Does a strong smell when cooking spinach indicate anything? I have some frozen spinach that I fry in a pan along with some other vegetables and meat. While it’s heating up, the spinach doesn’t smell like anything, but after several minutes, it starts to give off a fairly strong smell. I don’t know how to describe it, but it isn’t especially pleasant.

Each time, the rest of my food was cooked at that point, so I stopped cooking. The spinach looked and tasted fine. Does the smell from the spinach mean anything in particular? Does it mean that the spinach is probably done cooking? Did I overcook it?

True, you may have cooked it too much and spinach is cooked when it reaches 160 degrees F.  If the spinach overcooks, it does not necessarily mean it is bad, it is just overcooked.  In my opinion, eat it, I have because mine did not taste bad as I understand yours did not taste bad.

Now, another idea is that when you have smelly spinach, you might have cooked in on very high heat and you burned it or overcooked it, you could still eat it.  Again, if it does not taste bad, it is ok to eat it.

Another idea is that you used rancid oil, which using the rancid oil on the spinach would taste bad and you would then get rid of it. That would taste bad.

Also there is the problem of listeria, which is some kind of a bacteria, I think, and the spinach is bad to begin with and will or might make you sick.  Please look that up, lettuce also has that problem.  I think the spinach would have a blackish hue to it and taste bad. Get rid of it.

Lastly, what I read about spinach is that you do not re-heat cooked spinach, eat it cold.  I make big batches of creamed spinach, my family loves it, takes it to their homes, nukes it, and nobody has gotten sick.  I am no doctor, so take that info for what it is worth.

Lastly secondly, I use frozen spinach to make dips.  I make too much of that also and I make my own creations of that.  My family likes to take that home also.  What I do with any dip is put out smaller portions at a time and fill up as necessary.  It is time consuming but as a safety issue it makes me feel good and when you feel you are doing your best to keep people eating safer, it is worth it.

At very Last, use your judgement, don't take chances.  When in doubt, throw it out.  I do what I do because I have a lot of experience, but that does not mean I don't get into trouble once in awhile.  Good Luck


What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces? I had brought brownies baked in a non-stick pan to a potluck.  My friend used a metal knife to cut the brownies and scratched up my pan.  I plan to bring a non-stick safe knife in the future to save my other non-stick pans from getting scratched up.

Can I use a ceramic knife to cut things in a non-stick pan or will they also scratch my pan?  The plastic "silverware" knives work but not very well so I was hoping to get something that's better than them but less damaging than metal knives.

I'd pre-cut them myself - I tend to cut mine in the tin using a plastic spatula; after all they're soft and easy to cut. Then

There are stiff plastic knives (for some reason sold for use on lettuce). They're much better than metal and will easily cut brownies.

If you did want something disposable, some of the wooden disposable cutlery is surprisingly robust, and should be safe on non stick. As you're reckoning on getting the tin back, I'd hope you'd get the knife back too.  There are also semi-disposable plastic pie slices/servers (eBay link) but I haven't tried them  myself.

You can't just use a ceramic knife. It's harder than metal and just as sharp, and the problem is both, but especially the hardness. Even a table knife or the edge of a metal spoon can damage a non stick coating.


How could buffalo chicken dip be stabilized? I frequently see buffalo chicken dip showing up at parties. The idea of it sounds pretty good, but more often it ends up all separated with pools of grease like this:
 (Source: browneyedbaker.com)

What could be done to stabilize the dip so it remains creamy and unseparated. I had the idea of adding egg yolk, but I suppose you'd have to at least be careful with it to prevent the egg from curdling.

I would suggest making this on the stove top, or in the microwave, instead of in the oven. What is happening is that the oil from the cheese separates from the rest of the dish.

If you are using bottled salad dressing and cream cheese, there is already many thickeners/stabilizers in those. (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Carob/Locust Bean gum)

I suggest that you slowly melt the cheese, along with the cream cheese & salad dressing on low heat. An immersion blender would help to make sure the lumps are gone, after adding the hot sauce, but before you add the chicken (as long as you want to have the chicken texture).

From my experience, the oily separation with the cheese is caused by it over cooking. If you aren't a cheese snob (I am), you could substitute Velveta cheese for the cheddar/jack cheese. Do you remember their commercials with the oily gooey messes with cheddar vs Velveta? It is the same principle at work here.


Why might packaged pineapple contain egg, soy, peanut, fish, milk, sulphites, tree nuts, sesame, crustaceans, shellfish, mustard seeds, wheat? Here is the proof:

I'm a bit scared to eat it. What do they do to it?!

Although it doesn't explicitly say so, that's allergy information. It's just been processed in a place that also (potentially) processes those things, so it potentially contains a trace amount, which could be bad if you have a really sensitive allergy. It won't contain enough of those things to matter for any other purpose.

