

A long term answer would be to grow your own if possible. That way you have complete control over your food. Or at least purchase from a local farmer that is willing to let you see how he/she grows their produce.

Even organics need to be washed. Most all commercial organics use a form of pest control (most likely diatomaceous earth), they also use natural fertilizers like manure and compost. None of those things are items you need to directly ingest.

The best advice I have is to wash then soak fruits and vegetables in lukewarm water. After a soak wash again. For foods with pitted surfaces, strawberries, potatoes, etc, use a soft bristled brush to gently scrub the food. That will get most anything off the outside.

Of course there will be trace amounts of anything that was sprayed on the item inside of the item.

Hope this helps.


What spices are used to make a mexican fajita seasoning? I'm trying to make my own homemade fajitas, for both vegetarian and non vegetarian tasters.

I know they have grocery store pre-mixed fajita seasoning, but I'd like to know how to make my own.

Penzeys (a spice co.) makes theirs from:

salt, black pepper, paprika, Turkish oregano, cayenne pepper, garlic, celery, Mexican oregano, basil, nutmeg, cumin, marjoram, thyme and rosemary.

No numbers are given, and you probably don't need two kinds of oregano, but I've made it before with a similar list, and it is generally insensitive to precise ratios. I'd start with

2x black pepper, paprika, oregano, cayenne, garlic,

1x basil, cumin, marjoram

1/2x nutmeg, thyme, rosemary

bulk up with salt (store-bought stuff is mostly salt), and experiment from there. You can probably find more on google. Add hotter things or anything you find interesting :)


Is nonstick cookware safe to use after overheating I know that nonstick can release chemicals / gasses / toxins after being overheated but is it safe to use again once cooled? I have a frying pan I like a lot but it got overheated a few times - there are no signs of damage although the pan is very so slightly warped (not visible unless you put a ruler over the back)

Based on a search of sources covering health risks around Teflon (PTFE) cookware, nobody has found any evidence that cooking with previously overheated cookware is dangerous to your health.  Breathing the fumes during overheating is bad for you, and cookware that has been overheated may cease to be nonstick, even though it looks OK:

  Teflon™ nonstick coatings will not begin to deteriorate in appearance
  or performance until the temperature of the cookware reaches about
  500°F (260°C). The coating will not show significant decomposition
  unless temperatures exceed about 660°F (349°C).

... in other words, the nonstick starts to fail before there's visible damage.


Was "Pastry flour for bread" I was reading the discussion about "Pastry flour for bread" and noticed that several types of flour were mentioned.  I looked at my bread flour and noticed that it says 4%.  I looked at the AP flour, a common brand, it says 3%. My question is, is it possible to add gluten to increase the protein content in the flour?  I am relatively new at making bread.  I am trying to bake an Italian recipe for crusty bread by translating the ingredients into what is available in the US.  The recipe calls for Flour 00.  Thanks for the advice.

There is a product available here in the United States called 'Vital Wheat Gluten'. It is 75% to 80% gluten. Added to any flour, you'll increase the gluten in the mix

Just Googled it to buy in your area


How to complement a dish? I really love cooking the "main feature" of a meal...  I love doing the meat - steak, chicken breasts, you name it, I love it.

But when it comes to making the rest of the meal, I always draw a blank. I end up resorting to the same old thing that I know everyone loves (steamed asparagus, seasoned potatoes).

I'm trying to figure out how to be more creative with the complementary pieces of the meal.

What are some good things to keep in mind when preparing a side dish, and what are some good resources that will help me in my creativity?

You could certainly get a cookbook of side dishes and learn some new favourites, but what might be more useful is a book that teaches you about flavour combinations and menu planning.  I would suggest Culinary Artistry as one such book.  It's not about specific recipes (you can find those elsewhere or make them up), but rather it addresses the kind of skill you're looking to learn.

One technique is to consider the origin of the main dish and choose side dishes from the same region.  Seasonality or market-based shopping is another approach to expanding your repertoire.


Ground beef refrigeration So the USDA lists that a person should consume ground beef if it's been in the fridge for 1-2 days.

If we purchased the beef Tuesday afternoon (and today is Thursday) obviously it should be fine if it's been sitting in the fridge since.

However this made me think...do they not count the time it's been sitting at the grocery store? I mean it's not frozen then and Im guessing they don't "throw out" what is bought so...how is it safe to eat if it's sitting in "refrigerator temps" at the grocery store for probably more tha n 1-2 days?

