What is the emulsification power of 1 egg yolk? How much oil (fat) can one egg yolk hold safely before you risk the sauce breaking?

Surprisingly high -- something like 6 gallons of oil can be emulsified by a single egg yolk.  In addition to the site linked, I've seen similar experiments by Kenji Lopez-Alt and James Petersen.

So if your mayonnaise refuses to emulsify, it's NOT because it doesn't have enough egg yolks.


Will agitated already set custard re-set again? Assume that I will put cream/yolk mixture in to a water bath (in a container or a bag) let it there on 80C for an hour. Cool it. This will set. If I agitate this liquid to make it pourable. Will it undisturbed set again? And what will be the level of "firmness" to original first setting. Colloid gels when agitated behave like liquids, left undisturbed do set. Im just avoiding experiment at first, if there are experiences already. Its the basis for use to make creme brule from a big batch custard already set and not being helped with anything added, nor the need of oven setting.

No, it will not set again at all.

The explanation behind it: The custard is not a gel, it is a mixture of proteins, fat globules and other stuff swimming in a liquid (or maybe gel?). You start off with normally folded proteins, which during heating lose their quarternary structure and "hook" each other, thus creating a kind of mesh, filled with the fat emulsion. Once you break that mesh apart by agitation, it will not reform at all, since you cannot refold the proteins.


Cooking fishcakes for 1 year old---how to hold shape AND get soft juicy texture? I am making fishcakes/fish patties for a 1 year old with chopped salmon, chopped shrimp, breadcrumb, eggs and flavorings like onion etc. When I fry them, they become dry-ish, and kind-of crumbly. While still ok for an adult, my 1 year old spits it out.

How can I make a fish patty that holds it own shape and is juicy and soft?

In my experience cooking for small children I've found that just because they like a set of ingredients doesn't mean they will like them combined if the texture changes. I child who likes chicken and vegetables won't necessarily like chicken stew. A child who likes fish won't necessarily like a fishcake as the fishcake has a very different texture.

That being said it could be that the particular type of fishcake you are making isn't to your child's taste. I think the reason is the breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are a good binding agent for ingredients that have lots of moisture and fat to release during cooking - as the mix cooks the breadcrumbs soak up the moisture and keep the mix together and retains some of the moisture. Fish and shellfish are pretty lean to begin with, and as they are usually pre-cooked when making fishcakes they will have already lost most of their moisture. If you use breadcrumbs to bind the mix there will not be enough moisture to wet them. You could add a bit of water but then you're going to get a soggy mess.

I would suggest making fishcakes with mashed potato instead of breadcrumbs as a binder. The potatoes are naturally moist and hold things together well. I typically use a 60-40 ratio of fish to potatoes by weight. You can coat the outside of the patty with breadcrumbs when frying them off to give the surface some crunch.


Best substitute wine glass I occasionally find myself opening a bottle of wine at a friend's ill-equipped house, and don't have any wine glasses handy.

What type of serving cup/glass can I substitute for a proper wine glass in these situations?  Specifically for red wine, but answers for other wines would be helpful, too.

I understand the reason for a long stem is to keep body heat away from the wine, so this makes me think may be a coffee cup (where body heat is kept away via the handle) might be a reasonable substitute... but then the shape of the glass I understand is also important, no?

Trying to keep your body heat from the wine is only necessary for chilled wines (whites, for the most part).  For those served at room temperature (most reds), you actually want your body heat to warm the wine.

I've been to plenty of places that use 'stemless wine glasses' (about the size of a red wine glass, maybe a little larger, but no stem underneath) for reds.  I've also been to places that just use mason jars.

For whites, if you're at a dinner table, it's not going to matter as much, as you can put your glass down.  The problem comes when you're standing around with your glass.  You can get around the problems by making sure that the wine is well chilled, and don't serve as much per glass (so they don't hold it so long that it warms up).  Handled glasses can help, but I wouldn't go for a large beer mug like Cos recommended -- I'd use a smaller mug for coffee or tea.

One exception would be your bubbly wines.  You want something tall and narrow for those.

None of these have the characteristic wine glass shape, with the smaller opening at the top, which is going to help concentrate the aromas, so if you have any glasses that are shaped like that, consider using those.  And you don't want to fill any glass of wine more than half full, so that you have space for the vapors to collect.


Overworking bread dough by hand Recently, I tried to make naan using this recipe:

  Combine 375g flour, 75g yoghurt, 200g water, 6g sugar, 4g salt, 15g oil, and 2g yeast and let rest 20 minutes.
  Knead 1 min then rise 45 min, repeat.
  Divide the dough into 5 pieces, roll into balls, let rest 30 min.
  Bake on preheated pizza stone 2-3 minutes and brush on garlic butter.

However, I let the dough rise overnight in the fridge rather than for an hour and a half at room temp, and had to punch down and quickly knead the dough two extra times. The next day, when I went to stretch the dough balls out, they tore easily and did not stretch well, like the dough had been overworked. Is this a result of the additional punch downs?

Probably not. The enzimes in the yeast and flour break down among others the gluten, which is responsible for the dough structure.
Some reading material on enzymes

  Too much protease activity would break up the gluten, destroying the network that forms during kneading. A little bit, however, softens the dough and makes it more workable. If the dough is allowed to autolyse (i.e., rest) or if preferments are used, proteases have time to work before kneading, making the dough easier to knead.

I would say this is rather "over-leavening" than overworking. (Over-leavened breads stay usually flat.) But the additional punches probably also helped breaking the remaining gluten chains.


Pane Buccellato de Lucca Has anyone tried baking the buccellato de Lucca? I'm looking forward to find the original recipe from Lucca. You can find several recipes over the internet, in italian, which I can more or less understand, but I'm interested to check if someone knows the real deal (eg. travels to Italy often or has family from Italy).

Regards,

As the origins of the Buccellato di Lucca go back to the 15th century, you can be fairly sure that there is not "the one and only canonical recipe".

The Italian Wikipedia states:

  Il Buccellato di Lucca non ha una ricetta riconosciuta, come accade spesso per i dolci appartenenti ad una tradizione locale, e ogni forno e pasticceria ritiene di custodirne il segreto per una perfetta riuscita.

Which roughly translates to "there is no officially recognized recipe, [...] every bakery keeps their secret of the perfect recipe.".

And I suppose the same is true for every family, who sees their recipe, probably handed down over generations, as the right one.

As recipe requests are generally off topic here (partly because we don't want to put ourselves in the line of fire between Italian nonne defending the family recipe for Buccellato), your approach of reading a few recipes and choosing one or a combination thereof is the best solution.


Why does the instant coffee that I store in little plastic tubs go bad? I keep a little plastic container of instant coffee at work and after a week it has either gone into blocks or darkened. I open it a few times. Its location is above a hot/ cold water dispenser (but seems room temperature) just airconditioned. The home supply of instant coffee is perfectly fine.  Why is the work coffee in such bad shape?

In a word, humidity.
Instant coffee absorbs moisture from air rather well. I suspect that your container isn't perfect airtight, and it's in a humid place.  It's possible that the container is airtight, but enough water vapour gets in each time you open it to cause problems.  This will be more of an issue for small amounts in a big container.
To test and possibly address this, try a small, definitely airtight container, such as a glass jar with a screw top.  Even plastic boxes with an O-ring seal and clips aren't always well-designed; especially if the lid had been hot it may not actually seal perfectly.
You can also use silica gel sachets (food grade versions are available) in the jar with the coffee.  These don't last forever, but they can be dried in an oven and reused, also they're cheap.  Don't forget to store the spares tightly sealed.
Of course, if you're spooning some out with a damp spoon that will get water in. I have seen people sprinkle the coffee directly into a mug of steaming water - and the steam collects in the container.  Don't do that - if you want to sprinkle it into your mug, do so before adding hot water.


should you parboil boneless beef ribs? I'm cooking beef ribs and I am trying to cook oriental ribs and I want to cut the cooking time in half.

If you want tender ribs there's no substitute for time. Ribs are full of connective tissue, which makes them tough. Connective tissue breaks down in the presence of moisture and heat over time. The only way I know of to speed it up is to use a pressure cooker.


How do I "evaporate" milk? I have a recipe that calls for evaporated milk.  How can I make "Evaporated Milk" (from raw milk), or a reasonable substitute for the canned evaporated milk found at the supermarket?

Very easy. All you want to do is to remove the water through heating. As you are not going to can it, you don't have to sterilize it afterwards.

The only concern when evaporating milk is to not end with a layer of scorched milk solids on the bottom. First, start with homogenized milk (you don't want to risk undissolved fat swimming on top of it). If you want the pure milk flavor, heat it to 70°C and wait until you are left with half the initial volume. This takes several hours, depending on the quantity of the milk. My great-grandma usually did it overnight.

If you don't mind a "scorched" taste, you can do it much quicker. Take a very big pot. It should be at least 6-7 times higher than the milk depth, because the boiling milk will foam up a lot. The width is up to you, but the wider the pot, the quicker it will go. Bring the milk to a vigorous boil. Use a setting which is just hot enough to sustain boiling, too much heat will increase the scorching. Stir all the time. You need maybe 10 minutes of stirring, again depending on quantity of the milk and pot width. You are aiming for the same rate of evaporation - you should be left with half the original volume, or somewhat less.

You don't have to add sugar to evaporated milk, the sweet taste is caused by the heating. Especially the boiling-evaporated milk is quite sweet, because you get some caramelization.


Should I prick sausages during cooking? Whenever I go to a BBQ and sausages are cooking, the chef will always prick the sausages while they are cooking. I have no idea what this does, I assume it's to get the fat out, however I recently read that you should never prick sausages as it results in them being dry inside?

So my question is, should I prick sausages with a fork or knife during cooking?

A very simple answer why you prick sausages. When the sausages get heated up, the fat content and also air pressure inside start to grow. Pricking sausgaes allow the air and fat to be 'released', otherwise, the skin of the sausages will start to crack which eventually will result in losing more juice and 'fat'.

Yes, Pricking may lead to dry sausages, so you don't have to overdo it and also use the small toothpick to do it which will reduce the damages.


Why do some mangoes ripen without changing flesh color? I frequently buy batches of mangoes to sun-ripen. 5% of these mangoes retain yellow flesh (and do not darken to orange) even as the fruit ripens (and becomes tasty). Why does this happen?