Often labels like that are written along the lines of "processed in a facility which also processes..." to make it a little more clear. The lists aren't usually that long, either; most facilities don't process everything. But as pointed out in the comments, a grocery store is a lot more likely to just have a single kitchen that possibly handles all kinds of things.


How to measure tomatoes for making sauce? In the ingredient list my recipe calls for 10 lbs of tomatoes. I'm not sure if this means before or after they are cored and peeled. What is the best way to measure tomatoes for canning sauce?

Unless specified, I would assume before cored and peeled.

And in general for any ingredient, unless explicitly specified: Raw, as bought in the store, before cleaning and/or preparation.

It makes assembling a shopping list easier, it makes buying easier, it makes writing a recipe easier, and it makes cooking a recipe easier.


What kind of cheese does Pizza Hut or Domino's use? I have been experimenting with Pizza and cakes. I can easily purchase mozzarella in India and have been using it for pizza, but it doesn't come close to the cheese Pizza Hut or Domino's use. Do they use some special cheese? I would like to experiment with cheese. I normally sprinkle oregano on cheese but I think there could be more to it.

Pizza hut uses skim milk mozzarella on it's pizza, at least in the USA.  Not sure what they use in other countries, but I would imagine it is still the same.  Skim milk mozzarella is extremely stretchy, but loses a little on the flavor end.  More expensive pizzerias normally spring for the full fat mozzarella cheese.

Dominos uses a mix of cheese, made up of mozzarella, Pecarino, Parmesan, and asiago cheeses. I think in their most recent reboot they switched to part skim mozzarella but I am not one hundred percent on that.


Can I leave butter cookies in the fridge? I've just baked a batch of chocolate butter cookies. They're nice an gooey, a couple of them so gooey that they fell apart, but I'm happy with the consistency for the most part. I'm bringing them into work tomorrow.

What's the best way to store them overnight for eating the next day?

I would store them outside, not inside the fridge. Fridge temperatures make anything containing flour go stale quickly. Of course, sometimes people have to live with it, such as when they have made a cake with perishable icing or filling. But cookies are not perishable, so they are better stored outside of the fridge.

As to whether to put them in a sealed container or not, it depends on the cookie. The harder type does all right in the air, and can get flaccid in a sealed container. If they are soft, they are probably better off covered. It is still preferable to not isolate them completely, a canvas bag or a bread box with ventilation slits does better.


Can I make a gluten free sourdough bread? I have tried making sourdough starters from gluten free flours directly but get very little activity. If I use the potato starter recipe to make my sourdough starter, can I use gluten free flour and successfully get the bread to rise?

I’m generally using millet (a gluten-free grain) flour for sourdough starters for various fermentation applications. Simply my starter recipe for millet sourdough is as follows:

Mix 50 g of millet flour and 50 ml water in a very clean glass cup. Cover the glass using a piece of paper towel or cheesecloth. Give it some time to ferment for 1-2 days (or until you see get a bubbly texture in the  mixture) at room temperature.
You can directly use this as your sourdough starter.

In order to get your dough to rise, you need to use some thickeners to replace the gluten. One of the most popular choices is using Xhantan Gum, but Locust Bean Gum is sometimes used as well.


Crispy chicken skin on the BBQ I am on a mission to get CRISPY chicken skin on the BBQ. I don't mean to LOOK crispy. I mean to actually "crunch" when bitten into, if that's at all possible. I'm trying to do all the right steps.  I dry off the chicken thighs (bone in, skin on) with paper towels, liberally sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper, & spray with oil so it doesn't stick to the grill.  On medium high, I start with skin side down so the fat can render and turn after about 7 minutes. Repeat and leave on till done.  When done, the chicken is moist, delicious, and beautifully carmalized.......but NOT crispy!!!!  Any suggestions?

You are getting a lot of it right by patting the chicken dry and using a dry rub, I think you just need to tweak your method a bit.

Rendering fat and making crispy skin takes time, 7 minutes just isn't long enough for all the fat to melt away and it is searing instead. When I make crispy chicken in the oven I bake it on 190°C (375°F) in a fan oven for 35 minutes - that's thighs and legs, breast may vary.

What I would suggest in the barbecue is to reduce the heat to a bit short of medium, and cook the chicken longer on indirect heat. Once the fat has rendered and the skin gets crispy you can crank the heat up and get some color on it if you aren't happy with the color already. I'd keep the crispy skin away from the high heat though as it's likely to burn, instead caramelize the underside of the chicken.


Sourdough starter and long term feeding I have a sourdough starter that I started about 3-4 months ago with bread flour and it's done really well. I am not baking a lot right now and would like to refrigerate it knowing that I need to feed it at least once a week. Can I feed it with some rye flour and bread flour?  I'd like to add some rye flour to the starter to keep it happy.  Would appreciate some guidance. I mostly make rye bread but I do make other types that use bread flour and a mix of whole wheat and rye.
thanks.  I tried to find this answer in the search but couldn't find it.