They do count that, yes. Food safety regulations are targeted towards the worst case scenario. If the meat in question is old enough that the store is about to throw it away, and the store's refrigerator wasn't quite as cold as it was supposed to be, and it sat in a hot car on the way home, and your refrigerator is not quite cold enough either, then 1-2 days should still be okay.


Can I make meringues with commercial egg whites? I want to make a bunch of meringue cookies, but I don't want to waste a bunch of eggs. If I buy something like Egg Beaters Whites, would that work?

Egg-whites in a carton are usually pasteurized. Pasteurized eggs are not great for meringue because the heat from the pasteurization process negatively affects the proteins in the whites that make for good meringue. With a lot of whipping (and more cream of tartar or other stabilizers) pasteurized egg whites (whether from pasteurized eggs or from cartons) can make meringue though it most likely won't be as stiff as those from non-pasteurized eggs.

I would suggest getting regular eggs and trying to use the left-over yolks for something like creme brulee.


Why do Duck eggs have longer expiry than Chicken Eggs? Duck eggs seem to get about a 6-week extension on their expiry date over chicken eggs. The latest pack I bought yesterday (Mar 19) expire May 25th, whereas the chicken eggs, at best, expire mid-April).

Why is this? Is the structure of the shell or does it have to do with the protein structure of the egg whites? I have seen the same thing with quail eggs as well they also get a long away expiry date.

First of all, eggs are generally much more robust than commonly thought. Food safety advices for eggs vary a lot, but healthy (chicken) eggs can stay good for many months. If the eggs are contaminated with bacteria when laid or during processing, they can of course spoil or rot before their "best before" date as well. I didn't find any publications, but in this interview, a researcher from Nofima (a Norwegian food research institute) tells that they were not able to find any harmful bacteria in 7 months old eggs and even after 12 months, eggs are usually edible.

Back to the difference between chicken and duck eggs ... Chicken eggs are good for at least three weeks even without refrigeration. The reason for this is that the eggs contain natural preservatives, which are required for the egg to stay good during the nesting period. The natural purpose of the egg is of course to provide nutrition to the contained chicken, and it would probably not do the chicken any good, if it has to stay with a rotten egg yolk for several weeks. It varies between different duck species, but ducks generally breed their eggs much longer than hens. I am now just assuming, but I suppose that duck eggs have a similar natural protection as well, to keep them good throughout the longer breeding period and that may explain the longer recommended shelf life for duck eggs.


How can I tell if my grill pan is preseasoned? I bought  this grill pan, and someone told me it may be preseasoned. It doesn't say anything in the description. How can I be sure?

Per the information on starfrit.com , there is no mention of the pan being pre-seasoned. But there is also no mention of needing to do so.

From the maintenance tab on the linked page:

  Before you cook

  Remove all labels and packaging materials.
  Before using your new cookware, wash thoroughly in hot soapy water using a soft cloth or sponge. Dry completely.

  General cooking tips

  Prior to each use, it is recommended to add a teaspoon of cooking oil for better cooking results.

  Never heat an empty utensil. Be sure there is oil, butter, liquid or food before placing the cookware on the range
  or burner.
  It is not recommended to use high heat. Cooking on excessive heat can cause permanent damage to the surface and
  utensil.
  Never cut anything in the cookware or use utensils with sharp edges as to avoid damaging the surface.
  Add salt to water only after is has come to a boil. Salt grain deposit on the cookware bottom will attack the metal as
  the heat melts it down.

There is also other information about cleaning and oven use.

All said, I don't follow a set rule about seasoning non-stick cookware even though I've often seen it recommended. But when I have heated oil in a non-stick pan it does seem to do better afterwards, especially with older pans. And I always hand wash non-stick cookware.

To sum up, I don't see how you could cause any harm by pre-seasoning the pan and occasionally reseasoning, even if it doesn't need it. But this is based on my experience and I haven't used this brand.

The only other thing I can suggest is to contact the company and see what they say. Since they don't mention pre-seasoning, I suspect they will say it isn't necessary. If you do contact them, we'd be interested in what you find out.

And welcome to Seasoned Advice!

EDIT:

I was assuming that the OP knew about seasoning a non-stick pan, as the question is about how to tell if a non-stick pan is pre-seasoned when new.

To be very clear, seasoning a non-stick pan is NOT the same thing as seasoning a cast iron or other bare metal pan. Should you (or anyone) decide to season a non-stick pan, please make sure to follow a recommended procedure.


Keeping an aluminium dish in a convection microwave Wanted to know if I could use my aluminium tray in my Onida convection microwave.