Is this simply due to genetic variability in mango offspring?

It depends on the cultivar (genetic traits) and on the amount of exposure to light. You can't reliably judge a mango's ripeness by color.


timing on baking a birthday cake I need to have a birthday cake ready on saturday night and am trying to figure out how early I can make it without it impacting the quality of the cake.

If I make the the cake friday night or saturday morning, will it be noticeably less good on saturday night than if I make it saturday afternoon?

It depends on the type of cake.  Pound cakes, and fatty, rich cakes like carrot cake are going to have the longest shelf life.  Some of them even improve in flavor over a day or two, and should last at least 3 and maybe up to 4 or 5 days.  Even some of the shorter lifespan cakes, like genoise, should be good for at least 24 hours.  Much depends on what you are layering or assembling the cake with, as well as what the layers are made of.

For example, if you have a pastry cream or whipped cream layer, these really only last a few hours.

Cakes also freeze exceedingly well, especially prior to being iced.

What you may choose to do is bake your layers or base cake at your convenience, let them cool, then wrap them well, and freeze.

Then, as reasonably close to service as is convenient, thaw the layers and ice, and optionally decorate as appropriate.

You can also freeze iced cakes, although it is a little trickier.

See also:

Where should I store my cakes?
(my answer describes how to freeze iced cakes)
How to properly freeze cake (really only talks about cakes that are not iced)
How do I properly freeze a frosted cake?


Is it safe to store dry food products under the sink? I'm in an apartment with limited kitchen storage space. I want to store some dry food products like tea, coffee, cereal, rice, etc. but the only place I found for them is basically under the sink (actually, it's not directly under it, but it's one of those sketchy areas with a bunch of pipes; next to the dishwasher):

I've always been wary of storing food down there for no other reason than it feels like a dirty place. Will dry food be safe down there assuming I don't also store cleaning products down there?

Your concerns would be moisture, insects and/or rodents.  Simply put your products in airtight containers.  You'll be just fine. (By the way, my mom always stored onions and potatoes under the sink).


Does adding oil and fats affect bread crust development? I had recently started baking bread and I have read up a lot on developing a great crust. Generally it involves steam in the oven at the beginning of the baking process, high even heat and etc.

I noticed something that I have not read about and was hoping someone can confirm it.

I noticed that when I added extra virgin olive oil, I developed a much nicer crust then when I made a much leaner bread that did not have any fats in it. Does the oil really affect how my crust develops, or do you think its a different factor that gave my bread a better crust. If it is the EVOO, why does it give my bread a better crust.

Oil definitely changes the crust, and whether or not it's "better" depends on what you're going for. Oil in the dough tends to give a softer and thicker crust, while a lean dough tends to give a crisper and thinner crust. Other dough ingredients that tenderize include milk and eggs, and there are plenty of web pages listing "dough enhancers" that give various effects. Again, it all depends on what type of crust and crumb you want.


Is it possible to steam steak? Steaming seems like an ideal cooking method; I've seen it used for mostly vegetables, sometimes fish (salmon).

Is it possible to steam a steak? Does it cook well? (I assume the target is medium doneness.)

What are the limitations of steaming steak? For example, I usually marinate mine in some oil, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and garlic; I assume if I steam it, I would put the soy sauce in the steaming liquid.

You could do it, and it would certianly cause the meat to be cooked. However, I suspect it would lead to a less-than-tasty result.
There are two potential issues here that I can see:

If you're steaming, the temperature maxes out at 100 degrees Centigrade. This leads to longer cooking time, and a "washed" look. Think of how the chicken meat looks in chicken soup.
You'll be losing the Maillard reaction, which is what gives that lovely outside texture to anything fried. This is because of the relatively low temperature of steaming, and the lack of liquid (oil) to react with.


How to reproduce meat flavor Recently I have become a vegetarian.

I have always loved hamburgers, but the taste of vegetarian hamburgers isn't anywhewre close. I would like to know if there is any way to reproduce the flavor of meat, using no meat in the process.

I am definitely not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetables. The flavor of meat cannot be reduplicated by vegetables, but there are definitely certain things you can do to help.

Smoke Seasoning
Two common varieties are liquid and powdered. Usually, when I think hamburger, I think char-grilled. Liquid smoke can be incorporated with certain things to enhance the flavor. I suggest to use liquid smoke sparingly as it is quite concentrated. Also, grill seasonings often contain smokey elements of flavor.. for example, mesquite seasoning and a plethora of other of other grill like seasonings are very common in your traditional American grocery store spice aisles (including liquid smoke). Alternatively, grilling your veggies and using good wood (mesquite, hickory, etc.) will impart a nice flavor.

Veggies and vegetable products
Of course, with any non-meat entree choices, it may be hard to feel 'full' after eating a meal. I'd recommend vegetables with a relatively high protein content to offset this. Garbanzo Beans (chick peas), and really any derivative of a bean are good choices. If you can acquire a taste for tofu, it is an excellent medium of absorbing flavors. Zucchini, asparagus, string beans are also great additions to any vegetarian meal.

Texture
When I think of something meaty without the meat, go with fungus! Mushrooms are excellent options, provided you have a taste for them. I sometimes make sandwiches with thick cut slices of portabello mushrooms that are stir fried with a savory sauce. Mushrooms provide a meaty/chewy consistency and are also great conduits of absorbing flavors. There's always much room for mushroom in my cooking repotoire!

Dairy
Provided you are not going "vegan", using cheese as you would with meat is excellent in providing that extra "oomph", especially in sandwiches. I do not know many people who dislike a grilled cheese with tomato soup. Mozarella paired with basil, tomato, and other herbs is also great on sandwiches. Also, think of mac & cheese and alfredo sauces for pastas. Throw in some versatile veggies you like and you have a full meal right there.

I'm not opposed to vegetarians, but I do feel that meat has played a huge part in the evolution of the human species. I believe it is your freedom to choose whatever you want to eat. In the end, my advice is to really expand your horizons for flavor and adapt to all the wonderful veggies this world has to offer. Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian cuisines usually have great choices for vegetarian options. Also, if you are philosophically okay with being a pescatarian, seafood options are plentiful.


regarding chocolate chip cookies I use the chocolate chip recipe on the bag but double the vanilla and add more chips than called for. I also add a bit more flour.   What I want to achieve is that old time chocolate chip cookie that is chewy flat and wide.  Can you offer a suggestion.  I still would use more chips and vanilla unless that might cause a problem.
I am so glad I came apon your sight.

I usually stick with the venerable Alton Brown's 'The Chewy' recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe.html

I often add a few extra tablespoons of wheat-gluten to make them even chewier.

You could reduce the amount of leavening (i.e. the baking soda (or any baking powder)) if you want a flatter cookie, but my results with the above recipe end-up pretty flat. Adding more vanilla and chips shouldn't make any difference in the end-product's texture, but I'd stick to the formula on flour for your first try.


How do I add a strong "onion flavor" to the biryani (in restaurant style)? I've had chicken biryani in restaurants and their biryanis taste extremely different from what we prepare at home. I'm not sure how to describe it except that it's an "onion flavor".

We've got loads of biryani recipes and they're all more or less the same.

After a lot of pondering over the difference, I've begun to suspect that the restaurants are doing either of these things (or a combination of them):

They're somehow adding an onion flavor. Either that or they're adding something else that has a strong pungent, sour flavor.
They're adding an ingredient that gives a slight sweet taste. It's not tomato sauce, tomato puree, or sugar. There's something else. I've tried all of these methods.
Perhaps it's milk in some way.

How can I give a strong "onion flavor" or something similar to it to my biryani? How are the restaurants doing it?

Edit: I ordered chicken biryani from the restaurant again and have added some pics. Please take a look at these pics to get an idea about this recipe/onion flavor. So far, no answer talks about creating the lump of onion shown in the pics. Those lumps of onions are the key to creating this flavor:

Pic of an "onion glob". This is the strangest thing in the recipe. There are globs of onions between the rice. These are basically lumps of onions that stick together. They resemble a pigeon's egg (size and shape-wise). I've crushed open an onion glob to show what it looks like.
Note: There are NO onions in the rice. Only the onion globs + chicken pieces (which contain very small pieces of onions).

Inferences: They are clearly not deep frying the onions. I believe deep frying them leads to crispyness. These onions aren't crisp.

2) Pic of the chicken pieces: Another surprising thing about the taste is that the chicken pieces taste almost the same as the onion globs, except they're sweeter.

Inferences: I'm guessing that they've mixed tomato sauce with the chicken but can't say for sure.

3) Pic of the rice:
The rice seems to have very little oil. It sticks to my fingers. I can see that half of it looks like plain rice. All of it has a very very strong onion-like smell.

Inferences: I suspect that the rice was cooked separately entirely. Then it was mixed with the onion globs, and steamed a little bit to catch that aroma.

The restaurants may be adding asafoetida, a ground root product that adds a savory, onion-y flavor to food. It's very concentrated stuff and smells awful, but once you cook it for awhile it's absolute magic.


Does English Breakfast Tea equal Assam Tea? I read from wiki that:

  Assam (Assamese: অসম, Hindi: आसाम, and also Hindi: असम) is a black tea
  named after the region of its production, Assam, in India. Assam tea
  (Assamese: অসমীয়া চাহ, Hindi: असमिया चाय) is manufactured
  specifically from the plant Camellia sinensis var. assamica
  (Masters).1 This tea, most of which is grown at or near sea
  level, is known for its body, briskness, malty flavor, and strong,
  bright color. Assam teas, or blends containing Assam, are often sold
  as "breakfast" teas. English Breakfast tea, Irish Breakfast tea, and
  Scottish Breakfast Tea are common generic names. [3]

Is it true? I need Assam tea for brewing a good cup of Chai Tea. If they are the same stuff, then I don't need go down to Chungking Mansions' indian store for it. ( I live in Hong Kong ) I can just grap one English Breakfast Tea in supermarket.

However, in this wiki about English Breakfast Tea, the tea leaves could also come from Ceylon and Kenya:

  English Breakfast tea is a traditional blend of teas originating from
  Assam, Ceylon and Kenya. It is one of the most popular blended teas
  and the most common form of British tea culture. It was initially
  known simply as Breakfast Tea, and was popularised by Queen Victoria.