A well-established starter will be fine in the refrigerator, even (in my experience) if you go well beyond weekly feedings. You could also freeze it, though I have not done that myself. No matter what my feeding schedule, or length of storage, I usually plan for a few days of counter-top feeding and revival before baking, just to ensure peak activity.  I've used all sorts of flour combinations.  For the home baker, it makes little difference, so yes...you can use all rye or a combination of rye and wheat.


Clarification on the process for making fudge OK, so I'm trying to make fudge. The recipe which I'm following doesn't give all that much in the way of directions. So I'd like clarification of a few points, so I know what I'm aiming for.

Am I right in thinking that the objective is to heat the mixture as slowly as possible, and then cool it down again as slowly as possible?
Some sources seem to claim that you want to stir the mixture until everything disolves, and then stop stiring it and just let it boil. Is that correct?
The plan appears to be to heat the stuff until it hits the magic temperature of 115°C or 116°C (depending who you ask), and then stop heating it and let it cool down again. (?)
How crucial is it that it's exactly 116°C? I mean, obviously if it was way hotter or colder, that would be bad. But what kind of tolerance are we looking at? Is 2° either way going to matter, for example?
The recipe talks about letting the mixture cool for a while, and then stiring it "until the gloss finish disappears". Is it crucial exactly when you do this? Does it have to cool to a specific temperature or something? (I've seen recipies that seem to suggest constant stiring all the way through, and others that say to only stir once cool...)
In the past, I've bought fudge and left it unwrapped, and it dries out and becomes inedible. How do you stop this happening while you're waiting for your freshly cooked fudge to cool down? Should it not be a problem?
Flavourings should be added at the end. (?) Should it be while the mixture is still hot, or once it cools down a little? (Currently I'm using vanilla essence, but obviously I'd like to try some other things - if I ever get the fudge itself to work...)

I guess that's quite a lot of points for just one question, but I think it shouldn't be too hard to answer them all in a fairly short answer.

I like Kristina's suggestion that you research some of the basics of candy making. I'll answer those questions only briefly.

Generic Candy Questions

You don't need to heat particularly slowly
This is not like an egg custard where the speed of heating will affect the curdling temperature. You're just trying to get water out. Just don't heat it so fast that you burn the bottom or overshoot the target temp.
Temperature range
The different candy stages have about a 10F range. 2-5 degrees isn't going to make much of a difference but 7-12 will start to.
Adding volatile flavorings to candy
Many flavorings are lost to heat. Such flavorings are added at the end because if they boiled the entire time they would be gone.

Fudgy questions

Stirring
Stirring isn't required. The syrup won't burn unless you have the heat too high and are using a very cheap pot. Additionally, the syrup absolutely should not be stirred in the final moments of boiling because a sugar crystal might fall in that doesn't get dissolved. During cooling stirring would destroy the fudge because it would all crystallize.
Drying out
This is not a problem. The fudge will not dry out in the time it takes to cool.
Losing the gloss
As I wrote in the other answer, the syrup is concentrated and then cooled to a super saturated state and not allowed to crystallize. When it has cooled sufficiently it is mixed like crazy to form your crystals all at once. When this happens the shiny, glossy syrup suddenly fills with crystals and becomes thick and loses the gloss.

It is important that the syrup be cooled enough that it is ready to crystallize at the drop of a hat. Again- if you stir it early, as it cools, you will end up with rock candy (more or less). I just leave my candy thermometer clipped on until the target temperature is reached. Make sure the thermometer is clean- one stray sugar crystal can ruin the batch.


Cooking corned beef brisket for maximum slice-ability I want to prepare a nice corned beef meal, but I don't know the best way to do it.  Last year I did it in a crock pot.  It was delicious, but the brisket feel apart so much that the presentation was very lacking.  I was unable to slice against the grain (probably had something to do with the subpar knife I was using, but still).  I want good looking even slices of beef, so how should I cook the roast?

After your brisket is cooked, refrigerate it overnight. This will help it stay solid when you slice it, and will also improve the texture and flavor. Reheat it before serving. If you have time, this will improve many slow cooked foods.


How can I get these stains off my glass stove top? I have this glass stove with stains on it.

I've tried baking soda, 15 minutes and a wet cloth but nothing happened. I don't even know what kind of stains they are! Could I please get some help?

My stove regularly looks like this, and I can get sparkling clean by using Weismans(sp) glass cooktop cleaner and a green scrubby. Doesn't have the be Scotch-brite  brand, a dollar store scrubby will do. Don't use any water, just cleaner, scrubby and elbow grease. I do use a painters sanding block on top of the green scrubby to help with even pressure on the scrubby pad.
I have also heard that Vim cream cleanser works as well. However I've found that cleaners specifically made for glass cook tops will buff off and leave your stove shiny and any other cleansers tend to leave your glass dull after wiping clean.


How to make caramel sauce for sundaes? I've been experimenting with making a caramel hot fudge sauce (something like on a McDonalds caramel sundae but better) and want some ideas.

