How to successfully make candied ginger? I tried to make candied ginger from fresh roots, but the result didn't turn out like I was expecting.

The recipe I followed had me simmer the slices of ginger in a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar melted in water, for 35 minutes.

Then I leaved the slices to dry on a drying rack overnight. Then I rolled the pieces in sugar to coat them (I found the recipe online).

The result I was expecting to get is something very candied, almost transparent, like this piece (bought in a store):

what I actually ended up getting was much darker and the sugar didn't stick to the pieces at all:

It still tastes quite good, but it isn't as sweet as the one from the store, and didn't look quite as good.

I would love to know how to salvage this batch, or have more tips on  successfully candying ginger to a perfect result next time.

Boiling the ginger will help to make the ginger less spicy - the longer,the less spicy. I like my ginger with more of a bite, so I boil it for only 10 minutes. Then strain it through a collander, the way you would a pot of boiled pasta. Put the ginger back into the pot with equal portions of sugar and water - enough to fully cover the ginger - and boil to 225F. Lift the ginger out of the syrup with a slotted spoon and place it on a cooling rack. Coat in sugar. For greater detail, see this link: http://www.makeitlikeaman.com/2013/12/07/candied-ginger-2/


Does oak aged wine contain vanillin? "Vanilla" is one of the aromas used when described red wines.

I am allergic to natural proteins in vanilla, per Elisa blood test. I am interested to know whether the red wine will contain actual vanillin, or whether the aroma comes from unrelated substances.

Oak aging can indeed produce real vanillin, whether in wines or other liquids (spirits, beer, even vinegars can all be oak-aged)  among thousands of other flavorful compounds. Somewhat surprisingly, it seems that vanillin is commonly synthesized for use in artificial vanilla extracts from lignin, a fibrous compound that serves to strengthen the cell walls in wood, or from guaiacol, an oil derived in turn from lignin.

However, this doesn't imply that you will necessarily have an allergic reaction to vanillin based on the information you've provided. Vanillin is a flavorful aromatic compound, and not a protein (which typically have much larger, more complex molecular structures). "Real" vanilla extracted from the eponymous bean gets much of its flavor and aroma from vanillin, but it contains much else besides. If you're definitely allergic to the proteins, those would be present in extract from actual vanilla beans, but not in vanillin produced from other sources such as wood, and therefore not present in oak-aged wines.

The caveat, of course, is that I'm not a doctor, an allergy specialist, or anything remotely close. You should confirm this with them before risking discomfort or bodily harm.


Will I definitely get food poisoning from unrefrigerated meat? I took a piece of beef steak out of the freezer yesterday at 4pm. I left it on the windowsill until 11am this morning. It stayed pretty chilled because the temperature here is below freezing, but it probably got above fridge temperatures. I then put it in the fridge before I cooked it tonight at 6pm and ate it. Will I definitely get sick?

Of course there's no guaranty that you will get sick - there almost never is - this doesn't mean you should ignore food safety.

There are three large factors that influence how "safe" your meat is:

How much harmfull microorganisms were in your meat to begin with?
How much did these microorganisms multiply and more importantly metabolize?
How "healthy" are you? / What amount of toxin/microorganisms can your body handle?

You only will get "food poisoning" when you have ingested a sufficient amount of microorganisms / poisons produced by microorganisms to overhelm your own immune system.

So why do we still clamour about food safety?

Because you can't controll the factors involved. In a normal kitchen environment you have no way of knowing how "contaminated" your food is, or how much your system can handle.

Stay on the safe side, assume the worst, and throw out food which might not be safe to eat.

On a side note. Extreme temperatures (e.g. freezing / cooking) do not "sanitize" food.


Oven setting for pizza Which Oven setting should I use for making pizza.

Use the one at five o'clock. It should be the normal baking mode for most recipes anyway.

The way I read the markings is:

12 o'clock, a zero: Turned off.
1 o'clock, a lightbulb: Light on, but no heating. Alternatively, it could be a preheat function.
3 o'clock, a dripping fan: looks like some kind of defrost setting, in which the fan is on, but the heat source is not indicated.
4 o'clock, two horizontal bars: Heat from above and below.
5 o'clock, two horizontal bars: Heat from above and below, with fan assist.
7 o'clock, a horizontal bar on the bottom and a fan: Heat from below with fan assist.
8 o'clock, three shark teeth: Looks like some top-only mode, probably a broiling/rotisserie mode.

