Par-fry potato chips or Par-boil? I'm considering par-frying instead of par-boiling my chips. I'll still soak them in vinegar and water to get some of the starch out. I'll be par-frying the night before a large fish fry (70+ people). Thoughts as to if par-frying is better? I'm tired of having my chips so full of water on fry day that the temp drops.

I'll be using a modified approach from http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/09/the-food-lab-extra-crunchy-homemade-potato-ch.html)

Thanks!

Joel

The primary reason for the parboil is to be to lighten the color of the potatoes and prevent off flavors by flushing away excess starch.  It's not strictly necessary to get a decently crispy chip.  That said, par-frying isn't likely to be as effective for this purpose, per this passage from your linked source:

  ...heating up starch granules in the presence of water causes them to
  absorb water and expand. Eventually, like little water balloons, they
  burst, expelling the starch into the water where it can be safely
  dumped down the drain.

With frying, you might wind up bursting some starch granules, but because the starch isn't getting flushed anywhere, it will remain in the potatoes.  This may actually further the development of browning and off flavors by raising the concentration of starch (though you may denature some of the enzymes that are also responsible).

I think you're also likely to see some unintended side effects from par-frying.  For example, partially cooking and doing damage to the cell walls could cause the chips to leach moisture and starch.  As it cools, that could cause the chips to stick together if you're not very careful about keeping them separated.  It might also cause some of the excess oil from the surface to seep into the interior, making your chips greasy.

If your objective is first and foremost maintaining a consistent oil temperature (which is a worthy goal) then the best solution is to fry in smaller batches and allow the oil to come back up to temp after each batch.  This will take longer, but it will still probably be a time savings over doing a whole bunch of par-frying the night before and then finishing them off at the event.

Good luck!


Are feral hog hind quarters hams, or a different type of pork? I recently hunted feral hog and had one processed.  I have two full bone-in hind quarters.  I wondering if these are considered hams or a different cut/type of pork.  How would one go about cooking a full bone-in hind quarter?  What are the proper temperatures to cook feral hog to?  I would like to make a ham if possible, also maybe pulled pork or something else with the second hind quarter.  Thinking maybe in the smoker too.

They would be fresh hams, the hindquarter of a pig.

The word ham, unmodified, implies a cured product.

I would imagine that for a feral hog, if you are willing to risk eating it, that you should cook to the highest temperature reasonable, which in the case of a fresh ham might be at least 180 F, and as high as 200 F.  The best application at these ranges would be making puiled pork, which requires long, low, and slow cooking; smoking is definitely an option.

See also this recipe, although for a pork butt, should be easily adaptable to the fresh ham, which is similar, although not quite as fatty and full of connective tissue, so it won't be quite as tender when done.


What is the way to make golgappe/pani puri at home? This is what I am talking about: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panipuri

I want to know what is the way to make the puris that fluffy and that crispy such that they remain fluffy and crispy forever.

I do make bigger puris at home by deep frying them in hot oil, but nor I neither anyone who is known to me has made puris that fluffy.

Sometimes by chance they get fluffy, but within 5 minutes all the air escapes from them and they flatten and usually become soft.

What is the way to make golgappe/pani puri at home?

There are several differences between regular poori and pani poori. When you cook regular poori, you want it to be soft, not crispy, and it doesn't need to puff up as much, and it doesn't really matter if it collapses a little after you cook it.

These differences translate out to some different methods of working with the dough.

First, you need to have a quite elastic dough for pani poori so that they will be able to puff up a lot without bursting. This means you need a lot of gluten and you need a lot of kneading.

For regular poori you are probably using maida (wheat flour), for pani poori it is common to use fine sooji/semolina flour and only a small amount or maida. (Replace all the maida you normally use with fine sooji, then add an extra spoon of maida.)

For regular poori you also probably use a dough that is about the same as for chapatti, maybe just a little bit stiffer. For pani poori you need to knead this quite a long time, then allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes before forming them so that it makes an elastic dough that will stretch a lot without tearing.

The next difference is soft vs crispy and this is mostly relating to the thickness of the dough. You need to make the dough very thin for the crispy pani poori. It probably needs to be about half the thickness of a regular poori. For a whole batch of them, it is easier to roll out the whole piece of dough at one time to an even thickness and cut little round pieces with a cookie cutter or a small katori instead of making a lot of little balls to roll out, but when you are practicing, maybe it is better to roll out small pieces and test frying so that you know if it is the right thickness. It should be quite, quite thin.

When you cook them, the oil should be hot enough that they immediately float and start to puff up. If they are the right thickness, they will become crispy when they look golden.

The next key to keeping them crispy is to cool them completely before covering them. When they come out of the oil, they will still be steaming. If you cover them when they are still at all warm, that steam will be trapped and will make them soft.


How should I store 15h cooled and then 2h cooked at 65C white soybeans? I cooked a litre of soybeans for two hours and cooled them for 15*. I should put them in the refrigerator, but in what solution? My intuition says that an acidic liquid would work. Should I use one teaspoon of citric acid to make them acidic?

*Note (Jefromi): the title said "15h cooled and then 2h cooked" soybeans. I tried not to change the meaning, but I suspect that the OP may have actually meant that the soybeans were soaked for 15 hours, then cooked.

Generally, cooked beans keep best frozen, at least if you're keeping them for more than a day or two. As for what you'd refrigerate them in to save the to use tomorrow, I'd suggest either their own liquid (if you're going to use it in the recipe) or drained (but tightly covered). Alternatively, if they're going to go into some sauce, you could let them marinate in it.

A teaspoon of citric acid (assuming anhydrous, i.e., dry) is a fair bit, especially for 1L. That will be very sour. ⅛ tsp citric acid into 1L water is notably sour.


Why does milk turn yellow in a silver glass? I boiled some milk and started to poured it in a silver cup by mistake. There was just some drops in it. The glass was clean and nothing was added to it.

But after an hour, I found that the milk turned bright yellow. Never seen milk in that color. What happened? Is something wrong with the silver cup or milk?

tl;dr It looks like your milk has curdled. It is unlikely to be related to the silver cup.

Milk is composed of casein, albumin proteins, sugar, some amount of fat, and vitamins including riboflavin. The solution of protein and fats is opaque white. When milk is curdled- usually by exposure to acid and/or heat, the casein proteins denature and tangle up much of the fat. They separate into curds and settle out of the solution. The remaining sugar and albumin is transparent in solution. The riboflavin has a yellowish-green tint.

Whey looks exactly like the yellowish liquid in your photo.

In your photo you can just see the wispy white of the casein proteins that have come out of solution.

Silver on its own won't curdle milk. Silver nitrate will if your cup was previously used to hold nitric acid but I sincerely hope that isn't the case.
It's more likely that your milk spoiled enough to curdle or was exposed to some other acid unrelated to the silver cup. It is possible, if you haven't used this cup before, that the seller used an acidic cleaner to remove tarnish before selling it.


Can lamb chops be light fried\sauteed to fully done and how long does it take? I always thought sauteeing or pan frying with 1-2 tablespoons of oil was for thin cuts of meat.  As such it isnt suited for lamb chops.

I've been watching some videos on youtube they sautee the chops or pan fry them seemingly quickly but they dont mention how long they cooked it for or if the meat is fully cooked or not.  However in some videos I notice they mention it's medium rare but I need it to be fully cooked.

Since frying with a little oil is simple I'd like to do that rather than grill, bake, stew etc, but I need the meat to be fully cooked.  Can this be done with sauteeing or pant frying(1-2 tablespoons oil) and if so, how long do I need to cook each side.  Also if you can fry them for a short time like minutes why does broiling\grilling etc take so much longer? As far as I can see the chops do fry in a thin layer of their own fat when broiling.

If you're aiming for fully done, it may be best to not try to cook too fast. If you use high heat, and your chops are reasonably thick, then by the time the center is fully done, the outside will be overcooked. High heat and thick cuts works much better when you're aiming for, say, medium rare, so that you aren't trying to heat the center as much and thus don't need to overcook the outside as much to get it there. (Maybe this is why you thought pan-cooking was for thin cuts only?)

You can avoid this by cooking on lower heat for a longer period, possibly even adding a bit of liquid and covering so that it braises/steams and heats from all sides, not just the bottom. Then, if you also wanted the browning from cooking on high heat, you can increase the heat briefly at the end. (If you used water, make sure it's all cooked off or that won't work.)

Overall, the time to cook will depend on the thickness. It might generally be faster in a pan than broiling (UK grilling) because the meat's in direct contact with a hot pan, so there's faster heat transfer. But specifics of course depend on how close you're getting to the element when broiling and how hot you have your pan.


Bake brownies by 2 different ways, what changes? I tried to learn how to make brownies, searching this out i found out 2 ways:

1) Add the sugar and the eggs together and use a hand mixer to beat them until cream. Then add the mixture in the melted chocolate and butter mixture. And finaly add the flour.

2) Add in the melted chocolate and butter mixture the sugar, then add one by one the eggs and finaly add the flour.

What changes in the brownie texture if we cream the eggs and the sugar first? Is this necessary? Or just by combining all the ingredients together using only a whisk we will get the same result.

Of course something must change and i would like to know what.

Your first method -- beating eggs and sugar "to the ribbon" -- is a process of denaturing some of the egg proteins into a lattice that will help capture steam as the batter bakes.  Also, this method helps ensure your eggs will be well distributed in the batter, with no stripes of eggwhite anywhere.

Your second method -- beating sugar and softened butter to a pale yellow -- appears to be the creaming method, which uses sugar granules to punch millions of tiny air bubbles into the butter.  By using this method, when the batter bakes, you get a more even "crumb" (texture of the holes in the final cake).  Though you did not mention it, typically this method is used with recipes calling for baking powder/baking soda (you can use the method without a chemical leavener).  Also, I would expect the butter-sugar creaming step to take place before you add your melted chocolate.

Neither method is inherently necessary; if you simply stir all ingredients together at once into a uniform batter, you will still get a tasty product.  That said, each technique will tend to lighten the brownie into a more cake-like texture, rather than a dense, fudge-like texture.  You can do both, if you like, by dividing your sugar in half.