My latest was:

Microwave brown sugar and butter, stirring often, until it's sort of mixed together
Mix in a can of sweetened condensed mix
Microwave again, stirring every 30-60 seconds for 10 minutes or so until it goes a bit (golden) brown (use a very large glass bowl, or it'll boil over - be careful, the mixture gets super hot and will boil your face right off - you have been warned)
mix in a bit of cream or it'll be too chewy

... which produced a thick milk caramel with a rich toffee aftertaste, but it's pretty labour-intensive.

Any tips?

The classic way to make a caramel sauce is to cook approx (this is what we use at the restaurant, because sometimes we get distracted and have to run away; it's more forgiving. Use less water if you can concentrate) 4:1 sugar:water until the sugar has taken a golden colour. Remove from heat, whisk in cream and butter until you reach your desired consistency, add a pinch or two of salt, just enough so you can taste it. This will get you a nice caramel sauce, keeps a week or so at room temp.

Edited to respond to question:

Honestly, I have no idea what the ideal ratio is. I just do it by feel. There should be a zillion caramel recipes available via google that can be more specific. Offhand I would kind of sort of guess that for three cups sugar I use roughly 3/4c cream and 3tbsp butter. Ish.

Edited to provide another answer:

If you wish to use condensed milk to create something that will be closer to a dulce de leche, do the following. This can be extremely dangerous, please be sure to follow all directions. I am not responsible if you injure yourself:

Fill a large pot with water. Keep another pot boiling for topping off the main pot as water evaporates.

Place a can of condensed milk, still sealed, label removed, into the main pot. Bring up to a hard rolling boil. Top up the water as needed. Ensure that the can is always covered with at least six inches of water. Keep a lid on the pot, just in case.

Boil hard for four hours. Turn off the heat, and allow the water in the pot to come slowly down to room temperature. Do not at this point touch the can.

After cooling, let the pot continue to sit at room temperature for at least one hour. At this point, reach into the pot and gently touch the can with your hand. If it is still warm, leave it to cool further.

Once the can is completely cooled to room temperature, you may open it. If you want to be sure, leave it overnight.

You will have a glorious caramel sauce.

Note: I have intentionally described this process with significant margin for error for safety. There will be significant pressure inside the can, and opening it prematurely can very easily result in life-altering injuries.


How to taste hamburgers for seasoning? How would I make sure that my hamburgers (or any food unsuitable raw) tastes good? With other foods, it is possible to adjust the spice proportions according to taste, but I would not taste the raw meat.

You take a small amount out, cook it and taste it. It is the classic way, for instance, to know if sausage is going to be good after it is cooked but before you put it into casing.


Can salad dressing be made with coconut oil? Can salad dressing be made with coconut oil? Does one need to blend it to homogenize it? Will coagulation of occur afterwards?At room temperature, coconut oil is not liquid like vegetable oils.

Yes, you can, but it needs to be a warm dressing.

The only warm dressing that I'm aware of is for spinach salad, where you use bacon fat to make the dressing.  See Alton Brown's Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

I would stick with dark, hearty greens or cabbage, as they'll hold up better to the heat than most lettuces will.


why does oil temperature rise when I put food in the pan I tried deep frying in oil using a thermometer for the first time today, my usual method is to  test temp with a small amount of food.

I was using a wok filled 1/2 full with vegetable oil.  I heated it until the thermometer read 350 deg F.  I then put in some Somosa that were frozen. A lot of steam and bubbles were created. I lowered the gas flame and noticed that the temperature had risen to 390 degF.  My instinct tells me that the oil temp was likely to be really at 390 because the Samosa cooked faster than I expected.

I tried this a few times and consistently got the same results even with non-frozen food. The temperature did not change if I stirred the oil.

Could there be something wrong with the themometer?. I calibrated it with boiling water before I started.

Have I discovered a new form of energy?  :)

It depends on the type of the thermometer and the position of the sensor inside of it.  In all likely hood, you're not measuring the oil temperature but the air/steam above the surface.

When you put the food in, it produces more flow due to the water evaporating from the food and leaving the oil and registering on the sensor.

This is sometimes tricky, because some sensors are right at the tip and if you let it sink to the bottom you have yet another problem of reading the burner contact point and not the fluid.

Your best bet is to try and keep your sensor probe somewhat horizontal and almost fully submerged..


For baking, is there a common "done" temperature across different kinds of breads? I'm pretty new to baking, and it seems like the toothpick test is pretty subjective.  I'm wondering, can I use my Thermapen instead?

At a fundamental level, are all breads "done" at a certain temperature, or are sweetbreads done baking at one temperature, yeast breads at another, etc?  Is it common enough among recipes to have a chart, like for beef/chicken/pork/etc?

Or is it totally all over the map based on the recipe?

It depends on how "heavy" your bread is. White bread is done at around 202 - 205 degrees Fahrenheit. Darker bread, 208 - 212. And definitely use the Thermapen if you have one. There is no point in guessing if you don't have to.