I don't have good ideas about the 10 and 11 o'clock modes, wavy lines without and with a fan - if Stephie is right in the comments and this is a combi oven, these are probably microwave modes. Else, it must be something producer specific.

For most food, including pizza, the upper+lower heat with fan assist will give the best results.


How to bake a cake in a microwave oven I wanted to bake a cake and I have a microwave  oven. Can someone please let me know if I can bake a cake in it and how?

You certainly can prepare cake-like foodstuff in the microwave. One such application is a sponge cake. These are quick and easy, though you'll be hard-pressed to make something that's not just a poor substitute for the real thing.

That being said, cook one of these up and drop it on a plate with some fresh fruit and maybe some whipped cream and you'll have an instant dessert.

This LifeHacker article suggests:

1/4 cup melted butter (50 g)
1/4 cup sugar (50 g)
1/2 cup flour (50g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk


Will a Sourdough starter from one locale change to yeasts of current locale over time? I currently have about 8 different sourdough starters purchased from other locales. They are all 5 plus years, I am wondering if they have all become the same.  I have heard this debated, but no definitive answer, and I would like to know if anyone has experience with this?

Short answer: YES, a sourdough culture can change when moved to a different location.  But the amount and types of shifts are unpredictable, and other factors (feeding schedule and regimen, kitchen conditions like temperature, nutrients from flour, etc.) can also cause significant changes.  Also, environmental conditions can include not only  microorganisms in the air, but also contaminants from kitchen surfaces, baker's hands, etc., which can all contribute to or detract from the stability of the culture.

In your case, unless you've kept your five starters apart with laboratory-level hygiene and precision, it's very likely that many of them have interacted or become similar in various ways.

Long answer:

This is one of those questions that comes up periodically, because it gets at a more fundamental question of where exactly the organisms come from in sourdough -- do they come from the air, the flour, the water, the baker's hands, the surfaces of other kitchen equipment that come in contact with the dough, etc.?  There are literally hundreds of scientific articles in food science journals about sourdough microorganisms, and the precise answer is still not fully determined.

What we do know is that there are many factors which influence how a starter initially develops and how stable an existing starter is.  Changing the flour, for example, may introduce new microorganisms that could come to dominate and/or change the nutrients available (which may starve old microorganisms while giving new foods to others).  Changing the feeding schedule, temperature of fermentation, or other aspects of the feeding regime may stress various microorganisms while allowing others to flourish.

That said, starters in many artisan bakeries have shown to be remarkably stable over years or even decades.  Of course, in most of these situations we can assume a more-or-less consistent procedure for propagating the starter, somewhat consistent ingredients, and a consistent environment surrounding the starter.

It's that last factor that gets to this question.  A recent review article from 2014 summarized a few related experiments that may shed some light.  One experiment took seven traditional sourdough cultures and propagated them for 80 days in a laboratory while they were also propagated in their home bakery environment.  Some bacterial species thrived in both environments, while others died out gradually or quickly in the lab:

  Permutation analysis based on bacterial diversity, assessed through
  culture-dependent and -independent methods, showed that in five out of
  seven cases, sourdoughs propagated at artisan bakery and those
  propagated in the laboratory diverged. This may be explained probably
  by incomplete control of relevant factors and by the influence of
  house microbiota, whose level of contamination is supposed to be much
  higher in the bakery than in the laboratory.

Another notable observation is the fact that baker's yeast often shows up in bakery starters (presumably because it is present in the bakery in various places, even if never deliberately added to the sourdough starter), but it will die out in lab conditions.

In another experiment discussed in the review article that studied bacteria, various species present in the starters were detected in the air of the storage and work rooms, on benches and the dough mixer, on the hands of the baker, and in the flour of the bakery.  (Different bacterial species tended to show up in different places, suggesting different media contributed different species for transmission to the dough, whether the flour, the air, the baker's hands, or the equipment.)

In concluding this section of the review:

  Despite the use of different flour batches and possible variations in
  flour characteristics during subsequent propagation of the sourdoughs
  analysed, those strains appeared to persist in the doughs over at
  least 3 years of sampling. This persistence may be the result of the
  continuous use of the same fermentation parameters and of
  significant contamination from the environment of propagation.

  Overall, the results of this study suggest that bakery environment, because of its usually high level of microbial contamination, may be
  the source not only of yeasts, but also of LAB [lactic acid bacteria]
  that, by virtue of their intrinsic capacities, may or may not dominate
  traditional sourdough.