Induction range vs gas In the next few months I have a kitchen remodel planned. One item to be replaced is the range/oven. Currently we have a "vintage" electric stove.

I am undecided as to whether to choose gas or an induction model. I had gas in a previous house and I really liked it. However, I have reservations about combustion gases and unhealthy effects on air quality. I have heard great things about induction ranges, but my biggest reservation there is that I'll need to replace a fair bit of cookware. Personally, I have no experience using induction.

My question is mainly directed at those who have used both induction and gas, but if you've used either that's ok as well. So, given a choice between induction or gas, which would you choose?

P.S. - Not sure if this should be a community wiki, but if so I'm good with that.

Update
I was hoping to hear from someone who uses an induction range. The ideal answer would be something like, "I've used gas and induction and when I bought a new range I bought "x" and here's why". Anyway it's not an ideal world...

My issue is that I have used gas for cooking and know lots of others who do as well. I have one friend who used an induction range in a vacation home, and her take was that she hated it at first, but then came to like it. Another friend has a countertop induction burner, but he's not a cook as he just uses it to boil water. The thing is that induction ranges are not very common in the U.S. or at least among people I know.

So, to refine what I'm interested in.... If you are an avid cook, and have used an induction system, "Is it responsive?", "Is it controllable, in that say, you can set a burner at 180 and it'll stay there?", "Is it durable and easy to clean?".

Also, my reservation about replacing cookware pretty much went away. I found flooring materials through salvage for less than half of what I expected to pay. That pretty much opened up my budget if I decide to go with induction rather than gas.

Finally, what I really need to do is find a way to test drive an induction range. I'll be checking in with some local shops to see if there is a way to accomplish that.

And by the way, I have of course googled on this.

Thanks for the input so far.

Another Update

I was hoping to get more comparative experience in using gas and induction. I suppose I didn't get much of that because induction ranges do not have wide usage in the U.S. market.

I know that I generally like cooking on gas ranges. My main concern with gas is indoor air pollution. Somewhere among my bookmarks is an article about particulate matter and CO generated by gas ranges.

On the other hand, I really like some of the things I've read about induction ranges. Efficiency, safety, control, etc.

My final decision on what I actually wind up purchasing is down the road a bit. Hopefully, I'll get to "test drive" an induction range in the meantime.

We have recently remodelled our kitchen and moved from a gas hob to an induction hob. In general it cooks much the same as gas and you get similar levels of control over the temperature. One style of cooking that is not recommended is 'slide' cooking as this will likely scratch your hob surface - this can be mitigated by putting a piece of parchment paper under the pan or lifting the pan off the hob. we don't use a wok and can't see how we could with our hob.

The surface of the hob gets hot but not as hot as it would it it were gas or electric this means that spilt / spattered food doesn't generally burn on to the hob surface and it is much easier to clean.

The hob is touch control and so far we've not had any problems with this. If you lift a pan off the heating zone it will switch itself off automagically after a certain amount of time. Before this happens if you put a pan back on the zone it carries on cooking. If there are no pans on any active zones then the whole thing switches off after 2 minutes.

We chose a NEFF Flushline hob that sits in a natural black granite work surface and the whole thing is positively beautiful and a pleasure to work with.


To what extent is curcumin destroyed by boiling? I came across a "juice shot" / "anti inflammatory drink" recepie the other day which lists the following ingredients :

lemon (in slices)
ginger (in slices)
turmeric (in slices)
sugar
water

The above ingredients should boil for 45 minutes, and then be ready to drink.

One of the advertised health boosters of this drink is curcumin (from the turmeric). However, does it withstand 45 minutes of boiling, or is the amount of curcumin reduced by the boiling?

Googling, I found this report, presenting a chemical and technical analysis of curcumin. Skimming through it, it seems that degradation of the substance should not be a problem due to temperature, although the report doesn't say much about it except that it shouldn't be a problem:

Curcumin is stable in dry food. It is relatively stable to heat so it can be used in thermally treated foods.

However, it warns about using it in solutions of a high pH, without stating which of the degradation products may be unfortunate to ingest. Furthermore curcumin is sensitive to light, so if you want as little as possible of it to degrade it is probably a good idea to keep a lid on the pan while you're heating the solution and consume it fairly quickly afterwards:

In native form curcumin is not suitable as a colouring agent in aqueous solutions of pH > 7
The principal colouring components of curcumin are not particularly stable to light, especially in solutions. After the photo-irradiation of compound 1, a cyclisation product was detected, as well as decomposition products, such as vanillic acid, vanillin, and ferulic acid (Sasaki et al, 1998). Commercial formulations of curcumin are available that are designed to minimize the inherent light instability.

With regards to the pH of your solution I don't think that should be a problem, as it is probably fairly acidic from juices of the lemon.


Homemade powdered jello recipe I am allergic to the corn starch that is often found in the ready made brands. I would like to be able to make some powdered jello up for when I want to make a quick jello. With my illnesses, at times, I am unable to cook the jello in the recipes that I have found in my searches. Does anyone have a recipe for the amounts of dried fruit juice, unflavored gelatin, and a sweetener that can be made ahead of time and then mixed with boiling water as though it was a store bought brand? `

Some quick digging brought up a recipe for gluten-free jello that used a ratio of :

1TB gelatin
3-5TB granulated sugar
2c. fruit juice

There are lots of similar ones out there ... some call for more gelatin if they're planning on putting it in a mold (1TB/cup) or making squares you can hold (1.5TB/cup), and some replace part of the juice with a fruit puree.

The exact amount of sugar is going to depend on how sweet the flavoring is, so you might need to play with this one a bit to experiment.  And you may need some citric acid (or a citrus fruit powder) to balance out overly sweet flavorings.

I would also be careful about both how I stored and hydrated the mixture.  Sugar will absorb moisture out of the air, which might result in the mix clumping together before you can use it.  I'd try to put it into pre-measured containers that have little headroom, or where the air can be removed (eg, zip-top bags).

For hydrating, you'd want to mix it into maybe 1/8 of the total liquid and let it sit to hydrate.  If you see any powdery lumps, break those up before you add any hot water.  You could then add 3/8 of the water as boiling and stir to dissolve it completely, then add the remaining 1/2 as cold water to cool it down.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more specific about this.  My attempts at making gelatin used liquid flavorings.


When jaggery / sugar syrup mix is rolled on to sheets, what kind of sheets would be most suitable - least sticky? When jaggery / sugar syrup mix is rolled on to sheets, what kind of sheets would be most suitable - least sticky?
The recipe: Black Til Chikki
What kind of non sticky sheets and paper would be most suitable for making such dishes with sticky jaggery or sugar syrups?

Cling-film (US term Saran-wrap, I think)
Since they changed to formular for 'health' reasons in the 90s, basically it only just sticks to itself & barely notices any other substance exists. (Yes, I'm being a tad cynical;)
You just need it stretched out onto something flat & firm (baking tray, chopping board etc - wrap it underneath & try to make it stick to itself a bit - then whatever you put on top of it will be easy to release once it's set.


Cracked egg leaves egg white residue. Should I worry about the other eggs? I had an egg crack in the carton and cover the other eggs with egg white. I consider the cracked egg a lost cause, but what about the splash damage? Are the eggs that have received an inadvertent egg white wash safe to eat?  Particularly, for someone who may be very vulnerable to infection?

If the egg actually exploded as in the title, then no, that egg is probably highly contaminated.  Not only is it bad, but nothing its contents have touched can be considered safe to use and should be discarded.

I assume however that you actually have an egg that was broken in handling.  In that case, only the broken egg is a loss.  Other answers and comments have addressed that, choice by location and your own personal sense of safe for you.  I hate wasting food, but eggs today are a relatively inexpensive commodity for most of us, so if you feel uneasy, error on the side of safety.

When an egg is only partially cracked, but the membrane is intact, that egg is normally safe for use for several days.  You have lost some protection, but not the immediate integrity of the egg.  One issue though is you do not know when it was cracked.  In your possession can be safe, my personal rule being about a week.  But if it already was cracked, I do not know if it happened before washing (in the US) or after.  If before, the egg is compromised.  Now, this is one spot that the EU with non-washed eggs are at a slight, very slight, disadvantage.  IMO, unwashed, a cracked egg is compromised even if the membrane is intact.  That paragraph is not exactly your question, but could be for people searching that find their way here.


Can I cook a slow cooker recipe on high instead of low, but for shorter time? This morning, I was supposed to prepare our chili recipe for tonight in the slow cooker, but I have forgotten.  Now it's too late to start the recipe as usual and cook it on low.

However, it's not too late for my wife at home to prepare the ingredients and cook it on high for 4 hours instead.

I know it won't taste exactly the same if we make it now and leave the slow cooker on high for 4 hours instead of on low for 8, but will it still be a safe, edible meal if we switch the cook time in this manner?

Keep in mind, all the ingredients are either cooked or washed before being put into the pot, the only difference is the final cook time in the pot itself, and the temperature setting used on our slow cooker.

It will be safe and edible. It might not be quite as good.

Part of the appeal of slow cookers is just the convenience of leaving them unattended. The other appeal is low-slow cooking that blends flavors and melts connective tissue without burning anything.

Meat
Cooking things faster and hotter will not make the meat as tender as it would be- but it will still be cooked. If it is in small pieces the difference will not be as noticeable.
Obviously ground meat would be the same regardless of cooking time.

Beans (if you believe in beans in chili)
4 hours will be enough time to soften soaked beans. I'd say this is the biggest risk. Undercooked beans aren't fun to eat.
Soaked beans, canned beans, or no beans make this a non-issue.

Flavor melding
Chili benefits from time. Beans soak up flavors. Chili and onion balance out through the sauce.
I'll often make my chili a day in advance of serving it because it is so much better the next day. You're going to get less time so some of this will be lost.


Vacuum Seal Meats with Bones that could be sharp I am interested in vacuum sealing things like bone in pork chops and t-bone steaks for sous vide cooking. Is there a technique to keep the bones from puncturing the bags?