Can I convert jam into chutney? I made a rhubarb jam a little while ago, basically rhubarb, sugar and grated ginger.  Its quite gingery.

I've now made some duck terrine and fancy serving it with some chutney.  I have some chutney, but I wouldn't mind trying to convert some of my rhubarb jam into a rhubarb chutney, to use tonight.

Not really sure how I might go about this, but was thinking I might soften some onions and garlic, then mix these and some cider vinegar into some of the jam.

Is this likely to work?  Anyone got any better ideas?  Would it be different if I had more time?

Perfect idea and great multi-use of your jam!  Your plan is perfect...just create a nice sweet tart balance to your liking.  If you want a little more texture you could plump up some golden or dark raisins by nuking them in the microwave before adding.  Coriander seed is often used and provides a little texture contrast as well.  A bit of ground allspice could be good as well.


Is roasting a whole duck something a beginner should avioid? I have experience in my own kitchen and I can follow a recipe. I was planning on serving roasted long island duck for a Christmas party for about 8-10 people.

What I learnt from my neighbor:

The most critical part also the most enjoyable part for the diners is to make the skin crispy. For this many factors should be taken into consideration (e.g. the type of oven you use, room temperature where the oven is, etc).

But the trick for the skin to be crispy is how much the skin can become detached from the meat while it is cooked, thus a layer of heat remains between the skin and the meat.

This is what I learnt:

From the inside of the duck, carefully poke holes with a toothpick through the meat but not breaking the skin.

Second, use a pan where there are holes on the bottom and place another pan directly underneath it to collect the fat / oil while the duck is being cooked.

At the very end, take the duck out of the oven and quickly turn up the oven to even higher temperature.

Once the oven has reached the higher temperature, pour evenly the collected fat / oil on top of the duck and put it right back to the oven and let it cook shortly.

The result is the skin will be very crispy and with you taking out the duck at the last step while the oven's temperature is turned up higher, the duck will not be over-cooked.


How to reduce the intensity of garlic in a soup? I made a soup, and put a lot of raw garlic in. It cooked in a slow cooker for about 8 hours. Now the soup is much too spicy and dominated by that raw garlic flavor. Is there anything I can put in the soup to temper or balance the intensity of the garlic?

I found this: How do I neutralize a strong garlic flavor?

But I'm looking for soup specific advice.

Actually, soup is the easiest kind of dish to 'fix' from overseasoning.  All you need to do is add more of the neutral liquid you started with--in this case, I'd use veg or chicken stock, but you could use water as well.  Add maybe a cup at a time, stir well and give it a few minutes for the flavors to equalize, then taste.  Once the garlic flavor has mellowed to your liking, add the other seasonings (salt, pepper, herbs de Provence) until they're back up to where you want them.  Dried herbs will take a bit longer to completely release their flavor, so keep that in mind.

If, at the end of the adjustment, you have too much broth, just ladle some out and freeze it for the next batch!


Hot-canning non-acidic, pressure cooked food The reason given for pressure-canning non-acidic food is that botulism spores can survive boiling temperatures, which would spoil the food while in the jars.

If that's the case, would it be possible to hot pack pressure-cooked food into a sterilized jar?

While that'd be a lot less risky than no pressure cooking at all, it's not fully safe. For complete safety, it's important that the actual canning processing be pressure cooking.

The problem is, even if the jar is sterilized, and the food is safe before you put it in, there's no way to completely ensure that no additional spores make their way into the jar before you close it. I don't think there's really any good way to assess the actual level of risk, but it's a "why take the chance" thing - in the unlikely event the food does get contaminated, there'll be no sign, and the botulinum has been given an ideal environment to grow in.

Note also that in order to actually sterilize the jars, killing any botulinum spores, you'd have to pressure cook them too, so you already need a canning pot big enough to hold them even for this plan. (It sounds like maybe you were thinking of using just a boiling water bath, but then they're only safe for use for high-acid foods that you can in a boiling water bath, not for low-acid foods that you need pressure canning for.)


Can I freeze fruit shrub? I am about to make some fruit shrub for use in drinks. I have clear instructions and I understand that it will keep safely for 6 months in the fridge (barring signs of spoilage). However, I have so much fruit right now that I'm wondering if I can make a larger quantity and freeze it in smaller batches once it's fermented, defrosting as I go for use throughout the year. Any reason not to? Thank you!

I see no reason not to.

You may notice slight flavor changes over time, but that’s also true if you are storing the shrub in the fridge or preserved sugary fruit preparations at room temperature. The high sugar content will influence the freezing behavior, for example it may not solidify completely, but if you use the appropriate containers, this won’t matter at all. For food safety, freezing is an excellent choice.


How come mere water buffalo milk and lemon juice mixture turn into yogurt? Yogurt is produced by the fermentation of lactose in milk by the bacteria of yogurt-ferment. Without those bacteria it is not possible to make yogurt.