There seems to be conclusive scientific evidence in a number of studies that a specific baking environment can have a significant effect on the stability of a sourdough culture.  But the amount of variation will vary significantly from case to case.  Most home bakers, for example, may not bake often enough or use their equipment regularly enough to transmit bacteria and yeast on the scale that happens in a bakery.  And certain strains of bacteria and yeast tend to remain dominant in cultures even when moved out of their "home environment," while others may die off, thus making some cultures inherently more stable than others.  Given that the concentration of microorganisms on surfaces and in ingredients is significantly higher than in the air in general, it is often likely that your specific home environment will play a greater role in your sourdough culture than the general region you live in.

In summary, baking environment is a factor in culture stability, but its contribution in particular cases will vary.


Why is my zucchini bread mushy? I just followed this recipe.  My only changes were to add walnuts, and some allspice.  After the 50 minute baking time, it was still quite gooey, so I kept it in the oven, checking every 5-10 minutes.  After half an hour of no progress, I gave up and pulled it out of the oven.  It was still quite gooey.

The only place I can think of where I may have had too much moisture going into the batter, would be with the 3 cups of zucchini.  It was rather wet... does "well packed shredded zucchini" mean I should pack it so tightly as to remove some of the moisture? Surely not.

Should I just keep baking the bread until it's done, or should I change the recipe somehow?

It could require more time, thanks to extra zucchini.  It's a good idea to drain your zucchini right after grating.  Not completely, just some of that collects at the bottom of the bowl.  That, and a regular loaf pan of zucchini bread can take up to 90 minutes.


What can I do with ginger syrup? I got a bottle of (supposedly high quality) ginger syrup for Christmas. I've never seen or tasted it before, so I have no idea how to use it.
Since I like ginger, I considered just diluting it with water and drinking it. Or adding it to tea. Can it somehow be used for cooking or cocktails? I have tried searching, but my google-fu failed once again.

Things you can combine it with:

smoothies
ice cream
pancakes
oatmeal
tea
hot almond milk
rhubarb pie
fruit salad
dumplings (you can use the syrup as a sauce)

You can make ginger ale with it (or put some in regular lemonade), or cocktails (e.g. Dark Ginger Daiquiri; Ginger Rogers; here's a short list of cocktails containing ginger syrup). You can make cookies with it (e. g. this).

Ginger syrup is  basically ginger, water and sugar. So practically everything that goes with ginger, will go with ginger syrup.


What is the alternative to a vine ripened tomato? Having just had a lovely sandwich of Aberdeen Angus beef, vine ripened tomato and horseradish I was wondering if anyone could explain to me exactly what a vine ripened tomato is?

Since all tomatoes have ripened and all tomatoes grow on a vine, should not all tomatoes be referred to as vine ripened?  Is it not the same as me referring to an apple as tree ripened?

Tomatoes grow on a vine. But it is possible to pick them unripe, ship them unripe (which is much easier than shipping ripe tomatoes), then gas them with ethylene at the destination. Ethylene acts as a plant hormone and causes ripening.

But tomatoes ripened in storage don't taste the same as vine ripened ones. The compounds a tomato builds are dependent on the amount of UV light it gets, the surrounding temperature, the speed of ripening, the nutrients it gets during ripening, and many other variables. There are lots of tasty compounds it creates while ripening on the vine, which are absent when it ripens in storage. This is why vine ripened tomatoes are tastier. It is also more expensive to let them ripen naturally, therefore the producers label the vine ripened ones as a sign of quality, else customers wouldn't be willing to pay the premium.


How should I use lime leaves when making Thai green curry? When making Thai green curry should the fresh lime leaves be torn in to big pieces and then taken out when ready or shredded so that they can be eaten ?

I have found that when I shred them they never quite break down enough to be enjoyable so I am wondering if they are like bay leaves and are only to be used to impart their flavor and not really to be eaten.

Kaffir Lime Leaves are using in Thai and Indian cooking in two ways:

They may be added whole to a recipe (such as a soup) and behave like bay leaves; diners take them out and don't eat them.
They can be ground fine as part of a spice paste and make the flavoring base for the recipe.

There are a few recipes which use slivered kaffir lime leaves, but they are extremely fibrous and can't really be eaten unless ground down to a paste.