A combo oven acts no differently in each separate mode, than they would as single separate appliances. Metal in a microwave = light show and ruined oven. Metal in convection oven is perfectly ok. Just don’t use any microwave AT ALL when cooking in any metal pan


What are the tasteful herbs served with dizi in Iran? I’ve tasted Iranian dizi and loved the herbs that where served with it. Leaves look like basil and have a minty taste. Does anyone know what it is?

Thanks :)

I presume it was mint. There are a lot of different variations of mint, from really spicy peppermint down to fruity flavors such as strawberry.

You probably had the Moroccan mint / Mentha spicata var. crispa. If you have specialty stores for Mideastern cuisine ask for "Nane"

Edit, after your addition of the Picture: By the looks I would suggest Thai basil, although this does not really have a minty taste and the stems should be darker ... or basil mint

Hard to say as both plants have so many variations to them. If it hat a distinct minty tase, I´d look into one of the mint variations.

And additional edit:
Just hat a look on my own herbs, and realized that the young Thai Basil I planted looks exactly like your picture, light greeen stems and all:


Is there a machine for thick shredded carrots for home use (not grated)? You can get shredded carrots at a salad bar, and I buy bags of pre-shredded carrots at the supermarket. I want to make these at home with a machine but haven't found one. When you use a food processor, the attachment is usual a grater, similar to a coarse box grater; this makes carrot shreds that are much thinner than the thicker ones you use on a salad (or maybe for use in Vietnamese pickles, banh mi, etc).

I'm sure they use a machine to do this to make the bags available at the store, but I've only found commercial machines that can do it (example: https://www.chipsfryer.com/single-series/carrot-cutter-machine.html)

Is anyone aware of a machine that can do this for home use?

To be clear, I don't think a typical food processor grating attachment does this, nor does a box grater. I know I can use a mandoline or a knife, but I'm looking for a machine to do it in bulk, or an attachment to a food processor or stand mixer. The best idea of come up with is to try using a spiralizer and then chop up the spirals with a knife.

I think this might be the closest to what you are looking for... it's a food processor attachment for the KitchenAid Stand Mixers. Of course, you might look for new blades to use with your existing processor (they might offer blades that cut sticks instead of shreds).


What is the name of this Venetian pastry? I was recently in Venice and relaxed my vegan lifestyle to enjoy a local pastry. It was green, pistachio flavored and filled with almonds. It looked something like this (mine did not have chocolate):

Does anybody know what this pastry is called so I can learn how to make it?

Those are Pan Pistacchio - this blog entry (not mine) has a picture of a sign in a shop window identifying them. It goes on to say that the general category of these buns is Fishermans Buns or Pan del Pescatore and that the green ones specifically are pistachio, which matches what I saw in Venice myself - the pistachio ones were always green and there were often other flavours next to them.

That should be enough to get you more pictures and recipes. I found some at this TripAdvisor page, but you can experiment.


Smooth ricotta texture I once had the opportunity to taste ricotta that was very smooth. The texture was like a thick greek yogurt (but the taste very different). I loved it. I could not find that anywhere else as a consumer. (I am in Andorra, a small country in Europe. I can find Ricotta here but it is not very common and there are not many options)

I try to reproduce that smooth ricotta, without success.

All the ricotta recipes that I have tried do not have that texture. I tried to reincorporate some of the whey at the end and stir. It does not work.

How to make smooth ricotta?

Assuming that what you had was indeed ricotta, and not some other smoother cheese (like mascarpone), what you probably had was ricotta forced through a very fine-mesh sieve, as is common for making cannoli, also known as ricotta impastata.  Some cooks also add a little cream to it to make it even smoother.


Does marinating hinder brining? I learned, that "marinating" for days before cooking, doesn't actually work, since nothing can actually penetrate the meat very deep.

However, with salt, it seems to be a different story.

Does that mean, that marinating works, but only the salt is actually penetrating the meat?

And does that also mean, that when dry brining, you should rather only use salt in order to maximize its absorption and not have other stuff stand in the way?

Are there other ingredients, which penetrate the meat in a matter of days, like salt?