But surprisingly, water buffalo milk and lemon juice mixture turns into yogurt without any third ingredient. You may first boil the milk to sterilize it; the result doesn't change. The milk must be water buffalo milk, cow milk or another animal's milk doesn't make yogurt this way. One of my relatives made yogurt this way, so this is not a myth (if you didn't hear this before). Unfortunately I couldn't find an English recipe to share with you here.

Can you please explain to me this chemical phenomenon? Is fermentation involved in this process? Is this resulting "yogurt" actually a yogurt by definition in the perspective of cooking and chemistry?

This is not yogurt per definition, you are making a fresh cheese. You can actually use other types of milk for such a cheese, but the mouthfeel and taste will be very different and won't be as similar to yogurt.

There is a large class of acid-curdled cheeses, including paneer, tvorog, quark and many others. I don't know if yours has a specific name. I know that there are people who for some reason can't tell the difference in taste betwen quark and yogurt. But it is still cheese, even if it tastes similar to yogurt.


What are the differences between gumbo, jambalaya, and etoufee? From what I can tell it has something to do with the type of roux and vegetables used and maybe whether it should be considered more of a soup or a main course.

Are these hard and fast definitions or more a matter of interpretation? Does whether it is more Cajun vs Creole influenced make a difference?

Gumbo is a stew/soup, etouffee involves a roux to make it more of a sauce served over rice as a vehicle, and jambalaya is a one-pot meal with rice as an integral part of the dish--sort of like a cajun paella. All three tend to have shellfish where as gumbo and jambalaya tend to also have sausage (etouffee usually doesn't have sausage that I've seen).


Quattro Stagioni pizza comes out unbalanced I like to make my own pizzas from scratch, including kneading the dough myself etc, and they usually work out pretty fine.
But there is one problem with Quattro Stagioni pizzas, where you're supposed to put different ingredients in different segments of the pizza.
For instance ham, bell peppers, mushrooms and artichokes. If I do that, the parts containing ham and bell pepper turn out great, but the problem is, that half is much more flavourful than the parts with artichokes and mushrooms.
(With pizzas where you can spread out all ingredients all over, this is no problem, since all the flavours will blend together very nicely.)

So, how to avoid half of the pizza being very bland in comparison to the savoury other half?
Can I pour extra salt on those parts? The problem is, none of the recipes I consulted mention anything about adding salt.
So, does anyone have any advice?

Seasoning is definitely a big part of your solution. Look at this recipe from Wolfgang Puck.

  saute the mushrooms in the olive oil until done. Season with salt and pepper

and

  Sprinkle basil over tomato section and grated Parmesan over the mushroom section

Taste your mushrooms and artichokes with different cheeses, herbs, spices, whatever. Certainly use additional salt if it seems warranted. Most importantly, taste your toppings with various complimentary flavors, always keeping in mind that you want the pizza to be a harmonious whole. Experiment!


Tricks to mask the burnt flour taste I fried some chicken in some rice flour and most of it turned out just fine ( I highly recommend rice flour over AP if you're pan frying).  A couple of pieces were a little blacker than I wanted.  Does anyone have any tricks to take the bitter taste out?  Like acidity/fat, etc.?

Salt.
Salt masks bitter flavors. However, (and unfortunately), the burnt flavor is not something easily masked. It's a typical flavor you might find in grilled meats, but not so much in breads and fried items.

You could also mask the burnt flour taste by refrying. Scrape off the burnt bits if you can. Change your oil, and refry the chicken. It's the best bet for eliminating that burnt flavor.


What can I do with leftover wine? We don't really drink wine in our house, so we only ever buy a bottle for cooking. Typically whatever meal we have made requires ~1/2 bottle.

How can I incorporate the rest of this wine into some other simple meals without resorting to any particularly fancy recipes?

The quickest way to get rid of leftover wine is to think of it as flavoured water.  In many if not most recipes that call for water - especially stovetop recipes like sauces and stews - you can simply substitute wine for the water or stock that the recipe normally calls for.

We actually had a similar question recently: In what kind of recipes can I substitute stock for water? and I'd recommend you take a look at that, as many of the points there apply equally well to wine.  Probably the best summation was in bikeboy389's answer:

  I'd consider stock to be just another flavorful liquid (thanks Alton Brown), to be usable in exchange for others like wine, etc.  You need to be conscious of the gelatin aspect and mindful that some substitutions will be more successful than others, flavor-wise, but it's always worth considering if stock might be a good substitute for any other flavorful liquid.

Just swap the terms "stock" and "wine" and you're good to go.  Even though wine doesn't contain any gelatin, you actually do need to be mindful of the gelatin aspect when substituting wine for stock, because you might have the opposite problem if the liquid is supposed to thicken.

Similarly to stock, I also wouldn't recommend using wine in anything that you plan to refrigerate or freeze for a long period, for a different reason obviously - because it can go sour over time.  So try to only use it in recipes that will be consumed in the near future.