Why is there malted barley flour in all purpose flour? A friend and I were puzzled to see "malted barley flour" listed as an ingredient in all-purpose flour and bread flour but not cake flour or any sort of whole-wheat flour. This was the case for every flour brand I checked (two "store" brands and three advertised brands - all U.S. brands). My friend said that would never happen in Hungary.

I looked over the detailed discussion on this site of different kinds of flour and protein/gluten percentages, hard wheat vs. soft wheat, etc., but no mention of malted barley flour.

So I am curious:

What exactly is malted barley flour?
What function does it serve?
About how much of it is included? (like 30%? or more like 1%?)
Do any other countries besides U.S. put this in their (wheat) flour?

Note - label on my bag says all purpose flour, not all purpose wheat flour. So you can take that strawman (#4) for a long walk on a short pier. You won't find it in the "100% whole wheat flour"

Purpose (#2) - malted barley is yummy yeast food (or the makings of beer.) So, not surprising that you find in in flour intended to serve the needs of yeast baked products.

What is it? (#1) Barley (a grain) that has been malted (sprouted) which converts starches to sugars by enzymatic action, and is then kilned (dried) to stop the process, then ground into flour.

Percentage (#3) no idea, but likely closer to 1 than 30.


Butter spatters more than others I usually use one kind of unsalted butter from the grocery store but my wife bought another brand for no known reason. I heated a tablespoon in a pan today and noticed it spattered far more than my usual brand which, to me, indicates more water content in the butter. Agreed? (EDIT: Yes it's true.)

Which leads to my question, what does that say about the quality of the butter if anything?

Both companies are well known brands with good reputations.

Well, it seems you answered your own question, though you then expand this question of fat content to "quality."

"Quality" of butter is subjective.  It depends a lot on application.  Higher fat does not necessarily mean better flavor or better performance (particularly as an ingredients in things like baking).  See, for example, this article, which discusses the ranking of butter in a number of applications.  Fat content varied from 80% to about 86%, but that wasn't highly correlated with superior results.  The tasters' opinions there came down in favor of the lower-fat butter for applications like pound cake (where they claimed more steam from the higher-moisture content added to lift) and buerre blanc (where they claimed the excess fat unbalanced the flavors of the sauce).

But I think this is probably more evidence that American recipes are likely calibrated to assume butters on the lower edge of spectrum, around the legal minimum of 80% butterfat content.

Anyhow, my personal experience is that processing matters a lot more than butterfat content.  In particular, I generally taste a strong difference between cultured vs. "sweet cream" butters.  And salt content can make a huge difference.  But another thing that came up is storage/wrapping, as fat tends to absorb odors and other flavors, as mentioned in the above article and in a Cook's Illustrated review article that also ranked butters in various applications.  I find it interesting that this article is available on the Vermont Creamery website, which makes a big point of how it has the "highest butterfat content you can obtain when making butter" of 86%; even they are posting an article whose title is basically that butterfat may not matter as much as other factors.

(By the way, I'd personally disagree with the CI characterization of cultured butters in general as having "artificial, margarine-like" flavors.  But everyone has their own preferences, and I think American palates have shifted to expect "sweet cream" butter.)


Can I cream butter, sugar and eggs ahead of time I have my shortening, sugar and eggs in a bowl ready to cream. I realized I don’t have the extract I need. Can I cream them and let them sit until I drive over to the store for the extract?

You can cream them first, but it will be better to let them sit in the bowl while you go fetch the extract. If the store is far and your round trip time will be greater than an hour, I would put the ingredients in the refrigerator. Otherwise, I would leave them on the counter (cover if your kitchen is dusty or prone to small objects falling into bowls or insects) and cream them once you return. If you refrigerate the ingredients you'll have to bring them back up to room temperature if you want to cream them perfectly (however for most home cooking and baking cold temperature creaming works just fine as well - just not the best results).


Herbs in Dressing - Fresh vs Dried A ranch dressing recipe I found online calls for a few dried herbs and a couple of fresh herbs, specifically fresh chives and fresh Italian parsley.

To save time and money, I'd like to substitute if the fresh herbs for dried herbs. Is it OK to make the substitution if the dressing is allowed to rest overnight, hopefully giving the substitutes enough time to release its flavors? And if so, would it be a one to one substitution (e.g. 1 teaspoon fresh = 1 teaspoon dried)?

When substituting dried herbs, a general rule of thumb is 1:3. That is, substitute 1 tsp of dried herbs for every 3 tsps of fresh herbs. Anything more could be overwhelming.