First: the information that "marinades only penetrate 1/8 inch" appears to be entirely from the show America's Test Kitchen (ATK); I reviewed multiple articles on it on the internet, and all of them cited ATK or didn't cite any source.  I mention this because ATK has been wrong before due to flawed test conditions, so maybe some judicious testing of your own is in order.  Assuming that ATK is correct, though, here's answers to your questions:

With marination, only the salt will affect the meat more than 1/8 inch deep.  However, the other flavors will affect that top 1/8 inch, so if you're eating that portion you still care.  Also, some marinating techniques like lechon asado involve piercing the meat many times, which lets the marinade penetrate more of the meat by increasing the surface area.
For a dry brine, having ingredients other than salt would only interfere with the brining process if the other ingredients were on thickly enough to keep the salt from contacting the surface.  Since dry brining rarely involves a 100% salt coverage (although there are a few that do), this seems unlikely to be a real problem.
Sugar will actually have a similar effect on meat as salt does; both denature proteins and increase moisture retention.  Of course, sugar is rarely used to brine meat, but it is used for fish.  Serious tenderizers, like bromelain from pineapple, may also penetrate the meat -- certainly we believed it did for South Texas fajita recipes -- but I haven't ever seen an actual scientific test of this.


Lighter chocolate cake I am making a Guinness chocolate cake and I need the color of it to turn out lighter to match the colors for a wedding. I have already used non Dutch processed cocoa but the lightest it got was maybe dark chocolate color. What I am going for is a carmel color. Is there anything I can do to bake a lighter cake?

What you are asking for is physically impossible.

There is a reason why the color system when working with physical dyes (as opposed to colored light) is called additive. You cannot take out a color which is already there. When we are talking about a cake, cocoa powder or pure chocolate can be considered a pigment, and Guiness a pre-dyed liquid.

The first of three methods would be to add your cocoa and guiness as they are, but try to mix them with other stuff so You can use them to make new, darker colors by mixing in other pigments, or lighter colors by diluting them. You can certainly mix white cake batter with food coloring of other colors (yellow) and the right amount of chocolate to achieve a caramel color, but this will be very far from the proportion which gives you a chocolate cake which tastes of chocolate and has the right texture.

The second method would be to try to discolor the cocoa and guiness. But the problem is that you cannot change the color of a pigment without changing it chemically. Assuming that somebody can come up with a process which can bleach cocoa or chocolate, it will certainly change the taste a lot, if it is food safe at all. Probably not doable in a home kitchen either.

The third thing would be to replace the chocolate entirely. But there is no substitute which tastes like chocolate. I have never heard of the "chocolate extract" which Catija refers to, but even in cases where a flavor is dominated by a single note which is easily reproduced chemically (vanilla, banana, etc.), the stuff which makes up that single note does not taste like the real deal. And if something had exactly the same composition as cocoa, it would not only taste like cocoa, it would be cocoa, with its normal color. And that part concerns the flavor only. Even cocoa powder changes the texture of a cake, while real chocolate changes it much, much more. If you could make chocolate-perfumed cake, it would still not have the mouthfeel of chocolate cake.

Beside all the reasons why you cannot get chocolate flavor paired with a strange color, there is something else: Human perception is not limited to one sense. People rely a lot on vision when eating, and the experience of eating a strange-colored chocolate cake will not be the same "taste" experience as eating correctly colored chocolate cake. There are some fun studies with gummy bears and red/white wines which got lots of press about that, and some marketing gimmicks like the recent Mystery Mueller Milch in Germany, but this is not the place to elaborate. If you want your guests to enjoy a chocolate cake, you have to make a real chocolate cake, with the correct flavor, texture and color.

For completeness, you have the following options instead of making an amber chocolate cake (some already suggested in comments):

make a non-chocolate cake and use food coloring to make it amber
make a standard-color chocolate cake and decorate it with amber icing (again, use food coloring)
make a standard-color chocolate cake with any color icing, or without icing, and have some color contrast at the wedding :)


Firm risotto using generic rice. Is it possible? How can I make a firm risotto, without using the appropriate rice?

I'm italian, and I've been cooking delicious risotto for years.
But in the place where I'm living right now there is only one kind of rice, with medium-long white grain, and no matter how carefully I could prepare it, the result is always a disappointing mashed blob...

From my answer on another question (that justkt linked in the comments):

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tastetests/overview.asp?docid=13283

  Arborio rice, the classic choice for risotto, contains roughly 19 to 21 percent amylose. However, that is not the only difference. The desirable "bite" in risotto is due to a defect in Arborio rice called chalk. During maturation, the starch structures at the grain's core deform, making for a firm, toothy center when cooked.

Sorry, but for the best risotto, you really need an appropriate rice.


Tenderizing vegetables (chili pepper) I am trying to emulate a hamburger recipe I ate at a restaurant with some green chili pepper (Chile Verde) which I really enjoyed.
My problem relies on how to cook it, if I just use the pan it burns or does not reach the soft consistency I am looking for.
Is there any way I can easily tenderize the chili pepper?