I believe that 'English Breakfast Tea' is a very broad definition and doesn't refer to an exact blend; each manufacturer has their own version of it. I would say that English Breakfast Tea often includes Assam, but as your Wiki source suggests it also contains other teas. Therefore Assam is a separate tea.


What kind of sausage could I use as a substitute for Cumberland sausage? I live in the USA and Cumberland sausages don't exist. They have sausage links and patties but I don't want to make sausage casserole and have the flavor altered because I picked the wrong kind of sausage. Can anyone help me?

If you read the Wikipedia article you'll see that the main flavour is pepper, both black and white,and that the meat is coarser than in some other sausages.

As it's for a casserole where the flavours have time to come together, I suggest you get sausages without herbs in (which should be easy enough). If possible they'd also have a coarser texture but that probably isn't on the label - you might have to choose based on what you're familiar with. Then add plenty of pepper to the sauce, early in the cooking. My recollection is that the white pepper flavour comes through, but I use black pepper quite heavily so maybe I'm used to that.

The other spices (and herbs though they shouldn't dominate) vary. This recipe includes sage, which other sources (and I) say is wrong, but the nutmeg, mace and coriander all contribute to the classic flavour. While I haven't made it, the recipe I've linked should give some idea of the proportions of spice to meat,assuming your sausages are quite bland to start with.

Edit: I should probably have been clearer that I mean links. Sausage patties aren't really a thing here in the UK. I've seen them twice. Once was McDonald's, the other may have been good but I can't remember.


How can we prevent the steaming of tiffin when we put chapatis in? When we put hot chapatis in the tiffin (lunch box), the lunch box get steamed. The water from steam makes the chapatis soft and sticky. How can we prevent that from happening?

Anything hot in a closed environment will cause steam. Either cool it down first, or you can wrap them in a paper towel or kitchen paper that will absorb the moisture before putting in the container.


Dutch oven bread - bottom always burns When I bake bread in my dutch oven, to get the bread crust a darker brown and where it should be, the bottom will burn. I've used several recipes and different ovens with the same problem outcome. The dutch oven is as high as I can put it in the oven, which helps but it's still burned slightly.

The recipes always call for a pre-heat of 475F before the bread goes in, 25-30 top on 15-20 top off. I'm trying to adjust the temperature now, but I don't see how this isn't a more common problem. Any suggestions for this?

I've had the same issue at home, with a very hard or burnt crust bottom:

I've made the following adjustments through experimentation. This will help greatly, but might not fix the problem entirely. I routinely preheat my empty dutch oven in the oven set to 500F with the lid on. When baking, I take it down a notch to 475F. I do one or more of the following steps before I place the loaf in the hot dutch oven:

Convection: I'll mention this first, because it makes the largest difference. If your oven has the convection baking feature (mine does not), enable it. It moves the heat around evenly, but it also helps the thermostat do its job properly and keep the set temperature.
Add a layer of semolina/cornmeal/flour: Add a generous layer of durum wheat semolina at the bottom of the dutch oven. Don't worry about putting too much on. You can brush off the excess after baking. Whatever doesn't stick to your bread will just fall out of the dutch oven (no cleaning needed). I've also successfully used corn meal as a substitute, but corn meal has a tendency to caramelize a bit more if you leave it on the surface of the bread, and it also has a sweeter taste. The semolina will brown, but it will form a small heat barrier between the dutch oven and the loaf. I use parchment paper to transfer the loaf into the dutch oven, and so my semolina ends up under the paper. You can try semolina without parchment paper, but it will add texture to the bottom of your baked loaf (which can be quite good!)

You can also combine this with a layer of flour on the bread which will also protect the bottom somewhat, but not as much as semolina or cornmeal. Semolina has larger grain size and I find it provides additional "spacing". Also consider modifying the recipe, and roll your loaf in sesame seed when you add it to your proofing basket. I find this helps too, and you can scrape the dark ones off easily after baking. It also looks (and tastes) good.
Add a layer of chaff/bran: If you mill your own flour, you can use a layer of chaff/bran (the stuff you sift out) at the bottom of the dutch oven. It's a good insulator. Brush it off when your loaf is done. Got this tip from the perfect loaf.
Add parchment paper: If you use parchment paper to transfer the loaf into the dutch oven, you can use a second layer of parchment paper. Make sure you trim whatever protrudes from the rim of the dutch oven -- you want a good seal on the lid to trap steam in.
Move to a higher rack / use baking sheet(s): Move the dutch oven to the highest position that your oven can accommodate (farthest away from the element), and place the whole dutch oven on a baking sheet. You can insert an additional baking sheet on a rack below. I suspect using a baking stone (or baking steel) under the dutch oven would protect from direct heat even more. A stone or steel should dampen changes in temperature when the heating element starts/stops. Covering an area with foil would also work (I'm used to cookie sheets because I would pour water on them to steam the oven -- I find they're less trouble than foil).
Switch to cast iron: If you are using a ceramic/earthware dutch oven, try switching to a cast-iron dutch oven (enameled or not). The heat retention and conductivity of metal is much higher and more heat is radiated by the sides of the dutch oven. This may seem controversial, given that so many bread cocottes are made of clay/ceramic -- but my personal experiences with my (cheap/inexpensive) clay pot is that my sourdough breads were carbonized on the bottom.

The brand of cast iron doesn't matter so much in my opinion. I've used several brands of cast iron dutch ovens (Lodge, Staub, Lagostina), all with similar results. What I've found matters most is not so much the brand, but rather how well the lid fits -- you want to trap the steam as much as possible (it keeps the loaf cooler). If your lid doesn't make good contact around the rim (e.g. if there's a wobble), you can try making a "gasket" with a silicone baking mat sandwiched between the lid and the pot.
Use finer marks on analog knobs / monitor temperature: The temperature dial on my oven is analog and doesn't have much tactile feedback (no notches nor clicking), and there's probably a 10-15F average error when choosing a setting because of the size of the paint notches on the temperature dial. This is slightly OCD, but I line up the edges of the paint lines rather than the centers, to get a reproducible setting between bakings. An oven thermometer might be a good investment if your kitchen oven's like mine, and you need to fine tune the rheostat to recalibrate dial markings to "real" temperatures.
Adjust baking temperature / baking time: Lastly, this is somewhat obvious, (but sometimes non-trivial depending on the recipe,) but consider reducing your baking temperature to account for any make/model discrepancies for your oven. Get an oven thermometer to monitor the real oven temperature (or even inside the dutch oven if you have a probe). Adjust the recipe time accordingly.
Live with it: This is somewhat of a boring solution, but find a way to appreciate the darker/thicker crust, or scrape the burnt bits with a knife. Different unique flavors get brought out in the crust. If you find it difficult to cut through thick bottom crust with a serrated bread knife (which is personally what I dislike the most about thick crust), try slicing with a long and sharp chef knife instead, and rock back and forth on it -- i find it easier.

Something else I haven't tried yet, but could work well, is to use a thick silicone baking mat at the bottom of the dutch oven instead of parchment paper. But it might need to be cut to shape (and hence, sacrificed for that purpose) to avoid deforming the loaf as it expands -- they are far more rigid than parchment paper and don`t hug the sides of the oven as well, esp when the mat is square and the oven is round/oval. If your oven is of the "cloche" kind, then of course the shape/size of the mat doesn't matter as much if you can close the lid down hermetically over the (protruding) mat.


Freezing Mashed Potatoes - any way to prevent drying out? I am making shepherd's pie soon for freezing, and have been given conflicting advice regarding freezing the mash potato topping. I've been told both to freeze only the mince base and make the mash fresh (but as these meals are neede for quick heating and cooking that might be counter -productive) or to freeze the whole thing, but that the mash will be drier once defrosted. Has anyone any tips on freezing mash potato, or reheating it, that would prevent this? would cooking straight from frozen rather than defrosting first, make any difference?

Once you've added the mash to the pie, let it cool completely then add grated cheese and a few cubes of butter. Cover tightly with tin foil and freeze. When you're ready to cook it, defrost it and cook as normal. The cheese and butter will melt into the potato, remoistening it.

You may also want to leave the mince a little wetter than usual so that the liquid can be absorbed into the mash from underneath during cooking.


What to look for in an induction stovetop? This is a sad story, because I've already bought one and am not completely happy.

The good:

Power - 9kW.
Fires - 3 fires from small to large (14cm - 28cm).
Timer - From one to ninety nine minutes for each fire.

The bad: The controls.

They are incorporated in the surface and are very sensitive. When cleaning the surface it will power down the stovetop.
If you put anything on the controls, they will flash an error message.
There is only one up and down button. when more than one fire is 'burning' you have to activate the fire you want to change. You have to cycle clockwise through all the fires to do that.

What advise would you give to anyone looking for an induction stovetop?

If you like to cook using 3 or more elements at once, ensure you buy a sufficiently powered model. There's nothing more frustrating than upping the power on one element and watching another one reduce at the same time.
Touch controls look nice but they're horrible from a usability standpoint. I always had problems with responsiveness with wet or greasy fingers.
Cockroaches love induction.  I don't know if the frequency attracts them or it's just the heat but they will come and eat out the wiring, even if you've never spotted one in the house before. It's a common problem as it's hard to seal the electronics for thermal reasons. Board replacements are expensive. It's one item I would consider an extended warranty on.
As for any 2" cooktop, larger pot/pan sizes can't be accommodated if you're using 3 or more elements. Go 2'8" minimum.


Vodka for crispy wings - substitute? This Korean fried chicken recipie uses vodka to prevent gluten formation in the batter, which results in a thin and crispier crust. vodka is expensive. Are there any substitutes?

Will a beer batter do the same thing? Does beer prevent gluten formation?

Given the science as Kenji Alt explained it in his article, the key fact of the vodka is that it is 80 proof, or 40% alchohol.

So beer, which usually is on the order of 4 to 6 percent alcohol (yes, there are outliers) will not have the same level of inhibition of the gluten formation.

The vodka is not the only factor in the recipe leading to crispiness and good crust, so you will probably still get very good results with the beer, assuming you like the flavor profile it brings to the wings, but it won't be quite the same.

If you use another liquer that is on the order of 80 proof, again assuming you like the flavor profile, you should get quite similar results.  This would include mixing grain alcohol with water or orange juice or whatever to the appropriate ratio.