Other than that, just experiment; whenever you're making a savoury recipe that calls for water or stock, try using some wine instead.  You'd be surprised at how much character it can add to otherwise simple dishes.  Some examples of places where you can replace some other liquid with wine:

Rice or risotto
Soups and sauces
Deglazing a pan (for a pan sauce)
Salad dressings (this is an especially good use for sour/fermented wine)
Marinades
Poaching liquids (for eggs, chicken, etc.)

There really are no rules, and any time you find yourself tossing plain water into a pot or bowl, you should keep in mind that you are potentially missing an opportunity to add flavour (which a good wine will add plenty of).


Can you make strawberry extract at home? I know you can make vanilla extract, using vodka and vanilla pods. But can you replace the vanilla pods by pieces of strawberry? I'm not sure whether the vodka would absorb the strawberry flavour, but if it works, I think I could give some desserts that extra punch.

Some essences and herbs need alcohol to be extracted, but not strawberries.

Extracts from berries can be made in the pressure cooker, to later turn into syrups or jellies.  Here's a step-by-step photos and instructions on how to do it.
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/2011/08/blackberry-italian-soda-from-your.html

You could then mix the syrup with vodka, instead of mineral water as in the recipe, to make a strawberry cocktail.


Dipping sauce for shabu-shabu I am at the Hilton in Narita, and I've just come back from a wonderful meal of Shabu-shabu. One of the dipping sauces was stated to be soy sauce, but it had a lovely sweet sort of flavor to it, so it clearly was more than just plain shoyu. It came with green onions and something pink that was stated to be spicy to mix into it. What was likely to have been in it? Is this something I can recreate at home?

There are a number or styles of soy sauces used in Japanese cuisine.  Saishikomi shoyu is sometimes described as sweet compared to regular Koikuchi shoyu. Additionally there are soy-based sauces available in the US that have added ingredients such as corn syrup or MSG to enhance specific flavors.

Kikkoman makes an "enhanced" soy sauce that they call Amakuchi shoyu that is sweetened with corn syrup, as well as another call Umukuchi shoyu that has added MSG for savoriness.  Teriyaki sauces, especially those made for use as a marinade, can be as liquid as standard soy sauce and are sweetened with sugar or corn syrup.

A traditional dipping sauce for shabu shabu is a 1:1:1 mixture of shoyu, dashi, and mirin reduced by 1/3 with rice vinegar added to taste. If you wanted it even sweeter, you could just add sugar to taste once it has reduced.


How long should I cook sliced russert potatoes for mashing? I'm making potatoes mousseline tomorrow morning for a 3pm service.

While the recipe doesn't call for it, I want to wash off as much starch as possible to minimize glueyness.  I'm planning on soaking overnight, and then rinsing after boiling. In order to maximize surface area for the soak and rinse (and for a faster prep) I plan on using a mandolin to cut the spuds into 1/2" slices.

However I suspect this will change the cooking time since the surface area has also changed.

Any suggestions or educated guesses?

I think you are overthinking this somewhat on the starch front, I don't think that soaking and rinsing overnight, or the mandolin cut will reduce glueyness. It's the choice of potato and how you mash it that makes it gluey or not. If you use a ricer and non-waxy potatoes you should be fine. Just add lots of butter and they'll love it!

Slicing the potatoes thinly will make them cook faster due to the higher surface area, it also removes any room for error - the difference between undercooked and overcooked is all of a minute. Thin slicing can also be a problem for water circulation, leading to the potatoes on the bottom being mush and the top ones being raw, putting them in the pot vertically will prevent this. You are using 1/2 inch slices so you should be fine, but if you go thinner be aware of it. If you are doing thicker slices on a mandolin keep in mind the curvy end pieces will cook faster than the middle cuts. As for how much of a cooking time you'll save I think it may be a couple of minutes over cutting them into quarters, but it's hard to say exactly.


What is the thickening power of different types of roux? I often take the easy way out and work with white roux, usually mixing it 1:10 for a sauce, and using the warm liquid into hot roux method. Tonight I needed a more toasted taste. I was afraid to try dark roux outright, and went for brown roux. "The professional chef" gives a bechamel recipe with 1:10 (white roux to milk) and an espagnole recipe at 1:8.5 (white roux to stock), so I thought I'd be on the safe side with 1:7.2 (brown roux to stock). The result was much thinner than I expected, I had to emergency-bind it with arrowroot.

So, I would like to know, what is the correct ratio for roux? Let's assume that I am thickening the same liquid (e.g. beef stock), and I know how thick a 1:10 mix of white roux and liquid gets. What ratio of blonde, brown and dark roux to liquid creates the same viscosity as 1:10 white roux?

My understanding is that the ratio shifts from 10:1 (liquid to roux) for a pale roux, up to about 5:1 for a nutty brown roux, with a somewhat linear relationship between the two extremes. A dark brown roux has very little thickening power, mostly they are used for flavor more than actual work-a-day thickening.