Wrap the bone ends with a layer of foil, plastic wrap...or even folded paper towel. Then seal.


How do i improve my hot and spicy chicken breast recipes so that the heat isn't an after taste? This was my recipe from last week:

  Chicken Breast Marinade (this is after cutting them up into small pieces):

  Yogurt
  Sriracha
  Lemon Juice
  Black Pepper

  Marinate for 30 minutes.

  Caramelized Onions

  Black Pepper
  Salt
  Turmeric
  Soy Sauce (when the pan looks dry, only add a little bit)

  Cook 2 minutes on each side on a hot pan or when the sauce dries up which gives the best flavor.

My other recipe for whole grilled chicken breast:

  Marinate (30 minutes)

  Salt n Black Pepper
  Chili Powder
  Lemon Juice

  Toss on grill for 6 minutes on each side.

above are just a very roughly written recipes

The problem I have with both is that the hotness or spiciness does not kick in when you eat the chicken; it kicks in as an after taste. I want it to be enjoyably hot, not excessively hot: I've refrained from adding in chili peppers--we have a ton of dried peppers that are very spicy at home. I don't know what to do to achieve what I want: hot but kicks but not too hot but also enjoyable.

You need chili. Most of your heat comes from black pepper, which is different from the heat in chili, and isn't as strong or long lasting. Chili heat is immediate, persistent, lasts and builds up as you eat more so that's where you want to go. The thing is to control the heat by modifying the strength and amount of the chili you use. There's so much variation in chilis, from mild to tonsil-destruction, you just need to find a one you like and add the right amount. Some experimentation is in order.

One easy step would be to add some chili powder to your marinade and see how you like it. A more immediate chili may come from fresh chili in a salsa or barbecue sauce that goes on the side. Marinades only penetrate a little way, all the flavor is on the outside, a sauce would give you heat throughout, and fresh chili tends to be a more immediate flavor. There are plenty of mild varieties to try.


Why not put knives in the dishwasher? What is it about the dishwasher that harms knives?

The only reasons I've found are:

You could get cut... I personally have a greater change of getting cut by trying to wash them by hand.
The blades can damage the plastic-coated metal shelves... so I put them in the silverware-holder instead of on the rack (it's 100% plastic, no metal).
The blade could get nicked by being knocked into other silverware... so put the blade by itself in a section of the silverware-holder in the DW.

Well even for knives with no wood, a dishwasher is a very hostile environment. The reason is primarily for the blades. If you have quality knives that you care for, and plan to keep for many years, then it's just not worth it. It's just too easy for a knife to be jostled around and bang into other knives or silverware and get nicked.

You mention that you have a greater chance of getting cut when washing by hand. Well, there's a trick to that.

The easiest and safest way to wash a knife by hand is to press it flat against the side of the sink, then use your sponge/scrubber on the exposed side of the knife. Repeat for the other side. This keeps your blade safe, because the edge never touches anything. It also keeps your sponges and hands from being slashed to pieces by the blade.

Dry it immediately with a dish towel, using a pinching swipe from bolster to tip from the back of the knife.


What is the difference between a guajillo and a cayenne pepper? They look the same to me but I can't find literature on how they are different.

The Guajillo is a dried Mirasol chili. The Mirasol is in the same family as the Cayenne (Capsicum annuum),  but with 2,500-5,000 Scovilles compared to Cayenne's 30,000 - 50,000 Scovilles, it has significantly less heat.


Please help me identify this Jamie Oliver cookbook My wife wants a Jamie Oliver cookbook for Christmas.  All I know is that "it's the one with the pizza dough recipe."  Does anyone know which one this is?

Jamie at home. See http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pizza-recipes/pizza-dough


Can I use a whole uncut green pepper that I accidentally froze or is it garbage? I accidentally froze a whole uncut green pepper. I haven't tried anything with it except take it out of freezer. Is this still usable or is it now garbage?

It is certainly still safe to use.

Freezing vegetables will cause the the texture to soften, so it wouldn't provide a very enjoyable crunch, depending on how you plan on using it.

It would be well suited for use in something like a pasta sauce, stew or chili.


cake undercooked or too wet? I recently tried this recipe:
http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/09/easy-pumpkin-bread/
with the following modifications:

I didn't have any butter, so I substituted 1/3c olive oil and 2 pureed apples
I cut the sugar down to 1.5c

After cooking for 50 minutes at 165°C (preheated), the insides (everything more than a few cm from the edge) were still kind of moist. Why is this? Is there a problem with my oven? Was the batter too "wet" or something? I've had this with other stuff, too (muffins).

Your cake did not rise properly because of the substitution you made.

Oil and apple mousse are only an acceptable substitution for butter under some circumstances. When a recipe directs you to cream the butter with the sugar, you cannot use a non-solid fat substitute. The creaming creates a bubbly, airy structure, and these mini-bubbles get expanded by the baking powder. If you dump a liquid fat in, this won't happen, and your cake will stay un-aired. It will be doughy, which you perceived as a moistness.

By the way, the sugar also plays an important structural role. I would advice you to not reduce it in cake recipes, as you will get a worse texture (although the results won't be as problematic as with the butter substitution).

If you want to make cake that requires creaming and don't have butter, you can get decent results with shortening, margarine, lard (caution: the taste will be noticeable, will not do for fine tortes), coconut fat, and other solid fats. If you don't have any of these, you have to choose a recipe which uses a different method for combining the ingredients.


Doubling a recipe: how much oil for browning, sauteing? I want to double this recipe, which calls for browning the floured meat in a pan in 4 tsp of oil, then sauteing the onion in 2 tsp of oil.

Do I need to also double the amount of oil for either or both of these?  I am thinking that the meat doesn't absorb oil so no, but the onion will so yes, but I'm not at all sure.

The main issue I would be wary of is that you have sufficient space in the pan for all of the meat to brown well.

Generally, it's better to do the meat in batches so that it has room and doesn't cool the pan off too much - you want to brown the meat, not steam it. When I make stew in my stainless steel 12 inch pan using two pounds of stew meat (cubed beef, lamb, or bison), I still usually need to do 2-3 batches to leave room for good browning.

So, while this is a tangential answer, my recommendation is to do one recipe worth of the meat at a time (if your pan can accommodate it all) and, with the second batch, add enough oil to make it look like the same amount of oil as the first batch had. While the meat may not absorb much, the flour may, and the meat will get coated - plus there's usually a good amount of splatter, so you will likely need to add at least 2-3 tsp of oil for the second batch.

As to the onion, I'd probably increase it by half again, so use 3 tsp. Since you're doing this all in the same pan the important thing is to really look at what's in the pan before you add oil each time. If there's still a lot of fat in the pan after you've finished your browning, use less oil. Alternately, if you're using a really fatty cut of meat, it may release a bunch of grease, so you don't really need to add a lot of oil. I find that, quite often, the amounts of oil are much more liberal than really necessary, so I can get away with using quite a bit less and still get good browning without burning.


Half and half bread, too salty and no salt? In putting the ingredients into my bread machine the top came off of the salt. I scooped out as much as could but it still has too much salt. I started another batch with no salt.

Do I thoroughly mix them together or make a half salty and half sweet loaf?

Thoroughly mix them! If you mix them, you may end up with a completely palatable (even tasty) loaf; if you have half salt and half no salt, you'll likely end up with two unapalatable loaves.


Why isn't it safe to eat raw chicken? Why is safe to eat some raw or undercooked meats like beef and fish (assuming you're careful), but not chicken? I know that there are bacteria in chicken, but are they in all chicken, or just so many that the only safe thing to do is assume they're all bad? If not, is there any way to get non-dangerous chicken (for say -- chicken sushi)?

You can have raw chicken in restaurants in Japan - it's delicious.  Depending on where you live there may be better or worse food safety standards, but there is nothing poisonous about raw chicken itself.

By the way, sushi is a dish with vinegary rice.  The raw-meat dish is Sashimi. A picture of chicken sashimi:

You will note that in this photo the chicken is actually not raw but quite rare. The exterior of the chicken flesh is actually seared and cooked through several millimeters.


Keeping oil spray nozzle from clogging An entire category of cooking oil sprayers seems to exist on the market.
I intend to use such an oil sprayer to deposit a thin layer of oil on a cast iron pan before cooking (crepes, omelettes..).

The idea from using my own oil sprayer is to avoid the ingredients (lecithin, dimethyl silicone, butane/propane) that are in the industrial variety (Pam)—besides that lecithin could cause the polymer seasoning to become tacky.
If I use the sprayer daily, I can hope that the nozzle would not clog, but if I use it weekly, it seems hopeless.
I'm thinking of this recipe:

Estimate the oil (canola oil, melted coconut oil) needed for one cooking session; pour in the clean and dry sprayer.
After use, discard the remaining oil, fill with a little vinegar and a touch of baking soda. Shake. Spray until empty. Rinse with water. Air dry.

The bottle itself is dishwasher safe. I don't like the idea of running diluted dish soap in the mechanism since it's too easy to leave trace amounts.
What are my chances of success? Will the steps above keep the nozzle from clogging? Can you suggest an alternative?

This won't work, and it isn't about the clogging - you just won't be able to spray.
First, you cannot refill an aerosol bottle at home, so you are limited to using pump spray bottles. The pump spray bottles you can buy are meant for water and water-based liquids. If you fill a normal pump spray bottle with cooking oil and spray, what you get is a single streak of oil, not a mist of droplets.
Second, there is a reason why the industrial spray uses lecithine and other emulsifiers. Without those, your oil will not be sprayed-on, it will run together into a few large droplets, leaving most of your pan oil-free. So, even if you find a spray bottle that works with oil, you still won't have an oil-coated pan.
Third, these sprays are meant for baking. If you give your pan a small spritz of oil only, this is likely not going to be enough oil for an omelette. So you will have to use as much oil as when applying standard oiling techniques anyway.
In the end, the bottle would not be really worth it if it worked, and chances are you won't even get it to work. So, I would call the idea a dead end.