Other than some white wine for cooking, though, I don't buy spirits so I don't what would be more economical--and that might vary from region to region.


Why does salt enhance the flavor of food? I eat a lot of salt. It makes almost everything taste better, including:

Meat
Cookies
Vegetables
Sauces
Chocolate
much more

It seems to me like salt makes almost anything better, but it doesn't just make it better because now I taste salt. It enhances the flavor of whatever I eat.

Why? What about salt makes it bring out the flavor in other foods? Also, are there compounds similar to salt (referring to NaCl) that act as flavor enhancers? Does salt add "umami", or something else?

Our brains are wired to consider food more palatable if the dedicated taste receptors (one of the six basic tastes) for salt are triggered. And in a non-urban world, salt/sodium is a valuable nutrient; the fact we might have it too readily available in the developed world doesn't change that we would DIE on a zero-sodium diet (mind that animal products like meat aren't zero-sodium, and that herbivores tend to love licking salt where they find it!). So our brains have a good evolutionary reason to like salt.

Also, salt actively interferes (negatively) with another basic taste receptor - the receptor for bitterness (which can mean poison both in nature and in the developed world, or at least something we have no use for, eg an alkali). Most aromatic food (think green vegetables or spices) is bitter, and salt both attenuates that perception and balances it making the combined food still desirable for our brain. You end up with an even more palatable food since you can use an aromatic (desirable) and shut out the bitterness (not always desirable) response.

Umami is a different basic taste, probably related to the presence of protein (glutamate, inosinate, guanylate... trigger it - these are amino acids or salts thereof, and an indicator of easily-digestible protein presence).


Dutch savoury spices and herbs My family has been trying to work out my late Dutch grandmother's soup recipe since she lost it to dementia. If you have any ideas on herbs and spices to try to get the taste right we'd really appreciate it.

The soup was thin noodles, shredded chicken, beef meatballs, and finely diced carrot and celery in a light broth. We're pretty sure the meatballs were just salt, pepper, and nutmeg. We're also pretty sure that she'd have made her stock from scratch with the roast chicken carcass being shredded into the rest of the soup.

If this sounds at all familiar I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I can't say that I'm an expert in Dutch food, but I did live there for a few years (decades ago).

It's entirely possible that the soup really was just salt, pepper and nutmeg in the meatballs.  The Dutch for 'soup with meatballs' is 'soep met balletjes', which will help you avoid having to sort through all of the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' recipes out there.

If you recall there being some green flecks in the soup, it's possible that it was finished with parsley or chives, but there's a good chance that most of the flavor was developed in making the stock -- cook down the chicken bones with onions and carrots at the very least.

You might always want to talk to whomever helped your grandmother move when they realized she had dementia -- they might remember some of the spices that she had ... and if she relied on any of the various dutch spice blends.  (many of which have an Indonesian influence)


What is the inside of a nut called? My 3-year-old and I were sharing our traditional mix of Christmas nuts. He's getting pretty good at cracking them open by himself, and wanted to know what the part he eats is called. Anyone have an authoritative answer?

I've always heard the "meat" of the nut, or "nutmeat". Alternate terms include "kernel" or "seed" or, well, "nut".

If you were to ask a botanist, the edible part is the embryo and the endosperm, though it varies depending on which type of seed you're referring to. Also, for a few seeds—not sure if any of them are called nuts—we eat the seed coat as well (e.g., beans).


Is cooking a chicken pot pie with a low power microwave safe to eat? The package says do not use with microwaves less than 1100 watts because it won't cook thoroughly. If I cook on a 700 watt microwave for 6 recommended minutes*(1+(1100-700)/700=8 minutes 10 seconds do I risk food poisoning or do I risk it tasting cold in the middle? I don't really know how these pies are made but the brand is banquet.

It doesn't matter for food safety how you reach the required temperature, as long as the food doesn't spend too long in the danger zone. Since you've looking at possibly minutes longer this is not a problem for you. Just make sure you know that the internal temperature is high enough when you finish cooking. I would recommend a thermometer.


How do I know if I can double, triple or quadruple a recipe for caramels? I have a really good recipe for caramels, everyone raves about them, so I am thinking about selling them to the public. But the recipe I have only makes an 8 x 8 inch pan of caramels and they take a looong time to make. Does anyone know how to know if the recipe can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled short of actually having to do that.

The short answer is yes, but I would do it by weight and absolutely not by volume.

A lot depends on how many times you are scaling up your recipe. With high viscosity materials, mixing small amounts is trivial, but with large enough amounts, the geometry of your mixing vessel and the type of hook/blade/impeller all matter, and matter to the point the sometimes the recipe itself needed changing. It is all about mass transfer. The same with heat transfer during cooking, hot spots and uneven temperature distribution are common problems. Without knowing the specifics, it would not be possible to calculate what "large enough" is. Twice is probably fine. Quadruple the batch, you might want to look out for mixing and heating issues.

A bit off-topic, when it comes to the economics of making a recipe into a business, allowances for wastage, measurement inaccuracies, ingredient and product losses do pile up when scaled up. These are unnoticeable in a small batch in a home kitchen. Hygiene when scaled up becomes disproportionately effect and cost intensive too. Budgeting errors lurk everywhere even for very experienced finance minded people. Underestimating power consumption is also common.


Using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose and semolina I want to make pasta at some point and I am wondering if I could use all whole wheat flour instead of a blend of all-purpose and semolina flour. I know the taste will be a little different, but can I use only whole wheat flour instead of AP and semolina for pasta?

You can, although the vast majority of whole wheat pasta recipes also include flours that are not whole wheat. When I first answered this question I missed that you were looking to make pasta using only whole wheat flour.

One way it can work to use all whole wheat is to make the dough, knead, and then rest it overnight recipe, but I'm a bit dubious that the final result will be completely satisfactory. Simply put, if using whole wheat alone can make good pasta, we would see more recipes that only include whole wheat.

If you search for "whole wheat pasta recipe" you will find many recipes that include whole wheat and another flour. The ratio of whole wheat to other flours will vary, I'd definitely look for recipes from very solid sources or recipes that have many excellent reviews. There are a lot of not-very-good recipes out there.

Of all the recipes I looked at from sources that I trust, Mario Batali's uses the highest proportion of whole wheat. He uses a 7:1 ratio. The reviews on that particular recipe aren't stellar, but the comments suggest that the reviewers liked the pasta, just not the sauce.


How can I make a halva with spinach? I am a huge fan of spinach after Popeye! It packs a flavorful punch as a side dish and a main course dish. But somehow whenever I try to make a halva out of spinach I fail badly. Either spinach loses its punch or else it gets all bitter. How do we make spinach taste sweet but at the same time not lose all of its flavors? Also I intend to lose the astringent-y after taste that spinach has.

So, there's maybe a few things I found to reduce the astringency or bitterness of spinach.  If you can reduce the bitterness to a flavor you like first, rather then relying on the sugar to mask or balance astringency (which it doesn't hide so much) - you can probably end up with a better dessert.

One thought is that blanching the spinach will help counter bitterness.  briefly boil your washed spinach, and discard the water.  If you're intending to further cook the spinach afterwards (as in making a fruit-based halwa), cold shocking it might not be needed - It's possible that discarding the water will be enough, though of course you can try with and without the cold shock to see what works for you.

Another thing is astringency can be countered or hidden by soaking in different substances - Adding a bit of milk or fats to your final recipe (as in some of the fattier nut-style halwas) should help balance a little bitterness, Pre-soaking the spinach in milk and discarding might work to draw out some of the astringency.  Soaking in food grade lime or absorbic acid like lemon juice or vitamin C, might also work.

Another option is to consider the source of your spinach - fresh baby spinach (for example) will likely not have as much of the bitterness in it to begin with, compared to a cooked full grown spinach.  Baby spinach is mild enough to be eaten straight in a salad, mild enough that it might even be candied, like rose petals, for a garnish after your dish is complete.

You might also consider whether the spinach will work better as a flavoring agent or as a bulk agent in your halwa - many fruit based halwas (which seems the easiest method) simply stew the fruit with sugar for a long cooking period, so you need to make sure the spinach as a whole is not going to turn bitter or change while cooking.  Other types of halwa may use different ingredients, for different effects - a jelly based or nut-based halwa might easily be flavored with spinach juice... juice which can be extracted at any point along the process, from raw to well-boiled.  Leaving the solids behind may help reduce unwanted flavors - or just make the juice more controllable (that is, extract the juice when it is a flavor you like, and the lack of the rest of the plant might keep it form changing overmuch).

You might even consider pairing your spinach with another fruit or vegetable, something complementary or neutral for the bulk removed if you go the juice route - something mild and vegetal might mellow the spinach taste without overriding it (especially if you watch the proportions and use more spinach flavor, less other flavors).  Maybe watercress, or celery, asparagus, or bellpepper, something like that that tastes green, or tastes good with spinach.  Or you could find a flavor that goes well with the spinach - citrus, or apple, or berries - the kind of flavors that show up on sweet dressings for fresh spinach salads.


How can I use left over crumble topping? I like making fruit crumbles, and I like fruit crumbles, but I have a problem...

I always make the crumble topping by estimating quantities, adjusting the ingredients until I get the consistency I want. This always leaves me with a lot of crumble left over when the fruit is covered.

What can I do with this excess crumble topping? Obviously it’s a nice treat on its own, and I could cook more fruit, but is there another recipe I could use this for?

(I wonder if there’s a way to convert it into a shortbread, but I don’t know how to go about it.)

I'd bake the left overs on a baking sheet and freeze the result in zip bags.

It will keep longer.


Can salted butter be used to make lemon curd? The recipe I want to use to make lemon curd specifically calls for unsalted butter, while many other recipes I've looked at either also specify this, or simply say 'butter', making me unsure whether they mean salted or unsalted butter.

Where I live butter is very expensive, and it can also be difficult to buy it in any reasonably large quantities. So this makes me wonder whether it's okay to use salted butter which I readily have available instead of spending the time and money to buy the suitable amount of unsalted butter.

So would using salted butter to make lemon curd somehow cause it to fail? Or would it succeed, but change the taste and/or texture?