Also consider the difference between mild herbs (such as parsley and basil), which are put in food towards the end of cooking, and strong herbs (such as oregano or thyme) which are cooked with the food for some time. Substituting strong dried herbs works better than for mild, as the drying process diminishes the flavor of mild herbs.

Either way, allowing the flavors to meld overnight should improve the flavor.

As an aside, if you're looking to save money, fresh herbs can also be frozen. You could purchase in bulk or cultivate a small herb garden.


Keeping bugs out of rice Recently, a sack of whole grain organic rice that we bought became infected with small black bugs. We bought the rice in the bulk bins at the same organic supermarket we always visit, but this time we didn't cook it until a few weeks after buying it. Since, the rice was stored in a sealed plastic bag, it seems like the bugs (or their eggs?) must have been in the rice when we bought it. Is this normal? Should I worry about buying rice there again? Is there a better way I should be storing the rice? It was in a plastic sack with a twist-tie.

Those bugs are probably weevils.  I would take it back to the store and ask for a refund.  If the rice is the only grain with bugs, chances are the larvae were already in the rice.

The weevils are about 1/4 inch long and they have a little tube sticking out of their head.  The larvae take about 35 days to emerge from inside the kernels.  A farmer can only control a weevil infestation with chemicals, which would preclude the organic label, and there is just so much frogs and birds can eat.


Why are bread pans rectangular? I assume it's so that heat from the oven can reach the core of the bread loaf within a certain amount of time, without over-exposing (and therefore burning) the top of the loaf.  Is that the case, or is there a different reason?

I don't think there is a baking reason behind the design.  Here is a loaf pan from 1897, for example.  Perhaps the popularity of the rectangular loaf can be traced back to the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1868. In the same article the author points out that early 18th century European bakers were using square tin pans to create loaves with minimal crust. I would suggest that this was more of a style preference, as opposed to physics.


can i bake pine nuts? I was thinking of adding pine nuts to a caneloni filling, but wasn't too sure if the heat would make the nuts release anything nasty.

You can either bake them in something, and typically be fine (there are lots of cookie recipies out there that use them; search on the internet for 'biscotti ai pinoli'), or you can toast them ahead of time, and then encorporate them.  (often, you toast them, then mix in, and bake).

But a word of caution on toasting them -- they burn very easily.  I've typically done it in a dry skillet, where I can keep an eye on them, and quickly get them off and to a try to cool.  I seem to recall an interview with Alton Brown where he mentioned that toasting pine nuts was the number one ruined dish on Iron Chef America, because of chefs leaving them alone for too long.


Why did rust appear after my first layer of seasoning? I have a brand new, unseasoned, cast iron dutch oven and an older cast iron skillet. I wanted to prep both for some upcoming camping trips. I found online that flaxseed oil seemed to be the best option for seasoning a new or old pan so I tried the method suggested (start with unseasoned pan, bake at 200 degrees to open pores, apply thin layer of flaxseed oil, bake for 1 hour at highest temperature available on oven).
After just 1 layer of flaxseed oil to my brand new dutch oven, instead of getting a slightly darker pot I now have a pot completely covered in rust!!! Where did I go wrong?
I've tried using steel wool to scrub away at the rust but I'm not really getting anywhere with it.
what do I do now? Do I try a vinegar bath or oven self cleaning cycle? do i try to season over the rust?
Even my older pan developed a reddish hue in some areas! (i'll admit i did leave some of the old seasoning on because I was too lazy to completely strip it)

Help! I'm newer to the world of cast iron and I'm not doing too well :(

Are you sure it is rust and not oil residue? Is it sticky?

In your case, I would try to clean the pan by heating it on the stove with some water in it. Use low to medium heat. Once it's warm, use some balled up tinfoil to agitate the surface of the pan. If it's really caked on, drain the water and try repeating the process with some beer or liquor as a solvent..that will usually do the trick. Wipe down with damp or dry paper towels to remove residue. Repeat steps until clean.

Once clean, I typically air dry or heat the pan back up on the stove on low heat to get rid of any residual moisture. While it is still warm, lightly soak a paper towel with vegetable oil and wipe the whole pan down so that it is lightly coated in oil. This will prep it to be cured in the oven (so the oil doesn't spoil)

To cure it, I usually don't set the oven too hot. 350 degrees Fahrenheit or so for 30 minutes is usually good enough for me. The point is to get it hot enough to cook the oil but not to burn it. Afterwards, I will wipe it down lightly with a dry paper towel if there is any excessive amount of oil and just let it cool in the oven with the heat turned off. The pan should be somewhat shiny in the end.