Can Jam be reheated? I just got a bottle of strawberry jam. I am trying to make puff pastry filled with Jam and cream cheese inside it.

I have never done this before. It is just an Idea in my mind so far. I need advice to know that can I heat the Jam in oven. The jam jar says to store in fridge after opening but nothing about it being heated. Can anyone explain whether it's safe to do so or not.

Sure it's safe, there's no risk in putting jam in baked goods. It says refrigerate after opening so it doesn't spoil after being left out too long - some people don't realize it needs to be refrigerated after opening because it is stored in the cupboard before opening.

The important thing for food safety is to make sure that the pastries are eaten soon enough after baking. The cream cheese will go off sooner than the jam will, so don't let them sit around.


What should I do with candied citron? My inlaws just gave me a gift of candied whole citron (not just the peel) that they picked up from southern Italy.  It was very thoughtful and just in time for Sukkot!

However, I'm just not sure what to do with it.  I did taste a small slice of it plain and it was pretty good--not at all bitter nor too sweet.

I'd read that you can put it in your cereal, and that it's also used in ricotta pie or panettone--though I don't see myself making those.  Are there other good uses?

Well, if it comes directly from Southern Italy you could use it to make some Southern Italy specialty like pastiera napoletana, sfogliatelle napoletane or cannoli siciliani, all of which require candied fruits.

Traditionally pastiera is done with a mix of candied citron and orange peel plus candied pumpkin (cucuzzata) which however is not the easiest ingredient to find.

Citrus is definitely a must for sfogliatelle. There are two types of sfogliatelle ricce and frolle. Sfogliatelel ricce are better tasting in my opinion, but can be challenging to do at home.

Sfogliatella riccia

Sfogliatella frolla

Cannoli traditionally only have candied orange peels, but I guess citron would do well in them anyway.

Cannolo siciliano

Note: the pastry in the Wikipedia photo for pastiera seems way too thick and crumbly. The pastry should be very thin, there just to keep everything together, and should not be the dominant taste.


Cooking frozen food that was cooked I want to cook a big batch of food and store it in the freezer. Mainly these meals consist of vegetables and chicken. When I want to eat the meal I will take it out of the freezer and defrost it. The problem is sometimes I forget to do this. Can I cook these frozen meals in the oven and how do I do this?
These are not store bought Frozen TV Dinners but diners I make myself.

It depends on how fast you want to eat.  If it's a matter of quite a bit of time, then a safe route would be to have it in an oven-safe vessel, covered with foil, and leave it on the oven at a relatively low temperature (275 to 300)  for a long time (depends on serving size and type of frozen meal, 30 minutes to an hour, usually).  That's the method with least effort and intervention.

This will allow the food to get hot, all the way through, but not to scorch or overcook.

If you forgot to defrost and want to eat fairly quickly, the microwave, or defrosting in the microwave, and then moving to the oven is a quicker route to eating.


What is this silvery spot at the bottom of my wok after first use? I just used my wok for the first time to make some chicken fried rice, usual ingredients. What is this silvery spot? I cleaned before using and everything, but this spot, whatever it is, won’t come out. Have I ruined my wok?

It looks very much like you've scraped off some of the non-stick coating.
Aside from the main peeled area there are other scratches that look like you were using metal utensils. You should be able to just feel the edges if that's the case, a very slight rise in the level between the 'silver' which looks to be aluminium & the 'dark' coating. It's very thin so may be hard to feel.
If indeed that's the case, it's time for a new wok.
I've blown up the photo to see a bit more clearly. The peeling could be from overheating, or just poor manufacturing. The scratches, however, are a separate issue, & look like heavy use of metal utensils, which 'old fashioned, regular teflon' just cannot take.
There are newer non-stick coatings which are much more scratch-, and indeed heat-resistant - but they tend to come at a price.
Late edit
As the subject of overheating teflon seems to always crop up in comments on this type of question, modern non-stick is quite often no longer described as 'teflon' or PTFE, but just as a rather secretive 'non-stick'.
My own wok is one of these - Masterclass - and has withstood all the heat I can throw at it for two years, without showing any sign of scratching, burning, evaporating or anything else detrimental to the surface. I treat it with little respect, though I only use wooden or plastic utensils for all my pans, & wash it in regular washing-up liquid (dish soap) with the same brush I use for everything else. The outside is scuffed & scratched, but the inside still looks as new.
And it only cost 30 quid [bucks/euros].


Is the cockchafer grub edible, and how best to prepare it? I've never eaten or cooked insects, but I wanted to give it a try some time. Now, we found a few grubs 4-6 cm in length, that we think to be cockchafer grubs, in one of the pots on our balcony. So I think of giving it a try - my approach would be beer batter and deep frying (Everything is tasty with fat), but there are a few things I want to know before.
By "we think their are cockchafer grubs" I mean that the pictures on wikipedia fit.

The grubs obvioulsy eat earth, their rear parts are very dark. How do I best get rid of the grub-shit/earth from the grubs? I don't want to eat earth because it a) does not sound tasty and b) earth contains pathogen building bacteria.
How do I assure that they are not poisonous, or horribly unhealthy?

So, has anyone eaten these grubs and can share some experience?

Edit to add: I live in southern germany. Cockchafer beetles at least where eaten in the 19th century in France, I found no info on the grubs.

A Coupl of years ago there was acase of a guy who to show his machismo gave himself and his girl some raw snails and a few weeks later they died from having their brains eaten away,
cook creepy crawlies.
quote:
Tests found that his meningitis was caused by a worm normally seen in rat lungs, but also carried in slugs and snails. He was hospitalized for 17 days with brain lesions, and it was five months before he could resume classes. A friend of the student also ate some raw slugs as part of the dare but threw them up, losing the bet. The doctors said there had been numerous cases of meningitis since 1971 caused by snails or slugs. One Australian child died after eating live snails, and one patient contracted meningitis after eating lettuce covered with snail slime, according to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia.
and:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiostrongyliasis


How do you stop latkas from sticking to the baking sheet when cooking them in the oven? I've made latkas and used flour as the binder, no egg. I placed the patties on an oiled baking sheet and cooked them in the oven at 375F for about 30 mins. When I pulled them out, they were quite stuck to the surface (although not burnt).

The latka ingredients (beets and carrots, in this case) had a lot of sugars in them, and I think this may have contributed.

What would help to make them stick less? Cooking for longer time at a lower temperature? Sprinkling some flour directly on the baking sheet in addition to the oil? Using more oil?

You could try using silicone pads such as the Silpat.  I've never tried it with latkes, but we've used it to make Parmesean crisps, cookies, etc.

But I agree with Michael that frying them is the best. :)


Cooking rice overnight? I want to have cooked rice in the morning when I wake up.

My plan is to prepare the uncooked rice before going to bed, add the water, set a timer and go sleep.

Is it possible to leave the rice and water in my rice cooker until a timer starts uo the cooking? Will soaking the rice overnight make it mushy?

If your rice cooker has that kind of timer, yes, you can do that. Just before you go to bed, add cold water (the same amount you would use if you were cooking it right away), rice and optional salt and butter. Stir well and set the timer for about 1/2 of an hour before you get up.

If you're using an external timer, be sure that it actually starts the rice cooker when it kicks on. Some appliances have to be switched on after they are plugged in.

There is not a complete consensus here that this is safe, but millions of Japanese do it, and there hasn't been a big enough outbreak of anything to warrant any kind of warning that I have ever seen. And many recipes call for 12 or more hours of room temperature soaking - including one I just did last week for sticky rice. For an extra level of protection, you can use ice water (including cubes) and measure it by weight. Just don't feed it to pregnant women or the immunocompromised, OK?


Why is there sugar in a seven-layer salad? I just discovered the existence of the seven-layer salad. It looks nice to me, but when I was looking for recipes, one thing caught my eye: all recipes that I came across added 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar.

It contains pretty common ingredients, that aren't sour. Why does it call for sugar? Is it just tradition? Or does it really makes the flavour better? Is there one layer that gains most by this?

The recipes that I have seen didn't have much sugar and it is universally in the dressing. The dressings are mayonnaise based and a small amount of sugar gives them another facet to their flavor. This dressing reminds me of a simple coleslaw dressing which will include the mayo and sugar as well as buttermilk and lemon.

Because the sugar is in the dressing it will apply to all the layers equally so there is no particular layer that should be sweetened more than the others.

Keep in mind that this salad is southern cuisine which tends to value flavor over nutrition. Sometimes to a fault, of course.

The sugar serves no mechanical purpose. It will eventually pull some the liquid out of the vegetables but, as there is so little and the dressing is not mixed in, the effect would be negligible.

If you prefer the salad to be less sweet and are not worried about authenticity feel free to leave the sugar out. Alternatively if you would like to throw authenticity to the wind altogether you could leave in the sugar and add buttermilk and lemon juice to the dressing and give the salad more of a coleslaw-like zing.


Optimal Cheese Melting Bagel Baking Temp/Time So i'm putting a bagel with cheese and ham on it into a conventional oven to toast it a bit. My end goal is for the cheese to be completely melted and the bagel not too crisp/dry.

What time and temperature combination is best for this?

To do this you want to apply heat to the cheese (to melt it) and not to the bagel (so it doesn't dry).

This is probably best achieved by grilling (broiling in the US) the bagel, rather than putting it in an oven, so the direct heat on the cheese melts it, but the bagel is not warmed so it doesn't crisp or dry.

This assumes you have an open bagel obviously.  if you are have a closed bagel, with a top and a bottom, then I would melt the cheese on one half under the grill and the put the top piece on.

If you have to oven cook it then it's a trade off between high temp, which will crisp the bagel whilst the cheese is melting and the melting of the cheese should take a short time, or lower temp where the bagel is more likely to dry out as you need to leave it in for longer to get the melted cheese you want.


How do I get rid of burn marks in my pots? Possible Duplicates:
  How can brown stains be removed from pots and pans?
  How to keep my stainless steel skillet clean?