EDIT

Today, I finally got around to making some lemon curd. As an experiment, I decided to make a small batch with the salted butter I had to hand to see how it would turn out, and to be perfectly honest it tastes great. It doesn't taste particularly salty and the texture is just as I wanted. I plan to give some to my in-laws and ask for their opinions on whether it tastes salty at all, but since they have a more salt heavy diet than me (I've been trying to cut down on salt when possible for the last half a year or so), I don't think they'll be put off at all. Or at least I hope so!

In any case, I don't think I'll be worrying too much about whether I'm using salted or unsalted butter in my curd from now on. Though I will note to buy the same brand of butter as often as possible, since I might just be using a comparatively lightly salted butter.

Often, at least in the US, recipes will specifically call for unsalted butter, then call for salt to be added to the recipe — which causes many to scratch their heads.

There are three main uses that come to my mind for salt. One is to impart a salty taste.  The usage in butter is primarily a secondary one, and that is as a preservative.  The third is as a flavor enhancer (which can also apply to butter, but to my knowledge is not the primary reason there).  Many recipes that call for a small amount of salt are using it strictly as a flavor enhancer.  The intent is to highlight other flavors without actually tasting the salt.

So why call out unsalted, then add salt?  Two reasons that I know of.  The amount of salt in salted butter varies.  If you read the label carefully and do the math, you might get a rough idea, but in general by just picking up the butter you do not know how much salt is in there.  Some may have enough to taste, others you may not notice.  By using unsalted, you are in control of how much salt is added and can even adjust to taste as individuals who practice a lower-salt diet tend to taste it at lower amounts.  Higher-salt diets tend to become numbed to the taste so do not notice it at lower amounts.  This contributed to the older tendency to call for a "pinch" and a pinch varied from person to person according to their own sense of taste.

The second reason is more subtle.  Salt in butter is a preservative.  Since it has salt, it tends to hold up longer in storage. Since it holds up longer, there is at least a perception that salted butter may be older.  So calling for unsalted by some cooks and authors can be like saying "use fresh butter, not old."  It is an old tendency, and many may not even realize that is an origin, even if subtly implied.

Now, not knowing your curd recipe, it may not call for added salt.  I come from a high-salt background, so it is unlikely I would taste the difference, while others might.  In the case of your particular recipe, there may be a tendency for at least some people to actually taste the salt, especially given that the amount of salt in the butter may vary by maker.


How can I make home-made veggie burgers stay together so I can grill them? I tried this weekend to make veggie burgers to cook on the grill, with fake ground beef (maybe Gimme Lean or something like that), egg, breadcrumbs, spices, and they totally fell apart.

Is there a secret to home-made veggie burgers that can be cooked on the grill? All grilled veggies instead of fake meat?  Just a proportion issue? Can't be solved?

Thanks!

I second the recommendation for Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. I've been working my way through it and have made several of the recipes so far, all of which have been good. However, I would say that not all of the recipes in the book work well for the grill.

I've been doing everything vegan from the Volger book with mixed results. Many of the recipes use eggs, but you can do them with just breadcrumbs and water as the binder. They come out pretty delicate that way and are better in a skillet and then baked, as Volger recommends. His tofu and chard burgers use some tofu that has been browned then pureed as binder. This works ok, but the burgers came out quite delicate (but still delicious).

Silken tofu pureed in the food processor gets a thick, creamy texture that could also be used as a binder.

Eggs are by far the most common binder as they may be the best edible binder there is, since they are basically liquid protein, but obviously not vegan.

For delicate burgers, I use this cooking grid on the grill, which works great. You can find something similar at most kitchen stores.

Another binder option is steamed rice, prepared like you would for sushi. It gets sticky and makes a great binder, though they'll still be a bit delicate.  I've been making the beet, brown rice and black bean burger recipe from Volger's book. I add bbq sauce and a paste of pureed rehydrated prunes, similar to the veggie burger at Hillstone/Houston's restaurant and they come out really great. They work fine right on the grill, though refrigerating them overnight makes them a little sturdier.

Another option is adding vital wheat gluten and water, aka raw seitan dough. This is what is done in the Veganomicon black bean burger recipe. I tried these straight on the grill also and they stayed together perfectly, as well as any commercial veggie burger. However, they were a little bland and could use some more seasoning.

I haven't tried any of these in burgers, but some common binders in vegan baking are peanut butter, apple sauce and Ener-g egg replacer. I bet peanut butter would work well in a burger with flavors that work with peanut, like Thai flavors or chipotle.

Falafel-style burgers also don't need any binders, they stick together pretty well and can be grilled, though you may want to use a grill grid or something similar.

Lastly, you can put a cast iron skillet or pizza stone on the grill - it's common now for grilled pizza and will work for delicate burgers.


What are the best types of apples to use in Charosset? What are the best type of apples to use when making Charosset for Passover?

I'm torn between something more neutral like Gala vs something tart (which might work well with the sweetness of the rest of the dish).

Looking through recipes suggests a variety of apples.  Gala showed up the most, with Fuji in second, and McIntosh and Delicious tied for last.

If you want to go with the "source" of the recipe for Charoset, though, you'll want a sweet apple.  The recipe has its roots in Song of Solomon/Songs, and the verse that refers to the apples reads as:

  As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

So, for authenticity, go for a sweet apple, but Gala is the most mentioned apple in recipes online.


What is an alternative for ginger? Some people don't like ginger taste in meal.  What can I use instead of ginger?
Actually I want to cook cauliflower, so what can I use instead of ginger.

if you are making couliflower then you can use garlic instead of ginger,and in some other dishes as you say about meal you can use ground nutmeg,cinnamon etc.


Why didn't my apples caramelise? Today I tried to make a Tarte Tatin, with mixed results. Everything tasted great, expect that my apples didn't really caramelise.
Note: This recipe is more like an interpretation of a real Tarte Tatin.

As instructed, I first made caramel (sugar & water), which I then is poured onto a plate to cool and harden, just like the recipe said.

In the meantime, I peeled four apples (Boskop), then cut them into quarters and removed the core.
To prevent the apples from browning, I put them in a bowl of water with lemon juice (this was not in the recipe).

After all four apples were ready, I put the quarters into an oven-proof pan after washing them & drying them with a paper towel (to remove the lemon juice taste).

Following the recipe, I broke the caramel into small pieces, put them on top of the apples, squeezed half a orange over the pan and added a few tiny bits of butter. Then I covered the pan with aluminum foil and put it into the oven at 180°C.

As the recipe did not tell me what type of heat to use, I used top & bottom heat.

According to the recipe, the apples would be caramelized after 20 minutes. When I looked at them after 20 minutes, the caramel didn't even begin to melt, so I put them in for another 15 minutes. After that, the apples basically turned into mush, like they had exploded.

My guess is that by putting them into the bowl with lemon water, they probably sokaed a bit, which means they were moister than usual.

Also, it sounds a bit strange to me to first make the caramel, letting it harden, just to reheat it again – that simply did not work as expected, maybe because it was to thick or the pieces were too large.

How can I avoid that my apples turn into overly soft, shapeless apple things?
Is there a better way to caramelize apples, maybe a way that keeps a bit bite to them?
Did you notice anything wrong in my process?

Sugar / caramel melts far above the boiling point of water. So apples are likely to cook and going to be soft faster than the caramel can melt. The only things I can suggest are to make a caramel sauce or pour liquid caramel onto the (sautéed or somehow else processed) apples. (Another option would be using a salamander or even a burner like the ones to make créme brulée but I don't think you have such an oven or burner.) Making the caramel more acidic may be an solution. I don't know if it lowers the melting point of the caramel.
I've tried something similiar with sautéed peaches some months ago. I thought of some crispy, caramelly stuff. Same problem: peaches mushy, caramel still solid.


Hygienic fitness of frozen fully cooked food I cooked chicken soup and freeze it.For how long I can eat it

Freezing is a great way to preserve food for many months, but not for any longer than 1  year to prevent freezer burn or moisture and flavor loss.  It is a good idea to prevent bacteria growth by only reheating food once, so avoid keeping any leftover reheated soup by refreezing or refrigerating.  Freezing in small batches, and reheating for that meal can minimize waste.


Substituting table salt or sea salt for kosher salt? The roasted chicken recipe I'm following of course calls for kosher salt, but I don't have any, and getting some is out of the question.

I have sea salt and table salt on hand.

Can I substitute one of those instead, and if so, what is the proper ratio of the kosher salt the recipe calls for to either sea salt or table salt?

I don't know how well a substitution will work in this case, because I don't know how the salt is being used in the recipe.

If you're mixing the salt into something where it will dissolve, then go ahead and substitute, using the chart that @ManiacZX linked to.  If you're mixing it into cold things, and it doesn't sit for very long, I'd go with a finer salt if you have it.

If it's a recipe that calls for a salt rub, where you rub the bird down with salt, let it sit, then pat dry and roast, you're not going to have as good of results with a replacement.  The issue is the size and shape of the crystals; kosher salt specifically sticks well to moist surfaces to draw out the liquid, and as a result, some of the salt is taken into the meat.  You're not going to get the same behavior with other salts (or at least, not in the same amount of time).


Substitution for green meat radish A recipe I’m following asks for a green meat radish. Where would be a good place to get one (I’m from the UK) or what could I substitute it with?

I'm in the US and I had never heard of a green meat radish. However, based on information I found on Specialty Produce, I would think you could substitute almost any regular variety of radish you find at your local grocer.
Excerpts from the linked page:

Description/Taste
Green Meat radishes are easily distinguished by their shape and color. The swollen and elongated taproot is two-toned like several radish varieties, yet it is unique in its coloring. Its upper half near the stem end is lime green colored, and its tapered lower half is cream colored. It can be harvested when as small as five inches or as large as ten inches. Its thick skin covers a green to creamy white flesh which offers a crisp texture and a radish flavor that can vary from mild to hot depending upon growing conditions and maturity.

and

Applications
The spicy flavor and crisp texture of the Green Meat radish shines in fresh preparations. Slice thin and add to sandwiches, salads or wraps. Use to add a spicy accent to tacos, nachos, and Mexican soups. Slice lengthwise and pair with cream based dips or soft cheeses. Grate and serve as a condiment with sushi or sashimi or add to slaws to give them a spicy kick. In China Green Meat radishes are popularly pickled along with Sichuan peppers. Green Meat radish greens can be added to soups and stir-fries. To store, keep Green Meat radishes refrigerated and used within one to two weeks.