Roast in a hot oven, over grill or direct flame, or in cast iron. Whole...until skin is dark and blistered. Remove from heat carefully.  Place in a bowl and cover with plastic.  Allow to cool.  The peppers will continue to steam as they cool.  Wipe off skin. Then de-seed and dice.  They will be tender.


Can I make my own chestnut puree? I've got a recipe that calls for chestnut puree. I live in Australia and it's proving difficult to find. Chestnuts on the other hand are pretty easy to find so I googled around to see if I could find a recipe to make my own. The results really only returned other recipes that contain chestnut puree so I was wondering if I could make my own and if so, how would I go about it?

Yes, but chestnut purée comes in sweetened and unsweetened varieties, so making your own depends on what you'll be using it for. Chestnuts are pretty versatile, but I've come across using sweetened purée in old world desserts, while the unsweetened purée is typically used with root vegetables and winter squashes (the European variety of chestnut drop in late fall).

You'll start by scoring the skin of the raw nuts and roasting them at 400° (this prevents them from bursting). After this, peeling them is easy work. You will then boil them, optionally in a sugar syrup. Finally, reserve the liquid and puree in a food processor, adding back the liquid for the desired consistency.

About a pound of chestnuts per cup of purée.


How can I clean white burn marks in the center of my glass top burner? I have this glass top burner for almost 5 years. It was fine until I cooked food in Aluminum Pot and Aluminum frying pan... the base of these pots leaft white marks on the glass. It looks like part of the glass now. I tried Baking Soda, Cerama Bryte, Soap but no results. How can I get rid of them pr will never will?

I've heard of people having luck using a razor blade (like one for scraping paint from a window). Just be careful, as the glass could probably scratch easily.


How do I add flavor to this amazing looking dish? I have made an ancient pre-WWII recipe titled "Slovakian-Style Eggs." They look like fried eggs on static electricity. The whites are whipped into what is in effect a meringue, without sugar or any seasoning other than salt. This looks amazing, as you can see in the linked photo, but the failure of the recipe is the flavor is bland. I have searched in vain for any hint at how to add flavor and still maintain the amazing texture and appearance.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wikipix/4190731688/in/photolist-7ojAwC-9yqaRg-7oCSrh/

These look like a recipe I've seen going around recently called cloud eggs, with the yolk nesting in well-beaten whites like it's sitting in a cloud. (I'm only including that name because it may be easier for you to Google recipes with a more modern name than your pre-WWII version, in case you're looking for flavoring inspiration.)

Whether a sweet or savory meringue, the key to adding any seasoning is very, very gentle folding to avoid deflating the beaten egg whites. However, you should be able to add salt, spices, and I've even seen recipes that call for grated Parmesan, as long as you fold carefully instead of stirring vigorously.


Do I need to pre-cook bacon when adding it to a quiche? I've got a quiche recipe that requires me to use bacon but it's not clear on whether or not I should cook the bacon before adding it to the quiche.

The quiche is to be cooked at 180C for 25 mins so I wanted to double check.

Is it ok to add bacon to my quiche without cooking it first?

When I make quiche (and for a while at an old restaurant I was baking them almost daily) to which I am going to be adding anything other than the actual custard and flavouring, I look for three things: will these other ingredients release a lot of water when cooked? Will these other ingredients release a lot of fat when cooked? Will the other ingredients be fully cooked (if desired) in the final product?

In the first instance, most vegetables will release a significant amount of water when cooking. This has two unpleasant side effects: first, it creates steam pockets around the vegetable, preventing the custard from adhering and leaving empty spaces. Second, the steam itself can mix into and loosen the custard, preventing it from setting properly. Neither of these, as Brown would say, are good eats. Of course some vegetables let off more water, e.g. tomatoes, than others.

Second, dealing with fats, we generally have meats. Many meats will release fats while cooking, a process known as rendering. Bacon is of course the fattiest of meats you are likely to use; sausage would be similar. The release of fats into the custard will have many of the same effects as the release of water. In addition, quiche is often served cold, and excess animal fats feel unpleasantly greasy in the mouth when cold; unpleasantly oily and greasy when hot. Cheeses are not, for reasons I do not fully understand, generally a problem when the release their fats into a quiche. That being said, I have never tried baking a quiche with very fatty liquid cheeses such as brie or camembert; cream cheese and the similarly textured soft goat cheeses present no problem at all.