A couple of times I've left things cooking a drop too long - and all the water evaporated and the food started to burn. Once it was potatoes; once apples. Both times I caught it pretty quickly and most of it came off, but now I'm left with slight scorch marks on the bottom and one of the sides of my pot - small burnt-looking black patches. Is there anything to do to get rid of them? (The pot is made of stainless steel.) I've tried cooking water and dishwashing soap in the pot, but it didn't really help. Any other ideas?

Make a paste of baking soda and scrub with a green scrubby pad. Also The Pampered Chef sells a stainless cleaner that works great on all stainless pans. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Pampered Chef Consultant and use it on my pans all the time)


Wasabi (peas) brussel sprouts? I was wondering how successfully the formula of wasabi peas can be applied to other green vegetables?

I'm familiar with them as a snack in some pubs in England, the peas become hard and crunchy, and 'spicy' in the same way as horseradish is, partly because wasabi is usually made with horseradish.

I once attempted to make Brussel Sprout Chips (in much the same way you can make Kale chips)... That worked... now if you can make a wasabi sauce/dressing or sprinkle freshly grated Wasabi so it bakes onto the sprout leaves you may have something...

Preheat the oven to moderate oven 180°C/350°F.
Remove the leaves of the brussels sprouts. This is tedious work, but it can be done. You want as many leaves as possible, and you may need to keep cutting away the stem as you get deeper into the sprout.
Place the leaves on a baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with the sea salt/wasabi/whatever dry flavours.
Bake, turning every 5 to 7 minutes, until browned and crunchy, almost burnt, but not burnt.


Why does my dough never "fall" after its first rise? My bread recipe (from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) calls for waiting for the dough to double, then "fall."  It never falls, though I cover the dough as instructed (not airtight) either with a towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  I have tried spraying the bowl with cooking spray, and have tried without.  Neither results in a "fall."

I've tried using a wide stainless steel bowl as well as one of those food-grade rectangular plastic storage containers a la Alton Brown.

Is the "fall" important?  If so, what can I do besides slam the bowl to coax the dough to fall as instructed?

Basic Physics of the System

Bread rises (as you probably know) due to microorganisms, primarily yeast, converting sugars into CO₂ + byproducts. The CO₂ forms bubbles, stretching the gluten in the flour. In order for the bread to rise, the microorganisms must produce CO₂ faster than it can escape from the dough.

Graphed over time, the amount of CO₂ produced would start at 0, fairly quickly rise to its maximum (as the yeast, etc. come back from dormancy), then slowly decrease, eventually to 0 (as they run out of food and/or are overwhelmed by byproducts such as alcohol). The amount of gas escaping from the dough also changes over time. It must obviously start at 0, and probably increases over time (after all, there is more to escape), and eventually of course its all escaped and thus it must be 0 again, but I'm not sure of its exact shape. So, a diagram:

That's the basic physics of the system. At some point, the bread must fall. (Well, maybe in a 0-g environment it would shrink instead of fall, but…)

How the Environment Matters

The microorganisms are very sensitive to fairly small changes in their environment. In particular:

Temperature. If your kitchen is 70°F and the author's is 80°F, it could easily take twice as long. The lower the temperature, the slow the microorganisms go (up to a point, once it gets too hot, they're not happy either).
Hydration. If your bread dough is lower hydration (drier) than the author's, it'll be slowed down again. The recipe is written in volume measures (cups), as you know flour packs down. That leads to huge variations in how two different people measure it. Make sure to measure it how the author says to (hopefully it specified somewhere in the book). Scoop-and-sweep vs. sift-and-sweep can easily be 25% different. Preferably, spend $25 on a kitchen scale, and do your baking by weight.
Salinity. Salt slows down yeast. If you happened to substitute table salt for kosher salt, and still measured out 1½ tablespoons, you've used more salt than the author wanted. A fair bit more.
Age of your yeast. If your yeast is old (and sometimes the packets in the store have been sitting for ages), it may not have the same potency as a fresh packet would. It'll probably take longer (but as long as it rises, it'll likely be fine)
The times in the book could just be nonsense. Authors and editors do sometimes make mistakes. Other times they're in a rush, and just take a guess. "Yeah, it was about two hours..." The book could just be wrong.

Also, generally speaking, slower leads to better flavor. So its not a bad thing.

Summary

Give it longer. Provided you've covered it in plastic (so it doesn't dry out), it'll eventually fall.

Keep in mind that "fall" doesn't mean it'll return to its original size, just that it'll fall back from its maximum size. The "or flattens on top" comment in your book is a pretty accurate description of what it looks like. Normally, while its rising, there is a dome shape on top, with the center as the highest point. When it starts falling, that dome vanishes, and may even invert (as in, the center will be the lowest point).

I've made preferments that take upwards of 20 hours to fall. It will eventually happen. And when it takes forever, it'll probably taste better.


Can I double the pizza dough recipe for my bread machine I have a Panasonic SD-ZB2512 bread maker and I like to use it to make pizza dough. It does a good enough job but only makes enough for one pizza at a time. Can I double the recipe? I'm pretty sure it would fit but worry the recipe might not be scale-able for other reasons. Would I be risking  horrible dough or a damaged machine?

You might be able to, give the capacity you state in your comment, but it might not mix or rise properly.

You'll have to test, keeping within the capacity limits to protect the machine.  You might end up with bad dough, but it may be receoverable with some extra kneading and proving (though it won't recover to as good as you'd have got in the first place).

You may also have some success with a generic dough program for the amount of flour you want to use -- but again you might have barely-acceptable results, or you might have a complete failure the first time.  You may need to adjust the water content if your dough doesn't work out.

Personally I'd test it but not for guests until you'd perfected it.  I tend to make the standard pizza dough quantity for my machine but roll it out much larger for a thin-based family-size pizza -- another way to make one batch go further.


What size are small, medium and large tomatoes? Many recipes call for a tomato of a certain size.  How do you know the difference between small, medium and large tomatoes?

USDA requirements for measurements used by the Fresh Market  tomato industry

                **Size**           **Size**
                No Pass            Pass
                inches             inches
                see note #1        see note #2

Small           2 1⁄8 inches       2 9⁄32 inches
Medium          2¼ inches          2 17⁄32 inches
Large           2½ inches          2 25⁄32 inches
Extra Large     2¾ inches

note # 1. Will not pass through a round opening with this diameter when the tomato is held with its greatest diameter parallel to the plane of the opening.

note # 2. Will pass through a round opening of this size; the tomato may be held in any position for the test.


Panko-breaded tilapia, medium fried, non-stick pan, absorbed oil I just cooked some breaded tilapia. The breading consists mostly of panko. As per my "chef" training, to bread it, I did the usual:

Dusted the fish in flour first
Dipped it in egg next
Dredged it in panko last

I fried about 4-5 pieces with maybe 1/4" of oil in a non-stick frying pan -- gas stove (medium burner, medium heat). I'm surprised that by the time I finished the fourth piece of fish, I had to put more oil.

I thought the addition of flour, and the fairly high heat, should have prevented the fish from absorbing oil. I don't think the oil was too cold, because after I flipped the fish (two minutes on one side), the panko looked golden brown and a touch burned.

What did I do wrong?

It's not the fish absorbing most of the oil, it's the breading. When you cook something starchy in oil, it's going to absorb SOME of the oil. Using high heat minimizes the amount of oil that it will absorb, but it's always going to absorb some. Furthermore, panko has a lot of surface area. Some of the oil is just going to get carried out of the pan on the surface of the breading, which will probably drip or be blotted off later.


Stronger bread, how could I achieve that? I'm new to baking in general,
and I've been recently trying to make a simple pizza bread.

But the problem is that after I bake the bread in the oven, it seems like the bread isn't as elastic as I want it to be..

I use the basic ingredients which are:

Flour
Yeast
Sugar
Water

The bread is fine.. it rises and it looks good..
but you can barely stretch it, a very little of pulling is required to tear it apart and it forms cracks very easily..

I'd love to know how I could change that and make the bread stronger and more elastic?

Thank you!

Gluten is a protein that gives bread elasticity. Water makes gluten spirals relax, and kneading helps stretch the gluten and connect with other gluten strands. Bread that lacks stretchiness:

may not have enough gluten to start with. If you are using a low gluten flour then you won't get and elasticity. In general any plain white flour will have enough, but for best results use bread flour, also known as strong flour
may be too dry. Gluten needs water to relax and stretch, if your dough is too dry, or "tight", then you won't get good elasticity
may have not been worked enough or worked in the wrong way. Kneading mechanically stretches gluten, if it isn't kneaded enough, or the technique isn't right, then no elasticity
may not have been risen enough. Yeast actually improves the dough, it really works on the gluten. Rise isn't just about leavening, it makes a big difference in elasticity. You should notice a big difference if it's been risen enough

If I had to put money on it I'd say it's probably your dough being too dry. This is an easy mistake to make, you turn your dough out on the counter and it's really gooey, must not have enough flour right? But as gluten get worked it uses up some of the extra moisture, so adding too much flour at the beginning will rob the gluten of the water it needs to relax. Kneading with oil instead of flour may help there.

As an aside, I generally add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to my pizza dough to improve flavor and texture although that's totally optional. Also, you didn't list salt as an ingredient, bread needs some salt, many bakers recommend 10g per 500g of flour, although I usually cut that down some.


How to cook rice in an electric oven meant for baking cakes? Are there any special precautions to be taken? About the water quantity, soaking and timing etc?

I make rice in the oven if I'm making a large meal and don't have a burner to spare for the rice. I bake it in an enamel cast iron Dutch oven (you can also use aluminum or stainless steel trays / hotel pans covered tightly with aluminum foil) using the same water-to-rice ratio (2:1) as when I make it on the stove. Cook at 350°F / 177°C for approximately 20-30 minutes, remove from the oven and let it sit, covered, for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve!

(Note: The cooking time will depend on whether you pre-soak the rice and also how good your oven is at maintaining a constant temperature. You can check if it needs more time by wiggling the pot/tray a little; if you hear water sloshing around, it needs more time, but if it feels like a solid mass, it's probably done.)