The problem may not so much in the roux ratios, but in other ingredient variations. For instance, if you are using a traditional 3:2 flour:fat roux, and your fat is butter, make sure you are using clarified butter, or that you are allowing most of the water to cook out of the butter before adding the flour - excess water in the roux will break down some of the starches and reduce the thickening strength.

Finally, there will be some variation no matter what - you can always make a little extra roux in a second pan to integrate if necessary.


When does gluten start to develop in pie crust or biscuits? To bake tender pie crust, scones, or biscuits, I've always heard that the dough should be handled and mixed as little as possible. The more it's pushed around, the more the gluten develops.

There's usually two steps (first cutting fat into flour, then mixing in milk or water). I was wondering if the gluten development starts from:

as soon as I do anything (when I cut in shortening and butter)
once the liquid is added

Wheat and (other grains) contains the two protein classes gliadin and glutenin, which together can form the composite protein gluten.

This process requires water and is influenced by

a) the amount of water available and
b) the mechanical process of kneading.

Thus a strong gluten network (as desired in bread baking) is acchieved by either

dilligent kneading wet flour for a certain time (-> window pane test)
or a higher hydration (= wetter) dough and longer resting times, aided by the -> stretch and fold technique.

On the other side of the spectrum are  flaky and crumbly goods like shortbread , pie crust and bisquits - here you try to avoid excess gluten formation. There are two ways to do this, usually employed both:

Adding fat to the dry ingredients before adding any liquid.
The fat (butter, oil, lard...) "protects" the flour from "getting wet" once liquid is added, thus inhibiting gluten formation.
Using only a limited amount of liquid and no kneading and gentle handling of the dough after the addition.

So to answer your question:
There is only very little water in your butter which could trigger the development of gluten. Therefore you can "rub" your butter/shortening/... in without much influence on gluten formation. Once you add liquid (egg, ice water, milk, depending in your recipe), you need to be careful.


extracting banana flavour for an iced coffee Now that the sun has started to shine in the frozen north I can start thinking on using my espresso machine for some cold drinks.  I was thinking of a banana iced coffee. But I would like a more natural flavour than most of the syrups I can buy in my local coffee shop. Do I was wondering if it would be possible to extract the flavour from a banana, without getting the texture/consistency from the fruit?

Consider making a banana consomme via gelatin filtration. As described in Harold McGee's 2007 NYT article, this technique produces liquids with the taste of all sorts of foodstuffs that are otherwise full of texture and color. A tomato consomme, for example, is clear and watery, rather than red and pulpy, while retaining the flavor of a tomato juice. The same technique can be (and has been) done with breads, meats, vegetables, fish, etc.

The process is to make a loose banana gel by mixing a banana with water, adding gelatin, and heating until the gelatin is dissolved. The mixture is then frozen until solid, then suspended in a strainer over a bowl in the refrigerator for a couple of days until the liquid essence distills out and the solids are left in the strainer trapped in a gelatin net.

The particular advantage I believe gelatin filtration will give you in this case is that it will give your coffee a full banana flavor without making it thick, pulpy, or cloudy.


Sous Vide chicken for reheating My understanding is that a lot of the technical knowledge around sous vide was developed in the prepared foods industry by Bruno Goussault of Cuisine Solutions.  This makes me wonder whether some of these techniques might be used with a home sous vide setup.

I'm a novice at sous vide, but chicken breast is easy and has been a definite crowd-pleaser.  Unfortunately, it adds another 45 minutes to an hour to preparing the meal, which we don't have.

I was thinking I could make my own chicken nugget/finger things without all the salt and sugar and other junk.  Is there any resource I can use for techniques around this, assuming its feasible?

I could just prepare them, and then do a reverse sous vide in an ice bath and then into the freezer, but I'm just guessing.  I can also imagine them being a soggy nasty mess.  I'm wondering if some of the sous vide techniques that are used in industrial food preparation.  For example, I know how to sous vide and brown chicken for immediate consumption but I'm looking for how that might differ if wanted to have the food finish in the oven with similar results.

You'll want to do some research on sous vide. That way you can use the correct process and terminology.  Cook and chill is common practice in sous vide cooking.  Vacuum is not necessarily required.  To make a chicken nugget, you'll want to bread the chicken after the sous vide step.  For example, you could cook the chicken pieces, allow to cool a bit, blot dry, coat, then brown/crisp the coating.  Your best methods would be to deep fry, pan fry, or heat in oven. If using right away, this will allow you to achieve perfectly cooked chicken with a crust that you like.  You could sous vide a degree or two lower, with the realization that the browning step will finish the cooking. The challenge is to avoid overcooking the chicken when browning the coating, especially if cooking from frozen.  Since chicken nuggets cook relatively quickly, in the end, sous vide may not be the best tool for the job here, as you could easily achieve the same result, more quickly, using traditional methods.