Finally, we must consider whether the ingredient(s) will end up cooked in the final product. Custards set at quite low temperatures, so this is an important safety consideration when dealing with meats. It is less important for safety with vegetables, and becomes an issue mainly of texture; do you want your vegetables to be crisp and crunchy or soft and limpid?

For all of these reasons, I always cook meat before including it in a quiche, unless it is charcuterie which is relatively low in fats and is safe to eat without further preparation, such as prosciutto (but not, I'd point out, jamon Iberico, if cut traditionally by hand, as it so often includes so much glorious fat that just melts lusciously... I digress). And I almost always cook vegetables; tomatoes, spinach (and other leafy greens) are always fully cooked to remove as much water as possible. Other vegetables depend on what I feel like. I generally will only blanch broccoli long enough to set a vivid green colour, as I like the contrast of soft custard with the crunchy broccoli. Your tastes may vary, of course.

Short version:

Meat: always cook! render out excess fat!

Vegetables: always blanch at least! cook out excess water!


When cooking pulled pork in a slow cooker, should the meat be submerged in liquid? I am making pulled pork in my slow cooker this week.  I am going to use a pork shoulder and am planning on cooking it on low for 8-10 hours while at work.

How much liquid should I put in the slow cooker?  Should the liquid cover the pork or should there just be a little liquid in the bottom?

If the pork isn't fully submerged, will the parts of the meat that are not submerged cook?  If so, how?

 \                                         /
  \         ********************          /  <-- Should liquid cover the meat?
   \        ********************         /
    \       ********************        /  <-- Or go half way up the meat?
     \      ********************       /
      \     ********************      /  <-- Or should I just have a little liquid in the bottom?
       \-----------------------------/

For pulled pork, there is good reason to only use a small amount of liquid. Use only enough liquid to come nearly half way up the side of the pork.

The pork that is sticking out of the liquid will brown, much like a sear. The mechanism is different, but result is the same. The exposed meat will develop color and that extra meaty flavor that gives good BBQ its character.

Since you're planning on an 8-10 hour cook, you can flip the meat halfway through to get that effect all around.

Flavor your added liquid generously, and be prepared to de-fat it when the pork is done, it will make for a great sauce.


Can I turn skimmed into whole milk? Usually, we use milk with 1.5% fat. Occasionally, I need whole milk for a recipe. Can I somehow "enrich" the skimmed milk so that I have more or less whole milk?

Skim milk is whole milk with the cream removed so it can be sold separately.

Simply add heavy cream. The ratio is about 1/3 cup of cream per quart of skim milk.

Keep in mind that whole milk has been homogenized. Your cream has not and will separate out again if left undisturbed. This is not really an issue for cooking just if you plan on drinking it.


Can I freeze rolled out pie dough A typical pie dough recipe (such as this one) asks to:

Mix the dough.
Make a couple thick disks.
Put the thick disks in the fridge 30 minutes to couple months in the freezer.
Remove thick disks, let them warm up a little, and roll them out.
Place them in the greased pan and put them back in the fridge for about half an hour.

My question: is there any reason I can't store my dough, pre-rolled out, in the freezer after step 4. Also, assuming the dough is just warmed enough to be able to put it in the pan would doing so still give the benefits of step 5?

Sure you can freeze rolled out pastry, it can be a real time-saver. The trick is to make sure it's protected from freezer burn, otherwise it can dry out. Putting it between two sheets of wax paper works well, then rolling it up and putting it in a freezer bag. You need to let it thaw before unrolling it otherwise it will break up and you'll have to roll it back out again.


Can you freeze avocado in a dish? I already know you can't freeze an avocado and have it come out usable. Is this mitigated at all, however, by the avocado being in a dish? The specific example I'm thinking of would be avocado slices or chunks in a freezer burrito. Would it be better to make guacamole? Or what if a dish has avocado cooked into it, but not pureed?

As a rule, avocado should only be frozen in pureed form. When frozen, it should be placed in an air-tight container (such as a sealable dish or freezer bag) with only enough room for expansion as it cools. The variable fat and water content of avocados is not well suited to freezing, and renders the thawed product spongy and elastic, a far cry from the normal texture of avocados.

The thawed puree, however, can be used as a sandwich spread, in the creation of dips (such as guacamole), or any recipe where solid pieces of avocado are either not desired or not required. If a dish has avocado cooked into it--again, non-solid form is preferable--the freezability of the dish would be dependent on whether or not such a dish is normally freezable (if not normally containing avocado).