More interesting reading on the linked page, also.


Troubleshooting Soft and Mushy Oven Fries I've been making oven fries for many years. My method: wash potatoes (Russet), dry, cut, toss with olive oil and sometimes seasoning like paprika, no salt, bake in hot oven on low rack, turn with spatula 2/3 way through. Result: nicely browned, crispy fries. Inside is fully cooked yet firm.

I recently saw a recipe for oven fries with a spice blend I decided to try: paprika, pressed garlic, salt, pepper, rice flour, olive oil, all mixed together and tossed on potatoes. Otherwise, exact same method of prep and cooking. (The recipe said either rice flour or semolina or bread crumbs.) The result is they look beautiful on the outside and the flavor is great but they are not crispy and inside the potato is mushy. There was nothing else cooking in the oven that could've caused excessive moisture.

Rather than experimenting to try to figure out why they are so different, I thought I'd ask:
What is it about this new blend of seasonings that is preventing the fries from getting crisp and making the inside mushy?

I would guess that the rice flour is the culprit. The flour is absorbing the cold olive oil before the oil is able to fry it. If you were deep frying, the hot oil would crisp the flour before it was able to absorb the oil.

Whoever wrote the recipe was probably adapting a recipe for traditional fries to work in an oven and forgot to leave out the flour. Luckily rice flour is completely flavorless, so doing away with it shouldn't affect the taste at all.


Whats the cooking method called where you bury the raw food in hot charcoal ashes? Whats this cooking method called where you bury the raw food (potato, sugarbeet, guava, corn cobs)in hot charcoal ashes?

This is just traditional fire cooking, now called camp-fire cooking, or (US) cowboy cooking

Any Scout should know how to do this :-)

It works best using food with tough outer skins, or wrapped in a sacrificial coverings, or more modernly using aluminium foil, or a cast iron pot (dutch oven)

Some common foods examples:

Potato and other Tubers

You lose about 5 mm (including unpeeled skin) to the fire. If you wrap in Aluminium foil the loss is often nil. Wash and soak tuber well before cooking, but do not cut into the skin, even to remove imperfections or 'eyes'. Takes about 30 to 60 minutes to cook depending on coal heat. If not eating immediately, do not leave potatoes in foil wrapping. Unwrap and let surface dry

Corn

Do not remove husk. Soak corn before cooking. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes to cook depending on coal heat

Cabbage

Wash and soak cabbage. Drain excess water. Do not remove any dead leaves etc. Poke a knife halfway into the core from the top and pour in a little water (and meat fat for extra go). Can take up to 1 hour to fully cook

Meat

Large slabs work best. Reduce flesh loss by wrapping in edible leaves. If you don't like the charred bits, you can use Aluminium foil, or better yet a dutch oven. Time depends on mass and done-ness desired

Small goods like sausage (real meat and fat, not sawdust please) will have up to 5 mm of flesh loss, but are still fun to do.

Fish

Gut fish, but otherwise leave intact. Fish cooks relatively fast, time depends on mass. Pull sides apart and eat flesh directly off the skin and bone. If using a foil pouch you can add aromatics, raw sugar, and spices to make some amazing meals

Fruit

Keep bananas in skin, make a couple of small cuts to let steam escape. Cooks in 10 to 15 minutes

Unpeeled and un-cored apples cook in 15 to 20 minutes (you can eat the core, it's good for you)


Animal Stock from Vegetable Stock I always seem to accumulate vegetable scraps faster than I do bones, so would it be possible to create a vegetable stock in a pressure cooker, to then create a chicken /beef stock at a later date when the bones are available? Specifically, would there be a considerable loss in flavor, or would there be a better way to go about this?

I'm not certain what you are asking?
Are you wanting to start a vegetable stock and use it as a base for the bone stock at a later time ?

IMO that would work.

Do a vegetable stock when you have enough vegetable scraps, portion it and freeze it.

When you have enough bones, do the stock using the vegetable stock use made earlier.


Suggestions for caramel from dark brown (muscovado) sugar? I'm thinking about making caramels for holiday treats, and as some of the flavors I'm considering are quite intense (and for variety's sake), I'm considering trying to use a much darker, richer sugar.  Previously when I've tried doing caramel with brown sugar, the molasses seemed to lead to a rather intense foaming and an astonishingly un-appetizing result; I'm wondering if there are any specific tips folks can offer for getting brown sugar to behave reasonably well while I'm caramelizing it?

I can't back this up with any evidence, but I think the reason it doesn't work well is that at the temperature required to caramelize sugar, the other "impurities" in brown sugar will be burned and gross. You might be able to get a similar effect by making regular white-sugar caramel and then mixing in molasses after it has begun to cool.


Why don't they sell frozen tomatoes like other frozen vegetables and fruits? Why aren't frozen tomatoes available like frozen broccoli, peas, peaches, or strawberries? Why are tomatoes only canned or fresh?

Example: http://www.peapod.com/search_results.jhtml?searchText=frozen+tomatoes

Freeze one, thaw it and see.
The liquid separates out and leaves a pulpy structure behind.
Tomato sauce (no chunks) thaws much better and separated liquid can be stirred back in well enough.

Canned works as we all know so no one is bothering trying to grow a freezer-friendly tomato, yet.


If you add spices to boiling pasta, will it absorb spices/flavours? If you are cooking pasta via simmering, and you add some spices e.g. pepper to the pot, will the pasta absorb the spices/flavors or will the spices just go to the top of the pot and not really get absorbed?

Poorly. Pasta doesn't absorb all that much flavor from spices in the water, other than maybe salt (and even then you must add excessive amounts of salt to make the resulting pasta evidently salty.) Add spices to whatever sauce you pour on the pasta, otherwise you're wasting like 90% of them.

An alternative would be kneading the spices into the pasta dough. There are several pasta brands with spices/herbs in the dough like that.


emulsifier and stabilizer equivalent to one yolk for frozen desserts I want to make ice cream, sorbet and gelato without eggs. Momofuku's Christina Tosi's Milk Bar cookbook advocates for this and uses gelatin  as emulsifier and stabilizer as well as glucose for thickening instead of the usual full eggs/yolks required by many other books (e.g. one of Ben & Jerry's bases, Ample Hills, Bi-Rite). [UPDATE: the excellent Hello My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree avoids using eggs in many of its recipes.]

Modernist Cuisine at Home for their nut butter gelatos also uses tapioca starch and xantham gum as stabilizers (as well as the nut butters themselves, I assume). ChefSteps uses locust bean gum, xantham gum and kappa carrageenan as stabilizers.

What is the equivalent of

one full egg, and
one egg yolk

in traditional custard/egg-based ice cream recipes in terms of

gelatin + glucose
tapioca starch + xantham gum
locust bean gum + xantham gum + kappa carrageenan
other emulsifier/stabilizer/thickener combinations?

There is no such thing as "the equivalent" of one yolk, because yolks and other emulsifiers are not the same thing, don't work the same way, and don't have the same results.

If you are trying to find out how much of a given emulsifier to use, either 1) use a recipe (the preferred way) or 2) find its description (for example in Lersch's book Hydrocolloids, CC lincensed) and see the range. Then work within that range. For xanthan, it is "0.25% thin running sauce, 0.7 - 1.5% thick sauces, 0.5-0.8% foams; [0.07-1%]". "Thin running sauce" is a good description of ice cream base, so you can go with that one as a starting point. You'll have to adjust by experimenting.

Also, no idea why Modernist cuisine advises both xanthan and starch at the same time, as they are both thickeners. They must have found out through experimenting that some ratio gives an optimal mouthfeel, so take advantage of all the work they have put into it and use that ratio. It is independent of any yolk use in other recipes. If it were just because of a "thickening power" (How would you measure such a thing? Any single-dimensioned measure will be inadequate for kitchen purposes), the mixture wouldn't make any sense.


How can I avoid seizing chocolate? Possible Duplicate:
  How can you melt chocolate without it getting wet?

When tempering chocolate over a water bath, how can I avoid getting any droplets of water into the chocolate?  These water droplets will cause the chocolate to seize!

You can use 1 teaspoon of potato starch (or maizena).


What is my Paella Pan made of? I bought a paella pan at a flea market. I have no idea what metal(s) it's made of. It cooks like a nonstick but doesn't have a commercial nonstick coating. I clean it by washing it with dawn and hot water and dry it completely. The nonstick-ness survives the washing method. There is no stamp on the bottom.

1) How do I tell what my paella pan is made off?
2) Is it ok to continue to wash it without knowing what it's made of?

I often use it to sear steaks and then place the pan in a 420°F oven to finish cooking
3) is this safe to do?

This kind of pan is traditionally made of blue steel. The coating on it would be a homemade seasoning from oil.

I cannot tell it 100% from just the small picture, especially since there are manufacturers who sometimes imitate traditional looks while using different materials, but this is the likeliest guess for this pan.

If it is indeed a seasoned blue steel pan, then the seasoning can take any temperature at which food is cookable. If you take it so far that it burns off (which would take something around 500-600 Celsius, so unlikely to happen in a home kitchen) you can replace it yourself, although you might need a few tries until you get it right.


Why is black pepper both grey and black? A container of black pepper seems to have both black and greyish bits.  Why is this the case?  Shouldn’t it all just be black?

Here is a photo of a peppercorn.  You can see why a ground one might contain both black and grey bits.


Can refrigerated shredded mozzarella cheese go bad if the refrigerator door was left open overnight? A bag of shredded mozzarella cheese was in my refrigerator. The door to the refrigerator was left partially open overnight. Can I still use this cheese or should I discard it?

Almost certainly the cheese is fine, but it may grow moldy a bit faster than it would have otherwise. Just use it sooner rather than later (within a couple of days if you can). Check it for mold before each use, and throw away the whole bag if it shows any sign of mold or otherwise being "off".


Molasses - “Full Flavor” vs “Mild Flavor” What is the difference between Full Flavor and Mild Flavor of molasses?

Is it produced differently? Contents differ? Is the mild a diluted form of the other?

When to use which one in what kind of recipes?

The examples shown here in this photo are both unsulphured.