The only problem you might have with this: sometimes the rice on the bottom of the pot gets dried out and sticks to the pot. You can avoid this by boiling the water before you add the rice (on the stove, but I guess you could do it in the oven, too. If you have an electric kettle and you're making a relatively small amount of rice, you can heat the water in the kettle and just pour it over the rice, too).


What's the difference between tamari and soy sauce? If a recipe calls for tamari, can I use plain soy sauce instead?  If using one for the other, what effect would it have on a recipe?

I have a bottle of San-J Tamari (black label) in my fridge and the back reads:

  Tamari is a premium soy sauce made with more soybeans than ordinary soy sauce giving it a richer, smoother, more complex taste. Tamari has more flavor enhancing properties than salt. Add 1 tsp. (320 mg sodium) instead of tsp. salt (590 mg sodium) to reduce sodium intake. Stir-fry or marinate poultry, meat fish and vegetables. Add 1-2 tsp. to perk up sauces, soups, gravies and casseroles.

In my experience, I use a little less tamari when substituting it for regular soy sauce.  As Sean mentioned, it's definitely a bit stronger than regular soy sauce.  I eyeball most of the time, but I'd say I use 1/2 to 3/4 portion of tamari when substituting it for regular soy sauce.

I reach for the tamari when I want a bit more of a complex flavor on something plain like rice - when the soy sauce is to be the star of the dish, essentially.  I tend to use regular soy sauce when mixing into a larger homemade sauce or where the soy sauce flavor will blend into the background because the recipe calls for so many other strong ingredients.

Oh, and tamari seems to add a bit of an almost "smoky" flavor, it seems.


Can pressure canning be replaced water bath canning? I wanted to make and can, my Grandma's tomato soup. However I don't have a pressure canner.

I made the soup in a 15 PSI pressure cooker and then poured it into sterilized jars and then canned it in a water bath canner, but now I am second guessing myself.

Is this safe?

No, it isn't safe, water bath canning is only safe for high-acid foods as the acid kills botulism. Low-acid food must be processed at 240F, 116C, and that can only be achieved in a pressure canner.

When you pressure cook the soup it kills the bacteria, however when you then transfer it to the sterilized jars it could be contaminated on the way, and then the water bath won't be hot enough to kill the bacteria.


Why do canned sardines have no protein scum? I believe canned sardines are cooked in the can.  I notice they never have any protein scum, albumin etc.  Do you know why or where in the cooking process is it removed?

Hard to answer concisely, because there are many variations in processing before the Sardine hits the canning retort (a sterilization pressure cooker). Recall that there are sardines "in oil" "in spring water," even in "hot sauce." Here is a video example.

Sardines are canned under both pressure and temperature in the canning retort. I believe the pressure factor has more impact in supressing what you call scum ** though temp prolly plays a factor as well.

Home brew example: I rarely find scum like formations in my pressure cooker. I do find congealed fat on cool down.. but congealed protein.. not so much.

** Not sure if the scum you are thinking of is congealed fat, or protein.


How do I convert stove top pressure cooker recipes into electric pressure cooker recipes? Many of the pressure cooker recipes I see online seem to be using a stove top cooker, and some say cook on low heat or high heat, or start on high heat and then reduce to low heat while maintaining pressure, etc.  I have an electric pressure cooker, and it allows you to choose low or high pressure and a pressurized cook time, but does not allow for adjusting the heat.  How can I use these stovetop recipes with my electric pressure cooker?

The biggest difference I know between stovetop and electric pressure cookers is that the electric ones take much longer to release pressure after cooking. The ones I've seen/compared take roughly twice as long (10-15 minutes for stovetop, 20-25 for electric). Biggest reason I can think of is that you can move the normal pressure cooker away from the hot stove, but you can't move the electric one away from its heating element.

As a result, I would adjust the cooking times down by 10 minutes or so to compensate.

In regards to the high/low heat, the main advantage of electric pressure cookers is that they are more energy efficient, and are designed to distribute heat well. You shouldn't need to worry about heat variance--get it up to the pressure you need and start the timer.


How to season a carbon steel pan on an electric hob I have a de Buyer Mineral B Crepe Pan. It's unused, because I don't know how to season it using my electric hob. Most of the videos I can find reference gas hobs or using the main oven. Previous attempts to season other carbon steel pans on my hob result in uneven seasoning, because the diameter of the element is smaller than the diameter of the pan
Whilst I have an oven, heating this pan (including the handle) is not possible due to the rubber "button" on the handle, which is not heat resistant for the long periods required by seasoning. De Buyer state that this pan can be heated in the oven at 400F (200C) for only 10 minutes.
Does anybody have tips or techniques for seasoning these carbon steel pans using an electric hob?

To the question as asked: No, there are no more tricks. When you use the wrong tool for the job (in this case a too-small electric hob), then you can't expect the job to go well.
Nevertheless, there is an easy solution for you: Use the oven. If you are that worried about your rubber button, remove it before putting the pan in the oven, and pop it back in afterwards. But I use my own Mineral B in the oven frequently enough (and don't always bother to remove the button), and have had no problems with it.
I had never heard of the manufacturer's advise you cite, but if you absolutely want to stick to it (e.g. because of warranty issues) and are against the oven, you just have to live with a badly seasoned pan.


Reduce hotness of beef Jerky I made some beef jerky with Maddog 375 hot sauce (generously poured into the marinade).  It's ridiculously hot and basically unedible (I can eat it but just slowly).

This kinda sucks because I don't enjoy it, and it seems a waste to throw it out, can I do anything to it to reduce the heat on it?  Wash it? Any ideas?

Jerky can be rehydrated.

Soak it in liquid, the way you would mushrooms, until it becomes somewhat plump. It will remain a little chewy and keep a lot of its flavor.

Chop it up and cook it into a stew. It will give a unique flavor and texture and the stew will dilute the spiciness- hopefully to a manageable level.

Look for recipes for "backpacker's stew" for examples.


meatballs refrozen, safe to eat freezer broke and i did not find out until all the items, meatballs in a bag, vegetables had defrosted, however, there was still ice and ice water from the ice accumulated during the months and the temperature outside and in garage was in the teens for 2 weeks. i am saying the temp in the broken freezer was just above the freezing temp, i think.  Would the vegetable and meatballs, chicken, and pork chops be safe to eat, i did refreeze them when i discovered the problem.

The vegetables might be fine, since vegetables can be stored in the fridge for up to a few weeks, depending on the kind. The meat should be thrown out. If you don't know at what temperature it has been kept, and for how long, there is no way to tell if it is still safe, and food poisoning is unpleasant. I would throw everything out, but I strongly recommend at least all the meat.


Shelf life and preservation of Bánh chưng It's Tết again and I'm about to buy this traditional Vietnamese delicacy. However, since I'm currently trying out a Joylent-only diet, I'll only be able to eat it after a couple of days.

So my questions are:

How long can I safely store Bánh chưng in the fridge?
Can I preserve it somehow? I've heard that some people boil or freeze it.

Edit: I was able to find some information on Wikipedia, which says the following:

After unwrapping, bánh chưng can stay good for several days while a wrapped one can be kept for two weeks.

Unfortunately, the source is not available online, so I cannot verify its reliability and context. This also contradicts some posts on online forums, where people said it can last even several months! Given the composition and moistness of Bánh chưng, I seriously doubt it.

Edit 2: My second piece of bánh chưng is now safely waiting in the freezer. I'll edit the question again when I eat it with details about its composition and taste after unfreezing it.

How long can I safely store Bánh chưng in the fridge?

It depends on how good the bánh chưng was wrapped (before cooking) and if the bánh chưng is put into the fridge right after cooking and if the bánh chưng is already cut open.
i assume that you have a halfway eaten bánh chưng. I would treat this case like regular cooked rice. A post on cooking.SE says that cooked dishes last 3-4 days in the fridge. StillTasty says 4-6 days. I just asked my mother. She said it will be fine for one week in the fridge if cut. You may have a look at the comments on the question "How long can I store cooked rice in the refrigerator?"

  Can I preserve it somehow? I've heard that some people boil or freeze it.

Boiling would kill some pathogens. But since the toxins produced by the previously existing pathogens won't be destroyed, the bánh chưng would be still unsafe.

Freezing: I'm a student and hoard such stuff in my freezer :D Regarding food safety freezing is not problem. If you store the bánh for too long and/or don't wrap the pieces tightly enough the bánh will have freezer burn. I ate frozen bánh chưng which has been for more than a half year in the freezer. It tasted fine after steaming.
After defrosting you should either recook the bánh or steam it. I think you already knew this ;)

  After unwrapping, bánh chưng can stay good for several days while a
  wrapped one can be kept for two weeks.

I think this statement sound quite plausible if the bánh chưng was wrapped very tightly and was wrapped in many layers statement and is stored in a fridge right after cooking. Bonus: The bánh was cooked in a pressure cooker. I guess, it's even sterile for some time o.o

  some posts on
  online forums, where people said it can last even several months!

I doubt it, too. Did they really said "fridge", not "freezer"? o.o
(Oh, or their bánh chưng drowned in lard. Lard lasts for a very long time x))


Do wire oven racks and solid plate oven racks have different functions? In South Africa, domestic ovens have wire racks and solid plate racks. Does each type have a specific function or can anything be cooked on either type?

This sounds like you might be talking about a european style oven, which generally has 2 types of inserts, wire shelves and solid trays. Wire shelves are used when you want to cook something that is self-contained, like a casserole, baking dish, cookie sheet, etc. The space between the wires allows the free circulation of air, which is a good thing.

Trays usually come with a removable wire rack and are used when you are baking or grilling (in the US it's known as broiling) something loose like chicken pieces, burgers or sausages. The tray catches any drips and holds liquids that would otherwise fall to the bottom of your oven and make a very sticky and hard to clean mess. The tray slots into the same grooves as the wire shelves so you can put it on any level.

In the US many ovens have a separate drawer for broiling which comes with a slide-in tray, it's the same concept except you usually can't use the tray in the oven as the sizes don't match.

Here's a picture of the type of oven I mean, on the bottom you see the tray, on the top the wire shelf.


Should I include egg shells in my stock? I've been making stock from vegetable scraps I've been keeping in the freezer (mainly carrots, celery, onion, tomato, and parsley). I read elsewhere that one could include egg shells in stock. Is this a good idea? How many should I include?

I've not heard of egg shells being used that way. I'm not sure what they would add.

The classic way of clarifying a meat stock to make it crystal clear (ie: for a consommé) is to whisk egg white (and I know at least one chef who adds crushed up egg shell to this mix) and finely ground meat into the cold stock and then gradually heat it. As the added ingredients cook they rise through the stock trapping all the bits that make it cloudy and the gunky 'raft' can be skimmed off the top.


How to safely store melamine plates? I bought some melamine plates and bowls for using when I have lots of people around. They worked fine.

My question is: What is the safest way to store them? (They will be used infrequently, maybe every six to twelve months).

(I looked on Google without much success).

I thought of two options:

Put away in a cupboard, uncovered (the top ones might gradually get dusty)
Store inside a plastic freezer bag, and the put into the cupboard

I was wondering if the plastic bag is a bad idea? It is intended to keep them as clean as the day they were put away, but maybe the melamine needs to breath or something or it might develop a funny taste?

Although there is a known problem with so-called melamine furniture and shelving off gassing of formaldehyde, the source is the particle board within, and not the melamine veneer.

Melamine dinnerware — often known by the genericized brand name, melmac — is by itself quite stable.

Either of your storage options should work just fine for melmac. Assuming your cupboard has a door that's kept closed, the dishes might not accumulate very much dust. However, you could use a paper, plastic, or cloth towel or bag as a dust cover — or else just rinse off the top dishes before you use them.

If you decide to seal the melmac in a freezer bag, it will not suffocate and should be just fine. Just make sure it's absolutely dry before you seal it up.


Why is the salt washed off the cabbage in kimchi but not on sauerkraut? All the videos I have seen always wash the salt off the Napa cabbage in kimchi but they never do in sauerkraut?  How come?  Is the brine necessary for fermentation?

The initial salting draws water out of the cabbage, otherwise the kimchi tends to get soggy/mushy.  As you mention, it is frequently rinsed off after the initial salting.  If you listed the ingredients that follow, I think you will see that there is quite a bit of salt re-introduced.  The recipe I use, for example, includes, soy sauce, fish sauce, and salted shrimp, among other things...this creates the brine necessary for lacto-fermentation and preservation.


Can I get a good crust on a thin steak? I'm trying to get a crunchy crust on a thin steak - is this possible? Online recipes on pan-searing steaks and basting require a 3/4" inch steak at minimum, but this is pretty hard to get at the supermarket for me. They're generally just under 3/4" and more than 1/2".

I find that the outer edges of the surface of the steak in contact with the pan char far more quickly than the inner area. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the steak curving and doming slightly, since this happens on both sides of the steak.

Any idea why this happens, and how to fix this?

Given the thinness of the steak, you achieve a good crust without overcooking the inside by applying high heat for a few minutes on each side of a thin steak. I would treat it like this skirt steak recipe from seriouseats.com :

Since it's a very long, flat steak, there's a lot of surface area to develop an outstanding crust, but this shouldn't be done at the expense of overcooking the inside, which is easy to do given the thinness. The solution is a blazing hot fire to sear the steak quickly before it cooks all the way through.
The grill is the best place to build up this type of heat, where a chimney full of lit coals piled close together can get you up to 700°F of direct heat.

Fix any doming issues and make sure you have an even, uniform crust by using your spatula to press the cut of meat down evenly or use a grill weight like this one (I'm not affiliated with the listing, just an example).1


How to prep jicama - is peeling necessary? I recently grabbed some jicama from the store on a whim, and I used to make some really delicious slaw.  However in the course of prepping it, I sent a whole lot to the trashcan during the peeling process.  Is the waxy rind of jicama a add-on like the waxy coat on apples? Is the rind edible at all? Can it be cooked rind-on like a potato and served that way?

Jicama does have a tough thick skin that is usually always removed.  As you know from your experience there are two layers...the outer dark papery skin and then the tough dark yellow fibrous portion.

The best way I've found (with least amount of frustration) is to peel it the same as you would a pineapple:  Trim off both ends and then cutting from top to bottom following the countours of the vegetable to cut just under the skin.

I've never seen or heard of anyone using it skin-on.


Can I refrigerate the stuff left over on the baking sheet? I made some--delicious--dinner rolls and decided to put the rest in fridge. Is it safe to put the leftover along with the baking sheet in the fridge? Not sure what material the baking sheet is made of, non-stick carbon steel I believe.

Yes, it'd be safe to put the sheet in the fridge. But you might not want to if they're just plain rolls:

Refrigeration makes bread go stale faster, so you may not want to refrigerate your rolls at all.
It's important to get things airtight in the fridge, and often it's a pain to wrap up a baking sheet to be airtight.
If the coating on the sheet isn't perfect, and it collects condensation in the fridge, it might rust a little faster.
Baking sheets can be bulky and awkward in the fridge.

If you want to keep bread long enough that room temperature storage doesn't work well (more than a few days), the freezer is a better option.

On the other hand, if they're filled with something perishable, you'd need to refrigerate or freeze. In that case, you could use the sheet if you really have to and can wrap it reasonably airtight, but generally it'd still be easier to transfer to a bag or smaller container.


When rendering beef fat for tallow, must the fat come from the cow's kidneys or heart area? I purchased a package of "beef fat" from the grocery for making tallow. I cut it up into one inch cubes and placed in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours. I ladled off the fat and double filtered it through cheesecloth. The liquefied fat was not as clear as it appeared in an instructional video I'd watched, and in its solid state there's a slightly unpleasant smell. This was my first attempt at making tallow, so I didn't know what to expect.

Does the anatomic location of the fat portion matter?

The source of the fat can make a difference in taste, texture, color, clarity, and fat composition.  (And that's not just the part of the cow, but also the breed of cow, how old it was, its diet, etc.)  The kidney fat, for example, is a particular area used from cows that produces a particular kind of desirable fat, but it's not necessary for making tallow in general.

As for odor, it's hard to say.  Rendering animal fats in general often tends to produce pretty smelly odors.  That's pretty normal.  You'll have to see whether the flavor is acceptable to you.  (I'd mainly be worried about odors from the fat before you started cooking it; in that case, it might be a sign the fat was old or even spoiled.  But odors during and after cooking can happen: a lot of smelly molecules are fat-soluble, so they may be released when it is cooked.)


How to cook 1.5+ inch veal steak to medium? It's a NY Strip part of a 12 month old calf. Hasn't been dry aged but I keep it 5 days in olive oil in a fridge. It has a bit of marble but way less than usual steaks could have. Pieces are pretty thick, 1.5 or more inch.

I was thinking searing them 2 minutes each side on high heat - say 7/10, both sides, then also sear the side edges. Then putting in the preheated oven on 400F for 10 - 15 minutes.

I don't have a thermometer to check so I'd need to be on the safe side that it's cooked, but also wouldn't like it to be well done.

Go buy a thermometer. There is no possible way to be guaranteed to hit the perfect point where it is medium well done but not overdone without knowing the internal temperature. How quickly it cooks depends on things like the temperature in your oven (they are rarely precise), the exact thickness of the steak, its exact internal temperature when you first place it in the oven, and so on. You can find a functioning oven thermometer for $3-4 at your local super market, so there is really no reason not to buy one.


What does it mean for a menu to be a "set menu"? I hope this question isn't too off topic. What does it mean for a restaurant to have a "set menu"? The one I have in mine has three headings wit the descriptions: "starters...assortment as brought to the table to share family style"; "mains...each guest will chose their own"; "desert"...assortment as brought to the table to share family style". How does this work? I'm guessing it means you choose one from each category, and no matter your selection the price is the same? What does the part about family style or choose your own mean?

Collins dictionary gives a nice definition for a set menu:

  A complete meal in a restaurant or café for a stated price with a limited number of options to choose from for each course [...]

The different serving options are

family style:
Like you would probably serve food at the family dinner table: every component in its own serving bowl or platter, to be passed round amongst the diners. In a restaurant, often a nice platter of various dishes to be shared.
individually plated:
This is what you are probably expect first when dining in a restaurant - each diner gets his or her choosen dish on his or her own plate.

So for your case:
For n diners you build a menu out of n appetizers or starters that get served on one (or a few) platter(s) and is then shared. Of course you can choose n different options or stick to larger quantities of fewer choices.
The main dish comes on n individual plates according to each participant's order and the dessert is again n servings of whatever you pick, like for starters.

And yes, if that is described a set menu, you'll pay a fixed price per person, unless some options are marked with an extra charge, but that would have to be stated clearly on the menu.

You can of course build a menu à la carte instead, then you pick the individual dishes from the à la carte menu - these have individual prices that make up the total cost of the meal.


Is this crab meat cooked? I purchased a small container (8 oz) of frozen crabmeat. I do not know if it is cooked or not. The contents appear to be grey (it's a clear plastic tub).

The container reads:
Wild Caught Special Crabmeat
Small Pieces of White Meat
Perishable; Pasteurized

There's other writing on the container as well, but I don't think it's relevant.

"Pasteurized" means that it was kept at temperatures below cooking for a prolonged time, which kills most pathogens. Pasteurized food is reasonably safe for consumption without further cooking, provided it has been kept well refrigerated since the pasteurization.

However, I doubt that the taste will be especially good after just a pasteurization. For the sake of taste, and also to further reduce food safety risks, I would cook it before eating.


How to mix the perfect amount of salt? I take a tumbler with an ounce of water and add a teaspoon of salt to it and then add this salty water mix to the curry or dish I am preparing at the moment. I repeat with lesser quantities of salt with each iteration until the dish tastes good. However this approach means adding salt multiple times, before the salt feels right. Not that repetition is bad, but I find people who sprinkle salt either by years of experience or by muscle memory tend to be much better with salt.

What approaches do you follow for adding the perfect amount of salt?