Straight from the Rabbit's website: http://www.brerrabbit.com/questions/#7

Q: What are there the different grades of Brer Rabbit molasses?
A: Brer Rabbit molasses comes in three grades: Mild Flavor, Full
Flavor and Blackstrap.

• Mild Flavor: Lightest color and is the sweetest, is used to sweeten hot cereals, yogurts, or hot drinks, like coffee, tea or hot
cocoa
• Full Flavor: More concentrated and has a richer flavor than Mild, that is used in gingerbreads, cookies, pies, cakes, and glazes
• Blackstrap: Bold, robust flavor used in slow-cooked dishes, like such as baked beans or barbeque sauces. Blackstrap is also an
excellent source of Calcium and Magnesium and a good source of
Potassium.

I'd guess that the difference is the same thing, different words, as Crosby's "cooking" and "fancy" The fancy or mild is boiled down cane juice (without the sugar removed) and has more sugar and a more carmel-ish taste.

The highest grade of molasses available, fancy molasses is the pure juice of the sugar cane, condensed, inverted and purified. It is 100% natural and contains no additives or preservatives. It is a bit lighter in colour than the other molasses products, and the flavour is tangy sweet.
Blackstrap molasses is the highly-concentrated, final by-product of the refined sugar manufacturing process. As the sugar crystallizes, the residual cane juice thickens into a dark mass and is separated out through a centrifuge. The resulting molasses is very dark with a robust, somewhat bitter flavour. Like the fancy molasses, it is a pure product and contains no added sulphates or sulphites.
Cooking molasses is a blend of blackstrap and fancy molasses. It is thicker and darker than fancy molasses — less sweet, with a more “full-flavoured” taste.

http://www.crosbys.com/products/molasses-products/#!products


Can I eat eggs that are cooked over 3 hours with low temperature looking a bit brown? I wanted to try what happens to eggs over long cooking with low-temperature. The white thing became a bit brown and the odour is a bit different. Are they edible?

[Update]
I used the lowest temperature in a gas stove with a pressure heavy iron container thing.

I ate the eggs, the yellow tasted dry while the white tasted actually better than usually.

Should be fine to eat, from a food safety perspective.  The heat will  be high enough to prevent bacterial growth.

I can't speak to the flavor, of course. Edible is a matter of opinion.  Goodness knows we've all eaten our culinary screwups that nobody else would touch at least once.


Should I brown meat for stew? I always look through the comments on recipes I find online that I want to try. The comments are usually helpful and give great tips on how to make the dish even better!

I recently found a great crockpot beef stew recipes and in the comments, there was some debate on whether to brown the beef before putting it in the crockpot or not. The recipe did not call for browning the meat prior to putting it in the stew. Some reviewers of the recipe said it was absolutely necessary to maintain the right flavor. Others argued that not browning helped keep the meat tender.

So, what are the advantages of browning the meat before? What does not browning it first do?

To brown or not to brown?

Browning ingredients (both meat and vegetables including the aromatics) before doing a braise or stew (which is what slow cookers do) helps develop depth of flavor, through the Maillard reaction where proteins and carbohydrates react together to create a myriad of flavorful compounds.  Vegetables that are high in sugar, such as onions or leeks, and even carrots may also have some caramelization, where sugars react with each other, again creating flavorful compounds.

Especially with beef, these deep browned flavors are often what people associate with the product, and what they expect to taste.

On the other hand, browning almost by definition overcooks the outside of meat well past well done, so it is somewhat drier and tougher, although this can be mitigated by a long braise   Some experts recommend browning only on one side of cubed meat, to compromise between getting flavor development, and getting good texture.

The one thing browning or searing doesn't do is "seal in the juices"; that is a myth that is well de-bunked.

The choice to brown or not brown is one of taste and balance.  It is traditional in many recipes, especially of Western European heritage.  There are many traditions where browning is not as frequent, including true Mexican cuisine and many Asian cuisines.

Choose what seems most appropriate and tasty to you in a given dish.  Personally, I like the flavor development, and almost always opt for browning.


Should I eat nipples? Sometimes when preparing pork belly I notice that the piece happens to have nipples on it.

Should these be removed or is it fine to eat? If removed how much of the surrounding should be removed as obviously just making it flat doesn't remove it all?

From a food safety perspective, it’s perfectly fine (no pun intended) to eat them.

They are mostly fat, skin and a few fine ducts, so no real difference from the surrounding pork belly. Like with all mammals, if the female they came from never had babies or they came from a (usually castrated) male, the milk glands etc. deep under the skin won’t even be fully developed.

If the skin of the pork belly is removed for cooking or other preparation, the nipples will come off as well, sometimes you can see a faint circular trace of where they were, but most people won’t explicitly look for them.

The attitude of what’s “ewwww” and what’s “normal” has a huge cultural aspect - do you buy a whole chicken with head and feet and possibly even feathers or is the default nicely cleaned up and reduced to the rump with part of the legs and wings? Or do you opt for the clean chicken breast? And not all people like to be reminded that the neat slice of meat on their table is simply a part of what was previously a living, breathing creature. If the nipples bother you, cut them off, if not, you can simply let them be.

Side note:
As with everything that’s rare (a pig has only twelve or fourteen tiny nipples on an almost 200 pounds body), they were once considered a delicacy and special treat. Heston Blumenthal used them for his Roman Feast: Pork nipple scratchings


Why does my bread keep 'blowing out'? Instead of swelling as a whole loaf, my loaf will often expand in the oven off to the side or the bottom - looking 'blown out', a big tear.  This results in a loaf that leans to one side, doesn't rise well, or generally doesn't look good.

Why is this happening and what can I do about it?

Blowing out happens because the extra expansion of the bread in the oven, called oven spring, expands further than the skin of the bread can accommodate.

The protein sheets that make up risen bread can toughen when they dry out. When the bread is introduced to the sudden high heat of the oven the water and alcohol vaporizes, filling the loaf with gas. If the outer gluten sheets were allowed to toughen or if the spring is just to great then the sheets have to tear to make room. The tear will happen wherever the sheets are weakest. This seems to be usually in the ugliest spot possible for a blowout.

It would be possible to reduce the spring by baking at a lower temperature but the spring is desirable and results in a lighter texture. The solution must come, therefore, in softening the gluten or controlling the expansion.

Fat softens bread so this problem happens mostly with lean doughs. One possible solution for some breads is to increase the amount of fat in the dough.

Keeping the surface of the dough moist will also help. Keep the dough covered while it is proofing and spraying it with water when it goes in the oven, and, if possible, having a humid environment in the oven will keep the proteins from drying out.

The traditional solution with lean doughs is to allow the blowout to occur but control the direction. In this way the loaf can be both light and attractive.

Slashing the surface of the loaf releases some of the pressure and allows the baker to have some control over the direction of expansion.


Difference between conventional oven with fan assisted and convection with fan assisted? For all my recipes I have been baking using convention plus fan assisted option and my bakes turn out to be good. But now I have moved to new house where there is a convection oven. I tried my cookie recipe with convection plus fan option, my bake turn out over cooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. What is the difference between convention oven with fan assisted and convection with fan assisted?

After googling for the difference, I am really confused whether convention oven can have fan? But I am sure the SMEG model I used before says "Conventional cooking with fan assisted".

They're the same thing - convection ovens are also known as fan-assist ovens (see for example wikipedia), since they're basically an oven with a fan. Maybe what you had previously was marketed as a fan-assisted oven, and threw out the phrase "conventional cooking" to emphasize that you can still do everything you conventionally could. But it sounds like you're just talking about two different convection ovens here.

More likely, the problems you're having are to do with either the convection being more efficient in your new oven, or the temperature control being off on one of the two. Ovens aren't always perfect, so likely your new oven is hotter when you set it to a given temperature than the old one. It might also have a more efficient fan. You can probably learn to adjust by trial and error - reduce temperatures, and check things frequently until you figure out you've gotten it right. It might also be helpful to grab a thermometer and see if your new oven is lying to you about the temperature.

(If you were previously using non-convection recipes in a convection oven, without adjustment, then your old oven was probably either too cool or its fan wasn't doing much. If you were adjusting recipes for convection previously, then maybe your new oven is hotter than it should be.)


What can substitute Korean malt syrup? I cooked this receipe Korean Grilled Chicken

which was delicious. I replaced the Korean malt syrup with corn syrup, but I am not sure about this switch. What is a good substitute for it? I couldn't find it at the store.

Was curious myself, so I did some more searching. I found a few sites that suggested honey as a alternative, but note that honey is sweeter, so you'll need to cut back. The majority of resources I found agree that corn syrup is your best and closest western substitute.

Traditionally the Malt Syrup (or Mul Yut? Mulyeot?) was apparently made from barley, but these days apparently mostly made from corn, hence corn syrup being a good substitute. Some resources/products even translate and sell Mulyeot directly as "Corn Syrup".


Is there such a thing as "sweet" carrots? These days I am trying to get my wife to eat her carrots. Usually we are just boiling them, and adding some spices and butter.

But she swears that she used to eat sweet carrots, but she can't say how long ago. Supposedly I should know the difference, but I don't recall such a thing. It must be that my sense of taste is weak.

In any case, is there a sweet variety of carrots? Or is there a common recipe to sweeten them up?

Carrots get sweeter if they are left in the garden till after the ground freezes (generally under mulch to facilitate winter digging.)

Then again, I personally consider cooking carrots a good way to ruin them, as I find them far better raw.


Homemade Yogurt Nutrition Info How does one calculate the nutrition of homemade yogurt?  I'm using 2% milk and a packet of yogurt culture.  Does anything change during cooking that makes the nutrition info of the final product any different than the milk I use?  Does yogurt culture have calorie, fat, carb, etc content?

The answer is that they are not much different.

During fermentation, some of the milk's lactose is converted by bacteria into protein and other substances. The amount of conversion is pretty insignificant in terms of calories and grams of macronutrients. The most important effects are the changes in taste and consistency and the presence of live bacteria. Usually many of the bacteria survive the highly acid stomach fluids to reach the small intestine where they continue digesting lactose.

Fitday.com gives the info below for a cup of each, which may be surprising at first. However, commercial yogurt tends to be more dense than milk, as you might see if you make it at home: a cup of milk gives you some watery fluid floating on top of less than a cup of yogurt.