Perhaps I am not entirely qualified to answer this post, but as someone who was taught to cook (by my mother) mostly without recipes, when it comes to dishes like curries or stews, salt is simply 'to taste.' This, however, is always with the added note that you can always add more salt later, but taking it out of a dish that has been over saturated with it is a hassle, if possible at all. So just start with a sprinkle and taste, adding more as you see fit.


How long does the cream in a freshly baked chicken pie last for? I am planning on baking a chicken pie that contains double cream tonight and serving it two days later.

How long does the cream in the freshly baked pie last for? Do you think it will be still okay after two days?

(I am assuming the pie essentially contains chicken broth, either as an ingredient, or from cooking the chicken in the filling, and basing the hold time on that as the likely most perishable ingredient in the pie...)

Such a pie will be safe for two to three days (possibly more, but I like to treat safety conservatively....)

However, if you have a bottom crust, it will likely get quite soggy over that period of time.

If you need to prepare your pie ahead, it might be better from a quality perspective to prepare the filling stove top separately from the crust, and blind bake the crust.  Then on the night of service, you can combine the two and bake to heat through and crisp up the crust.  This will almost certainly give you a better product than making the pie fully in advance.


Making my first big batch of Kefir, the milk went bad. Why? I ordered some Kefir grains online and they arrived looking healthy, at least to my untrained eye.  I put them in milk and changed the milk every day for three days.  By the last change, they were making a very thick kefir in 24 hours.  I decided it was time to try to make a bigger batch, so I used about 6 cups of milk instead of the two cups I was using during the startup phase.  I left it for almost 48 hours in near-ideal conditions (around 70 degrees F).  When I strained out the grains, the kefir was much thinner than the smaller batches and the resulting kefir tasted like the milk had gone bad.  Did I use too much milk?  What is the ideal milk-to-grain ratio?  Is this the expected outcome if you use too much milk or did something else go wrong?

I haven't made kefir myself, but this sounds very well explainable from a theoretical point of view.

The reason why the milk in the kefir does not go bad is that the microorganisms in the kefir occupy the ecological niche which would normally be free for pathogens (and plain untasty bacteria) to invade. Obviously, you need a sufficient microorganism density for that. If the kefir colony is too small to change its environment and adapt it to its needs, a colony of something else can win the tug of war and adapt it to its own needs.

I can't tell you an optimal ratio, you'll need to experiment a bit. Also, wash the salvaged grains and place them in the amount of milk which used to work. Only if that works, try gradually increasing the dose. If it doesn't work well, wait a bit to see if your colony is happy enough to grow, at which point you can try to up the milk. Or just get more grains from the seller.


How much milk do I need to make 100 g Paneer? How much full cream milk do I need to make 100 g Paneer (Cottage cheese) at home?

A half gallon of whole milk makes about 10 ounces of paneer (From the kitchn). So conversions and cross-multiplication later, about 670ml of whole milk will make about 100g of paneer. Since it's not an exact science, how about using a quart (946ml) of milk, 2 TBS of lemon juice and 1/8-1/4 tsp salt. That should yield about 140g of cheese, giving you a little bit left over.


Caramel without stirring or burning Every Christmas I make caramels for family, friends, and neighbors. And every year I'm stuck with the same choice. Stir the sugar mixture while it boils to prevent sticking and burning but end up with grainy caramel, or don't store the caramel but risk burning the sugar at the bottom. I've tried several tricks to skirt this Sophie's choice of sugar including using half Karo syrup, adding a pinch of lemon juice at the start, and swishing the pan on the burner, but nothing has worked. What tricks am I missing to make perfect smooth caramel?

First, it is very possible to make good caramel without stirring or burning. What you need is the right vessel and good temperature control. Choose a pot (or also a pan, if you won't be adding anything to the hot caramel) that has an even heat conduction without hot spots, and choose its size such that your sugar is less than 1.5 cm deep, but more than 3 mm. Then heat on mid-high, but do not go full strength on the burner. I use the dry method with this, and always end up with great caramel without any burning.

The thickness of the sugar is very important, if you make it thicker, the bottom will turn to caramel and burn before the top has even melted. Less than 3 mm can work, but it goes through the stages so quickly that it is very difficult to work with.

If you use this method, you will see the bottom getting liquid and coloring while you still have cold, unchanged sugar crystals on top. Do not stir them in! Just wait until they have melted naturally, no matter how  much it looks like it needs stirring. Else you end up with a mess.

You can use this principle with the wet method too, especially if you are not making caramel but candies at a temperature below caramelization. You can have it deeper then, since the convection in the syrup helps the upper layers heat up.

Once your caramel is at the needed point, you can start adding your dairy for making the soft caramels candies.

My second point: I am surprised that you are getting that crystalization when stirring. It is common enough with sugar syrup, which contains water, but if you are heating with the wet method, all water should have gone before you enter caramel stage, and I haven't had candy crystalize on me at that point. So make sure you use a thermometer to determine when the caramel is ready for the next step, and that you are adding sufficient dairy.


whats biggest joint of lamb I can use in a 3.5L slowcooker Im looking to buy a slowwcooker.  Whats the biggst joint of lamb I can put in a 3.5L slow cooker.

You can use a slow cooker for as big a piece of meat as will fit in it and still allow the lid to close. There is no strict need for extra room in the crock.
That said, you will probably want some extra room for spices, stock, et cetera. But so long as you can physically fit all your ingredients, it'll all work.


Are there any 27" residential ovens that can accomodate a 3/4 sheet pan? I am moving into a house that needs a new oven.  We aren't going to renovate the entire kitchen; we just want to swap out the oven.  The current cabinet space for the oven can hold at most a 27 inch oven.  I know that most modern 30"+ ovens are big enough to hold a 3/4 sheet pan (which measures 21" x 15"), however, most 27" ovens I've seen are not big enough.  We are currently in the process of scouring the stores, pan-in-hand, to see if any are large enough, but I figured I'd ask here first. Are we out of luck?  Are there any 27" ovens that are wide enough to accomodate a 3/4 sheet pan?

Edit: Should I mark this community wiki?

Update: The KitchenAid True Convection Architect 27" has interior dimensions of 22" width, 16" height, and 18.75" depth, which appears to be just big enough for a 3/4 sheet pan.

Update #2: It turns out my cabinet was just wide enough to actually fit a 30" oven, so this question is now pretty much moot for me.  I'm going to leave it open for a while in case anyone else was interested in the answers.

Update: The KitchenAid True Convection Architect 27" has interior dimensions of 22" width, 16" height, and 18.75" depth, which appears to be just big enough for a 3/4 sheet pan. (per OP)


Do Smoked Ham Hocks spoil? How long past the "buy before" date do ham hocks keep? They've been refrigerated, have no mold or off smell.

Smoking, which imparts wonderful flavor, is also a preservation method. In fact, that is how it was started. A smoked ham hock will have a low moisture content and long shelf life. Sell by dates are estimates, so this hock is good for quite a while after the date. Remember, too, that a 'Buy before' date then has a shelf life after it.

All that being said, there are official food safety guidelines, then there are the practices that many people use all over the world. A smoked, refrigerated hock should be good for weeks, even months, unless someone is infirm or has weak immune system, or that particular piece of meat is statistically loaded with bacteria. A couple days, a week is totally fine. You can freeze it to extend the life, since it will most likely be simmered for a while when used.

Really it is a choice between going by printed shelf life guidelines and using your judgement and past experience.


What is the role of oil in gluten free baking? (Can I substitute applesauce for oil in gluten free recipes?) I recently read this question: Why can applesauce be used in place of oil?

And the accepted answer says: "In baking, the role of oil is to coat the flour, preventing it from combining with the water (or other wet ingredients) and developing gluten."

However, all of my gluten free bread recipes call for some amount of oil. If there's no gluten in the recipe, what is the point of oil? Does it inhibit the gum I'm using instead?

Relatedly, can I substitute applesauce for oil in gluten free recipes without unexpected side effects?

Most gluten-free recipes tend toward the dry and crumbly, because the binding and elasticity of gluten is missing. Oil contributes a certain amount of binding and moisture of a sort to the finished product. As far as I'm concerned, using all oil as a compensation is unwise, as it can greatly increase the fat content of the recipe. Xanthan gum or locust bean gum (my preference) can supply some of the missing elasticity and binding without increasing the fat content, so you may benefit by experimenting with proportions of gums and oils to get the texture you want.

I would not advise using apple sauce as a substitute for oil, as the moisture will mostly evaporate during baking, so the apple sauce will not provide moisture or binding.


Is the smoked ham safe to eat? I cooked a small boneless smoked ham after wrapping in foil about 2 hours and forgot and left it in the oven for about 12 hours after turning off the oven.  Then I put it in fridge. Is it safe to eat?

Perishable food left at room temperature (such as a turned off oven) for more than about 2 hours should be discarded.   The ham has well exceeded that time.


How to know which pan to use for baking a cake I would like help on how to know which baking pan to use if the recipe does not specify.  I have tried measuring the pan using water to ascertain the quantity but it did not help.

First, for the pan type: If the recipe didn't specify, don't use a special pan like a bundt or similar. Take a standard round pan from thin metal. Line with parchment and oil the walls, you never know how much a new recipe will stick.

As for the size, if the author didn't specify, then the recipe is probably intended for the most common size in the author's culture. The first pan to try would be the one common in the place the recipe comes from. This would be a 9 inch pan in the US and a 26 cm pan in continental Europe. I don't know what the standard size is in other places.

After you have made the batter, fill it into the pan. A good upper limit for rising would be 3 times the original height. If your batter takes up less than 1/3 of the pan height, you can bake it. In the worst case, it will go a little bit above the rim, but this will happen so late that it will be set enough to not get a muffin top, and definitely no spillage. If it is more than 1/3 of the height, move batter into a bigger pan.

If a recipe regularly rises much above 1/3, it is probably overleavened. An overleavened cake might look nicely fluffy at a first glance, but it will have problems such as frequent doming and a metallic taste from too much baking powder. You will get better results if you reduce the baking powder.