Food              | Calories | Fat  | Carbohydrates | Protein
------------------+----------+------+---------------+--------
Whole Milk Yogurt | 149 kcal | 8.0g | 11.4g         | 8.5g
Whole Milk        | 146 kcal | 7.9g | 11.0g         | 7.9g


Sous-Vide shrimp, minimum time and temp for safety? It seems that the Internet has not quite caught up with sous-vide technology, I'm getting a lot of conflicting information by Googling.

I am making Gumbo for sale at private clubs. I'm packaging it frozen, with instructions to let it defrost overnight in the refrigerator, and then bring just to a boil for service. So, I want to fully pasteurize the shrimp, yet not have it completely "cooked". The goal is to have it safe if not cooked further at all, yet not be overcooked when heated for service.

Modernist Cuisine says 122F, but doesn't give a minimum time for safety.

  Typically shrimps cook quickly and do not need to be prepped as long as other foods. High quality shrimp that is very fresh can be cooked at 122°F or 50°C. It should be noted though that full pasteurization may not occur if it is not cooked long enough. Non-sushi grade shrimp is best cooked at 132°F or 55.6°C. Since shrimps may vary in size, these are cooked between 15 to 35 minutes, depending on how big or small these are.

The Black Peppercorn recommends a temperature of 149F for complete cooking.

So, what is the actual minimum for safety (time and temperature)?

My shrimp are medium sized (~50 per pound), purchased frozen at Sam's Club, defrosted just now and in the fridge.

From Douglas Baldwin's sous vide guide :

  Fish intended for immune compromised individuals or for cold holding (i.e., cook-chill) should be pasteurized for at least the times in Table 3.1 (to achieve 6D reduction of Listeria monocytogenes). While such a pasteurization will reduce all non-spore forming pathogens and parasites to a safe level, it will not reduce the risk of HAV or norovirus infection from shellfish. Since a 4D reduction of HAV in molluscan shellfish requires holding at an internal temperature of 194°F (90°C) for 1.5 minutes, the risk of viral contamination is best controlled through proper sanitation and hygiene (National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food, 2008). Since the spores of non-proteolytic C. botulinum are not inactivated by pasteurization, the fish should be stored at below 38°F (3.3°C) for no more than three to four weeks.

And then gives tables for pasteurization.  I'd assume it'd fall under 'lean fish' if we assume that shrimp and fish are similar (as only crabmeat is singled out in the FDA's Fish and Fishery Products
Hazards and Controls Guidance), and use the value for the temperature desired and the size of the shrimp at their widest point.


Black tea develops cloudy dregs; how to avoid? I'm not much of a tea connoisseur*. But I do know what I like — strong, sweet black tea, and lots of it — and at present, the method I'm using is to boil a cup or so of cold water and about nine cheap tea bags, then turn off the heat and let the whole thing slowly cool on the burner (usually enough that I don't need ice to bring the result to a slightly warm drinking temperature). Then I pour it in a pitcher with some sugar and enough water to bring it to half a gallon; I generally squeeze the bags a bit to avoid waste, although I've tried avoiding that a few times to see if it makes a difference. This tastes nice and stout, and gets me through the average day. I've read some things that suggest steeping tea this long and aggressively will make it horribly bitter, but either those are exaggerations or I have a barbaric tongue, because I haven't noticed any such problems.

The problem I do have is that, especially after a bit of refrigeration, the last half-cup or so of tea has a lot of nasty-looking and nasty-tasting particulates in it. They're fine enough it's difficult to settle them out, even trying various slow pouring methods without disturbing the pitcher much, so presumably the bags don't filter them out either. What can I do about them other than throwing out the dregs? Is there some flawed part of my process that's producing them?

*To say the least.

Those particles are bits of tea leaves (etc.) that came out of the tea bags. They're fine enough particles to get through the bags. Basically, tea dust.

You don't notice them at first because they're suspended in the tea. So you could just stir it up before pouring off each cup. Alternatively, disturb the pitcher as minimally as possible, and pour off the tea. Leave the settled tea dust at the bottom.

Rinsing the tea bags in cold water before steeping might help. (Make sure to use cold water so you don't remove much flavor.)

Other than that, a fine enough filter will remove them. You could try coffee filters, they're cheap enough. Or a nut milk bag. Or a superbag. (Coffee filter is probably the finest filter of those, though by far not the sturdiest).

PS: You might be covering up the oversteeped tea flavor with enough sugar...


Melted plastic wrap in oven at high temp Tonight I preheated my oven, forgetting that I had some dough proofing inside. The dough was sitting in a glassware bowl covered with glad cling wrap and the oven reached about 350F before I realized and took it out. The stretched wrap had a weird hole in the center almost like the plastic had vaporized. Around the sides of the bowl the plastic kind of baked on and got crusty.

Nothing seems to have dripped onto the rack or the inside of the oven and everything came off of the bowl after I washed it with cold water. The dough went in the trash, but is there anything I should do to the oven to make it safe to keep using? I’m worried about plastic particles stuck to the walls of my oven or something. Is the bowl safe to keep using?

It's doubtful the plastic vaporized. It probably just made a hole because it melted and stretched. I'm sure your oven is safe. Any tiny amount of plastic that might have melted and landed on a surface (which is doubtful) would burn and you will smell the burnt plastic. Next time you use your oven just preheat it to 500 for 30 minutes and if there is no smell you're good to go. If you're really worried about it then turn on the self-clean. I would clean the melted plastic off the bowl with a brillo pad.


Alternate seafood for etouffee Last week I made etouffee for the first time, and it came out pretty good.  Unable to find crawfish or raw shrimp, I used pre-cooked cocktail shrimp, which worked but was a little bland (and the double cooking made them a tad chewy).

I'd like to take a second stab at the recipe, and I'm thinking that I want to try something other than shrimp/crawfish, both due to the availability issues and because it's a lot of extra work.  Would scallops work?  Or some kind of whitefish?

Shellfish is expected in etouffee, most commonly shrimp or crawfish. Crab meat is another option. Without shellfish it kind of isn't etouffee anymore, but it can still be great and you can still call it etouffee if you want!

For example, here's a recipe for chicken etouffee.

Where do you live that you can't find raw shrimp? I admire your gumption trying to make it with cooked shrimp, but I'm not surprised that it turned out bland and rubbery. Your best bet for raw shrimp is to look for it frozen. Many places will carry raw shrimp individually-quick-frozen and easy-peel, which means that the shrimp are already deveined, and since the shells are already cut down the back, they just pull off. An advantage of buying shrimp this way is that you can simmer the shells for a few minutes and get a nice shrimp broth to use in the etouffee sauce. Most markets that sell raw shrimp at the seafood counter are selling frozen shrimp that they have defrosted, so buying it frozen is actually a better option for freshness.

Since the seafood in etouffee is generally added last and just cooked through, you can really use whatever protein you want. Certainly whitefish would work, so would scallops. I once had a great lobster etouffee. Another great option would be to use andouille or kielbasa sausage with or without seafood too.


Smart ways to clean a greasy metal vessel? I cooked up some meatloaf in a copper dish and it came out great. The dish itself, a little less so. I don't want to scratch the surface or wash it down the drain, what are some good ways to clean this without pulling out my hair?

The secret to getting meat loaf off is to first soak it in cold water for a good 15 minutes or longer. Cold water soaks are good for high protein food like eggs and meat as well as starches like oatmeal. On a scratch-able surface I like to use a butter knife to gently pry off the material that doesn't wipe off after a soak. Fingernails work too if yours are long enough. Then a gentle rub with a plastic scouring pad, not metal. You just have to keep at it.

This is why I use non-stick, ceramic or glass for meat loaf! It isn't glue, but it's close.


How to deal with an inaccurate oven thermostat So my oven's thermostat is wildly inaccurate. Case in point: I was roasting some potatoes and squash with the oven set to 350F, but the oven thermometer read 600. It's not usually that bad, but it's also not uncommon for the oven's temperature to be off by 100 degrees. What can I do about this? I'm burning a lot of food, and my neighbors don't appreciate how often the smoke alarm goes off.

I've tried just getting used it it, but the inaccuracies are not predictable. Sometimes setting the oven at 350 gets me 375-400, other times (like today) it's much more.

Does the placement of the thermometer affect the reading? That is, could the thermometer be reading extra-hot because I put it in the wrong spot? I have it up close to the door, and it hangs down closer to the heating elements than the food (but still 3-4" above the elements).

Also, I heard somewhere that the way you arrange trays & dishes in the oven affects the ability of the oven's thermostat to do its job. Can someone clue me in on that.

Thanks.

It sounds like the oven needs desperately to be looked at. Please have someone check it out before a fire starts!!!!

The thermometer placement isn't a huge concern. It should be near the middle for general use (top to bottom) and off to the side. Or if you prefer you can just hang the thing in the middle. As long as you can always safely see it it should be fine. If your coils are on the side and not top and bottom put it in the center (where the window would normally be)

Really though I can't stress it enough. If your setting it to 350 and sometimes it is temperature x and sometimes it is temperature x + 100 then you really need to have it looked at before it gets worse.


How can I use persimmons in a cooked dish? I've recently had my first taste of a persimmon, having no idea how it tastes or how it should be eaten, I cut it into slices and ate it like an apple.

It is a very interesting sweet taste, and would like to know how I can incorporate it into a cooked meal or dish?

Raw

Personally, growing up I've usually just eat it raw after it's ripened. That's the only form that i've a experienced a persimmon.

Nonethless, a quick google reveals use as a sauce:

  This morning, I cooked the last of the mushy persimmons into a second
  batch of persimmon sauce.  The first, served over bread pudding on a
  whim one evening, was so popular that it was deemed worthy of the last
  persimmons.  It’s simple and delicious, primarily because, as I
  discovered, a generous serving of  nutmeg and a bit of meyer lemon is
  the best way to season persimmon anything!

Source: Oakland Garden Kitchen

In this article, Oakland Garden Kitchen blogger, also lists a recipes for persimmon bread published by David Lebovitz. Lebovitz has a very comprehensive blog article about persimmons.

Persimmon in Bread

In this blog, he provides an adaptation of James Beard's, "Beard on Bread", Persimmon Bread recipe. If you don't like this version of the recipe. Epicurean has another version.

Persimmon as an Entree

Wine Press NW also once published a recipe of use of persimmon as a glaze for salmon.