Hope that helps.


How to remove bitterness of bittergourd? How can we remove the bitterness out of bittergourd? If we cannot remove it, Are there any ways to reduce bitterness?

you can remove bitterness from bitter gourd by using the following tips.
Scrape Off The Rugged Surface.
Remove big seeds Use Salt.
Rub the slices with lots of salt and keep aside for 30 minutes before cooking.
Squeeze The Juice.
Squeeze out the juice from the bitter gourd Use Diluted Yogurt.
Use large amount of tomato it help to dilute the bitterness .


Can you make Bearnaise with olive oil? I'm looking to make a 'paleo version of Bearnaise Sauce.
Can you substitute olive oil for butter when making Bearnaise sauce?

Don't make any emulsion sauces with olive oil. The high speed of dispersion, especially with an electric blender, creates unpleasant bitter compounds in the oil. But frequently, even the speed of a hand whisk is high enough to ruin the taste. Either that, or you are too slow to create the emulsion at all.

You can form yolk-fat-emulsion sauces with practically any fat, and olive oil is an unfortunate exception with its taste change. Just choose another fat compatible with your diet. From a purist's point of view, they won't be a Bearnaise, the French sauces are very tightly classified. You will also get an obvious difference in taste (only butter tastes like butter), and, if you are using a liquid oil, a slight difference in handling - you can let a liquid-oil-emulsion cool down, while a butter or lard based sauce will harden into an unpleasant grainy mass.

If your base food is very plain/bland tasting, you can play with subtle oil tastes to create an interesting effect where the main "seasoning" is the oil in the sauce.


How to Cook St-Hubert À La King Sauce? I have trouble cooking the St-Hubert à la King Sauce, though I was able to cook it right with another stove and saucepan.

The issue I have is that the sauce does not get thick enough. Moreover, the sauce is a bit burned at the bottom.

Sometimes, the sauce, at the end, is almost as light as milk.

Another issue is that the sauce will often "grow" when it is too hot (this was not happening with the other stove) and I have to move the saucepan away (so that it wont spill) and/or lower the temperature. (The sauce boils with my current stove, but it did not happen with the other stove.)

I almost constantly stir the sauce with a whisk and I progressively lower the temperature.

With the other stove, I kind of feel with the whisk when it is the right time to lower the temperature, but I don't know why I don't feel it with my current stove.

I tried with a saucepan with a thicker bottom, but it does not really help.

Sometimes, I add carrots and celeries with the other ingredients at the start.

So, what can I do to get a thick sauce without problem?

I found out that by removing half a cup of water, the sauce is thick enough.


How to make coconut oil without any food processor? How can I make coconut oil without having access to any food processors? I do not own any blenders, juicers, coffee grinders or anything like that and I am not looking to buy one, so I want to know if that's possible.

I would also like to know how efficient the methods you will mention are? Would I get around 66g of coconut oil per 100g of fresh coconut meat (as is the approximate content of fats in fresh coconut meat)? And if not, how much would I get approximately and how to improve the amount that I can get (again, without food processors)?

This is not something I have done, so I don't have all the answers you're looking for. This is, however, something my mother in law (Sri Lankan) does with old coconuts. It's something that's been done in Sri Lanka and other tropical countries for hundreds if not thousands of years.

She'll split the coconuts open and pry out the flesh, then leave the flesh out in the sun until it dries out. Then she takes it to a mill to grind, but at this point, you could grind it yourself. You could use a mortar & pestle or anything like that to grind it as finely as you can. Then squeeze the flesh until you get oil out of it.

I don't know how much oil will be produced, though.


More efficient way to cook fresh caught fish while camping I am camping over the weekend in Idaho. Plan on catching primarily trout. Will keep the fish fresh and alive until dinner time. A camp fire will be maintained through out the day to ensure hot embers to cook on.

Ingredients and utensils I will have:
• box of kosher salt
• an abundant amount of tin foil
• tongs
• a half sheet pan
• clean towels
• lemons
• fresh herbs from garden; thyme and sage.
• butter
• garlic

I plan on cooking the fish wrapped in foil after cleaned, salted and stuffed with condiments stated above.

What else should I bring?
Other techniques on camp fire cooking?
Will be out there for two days, so a salt cure?

My time spent is fishing and cooking so plenty of time to play around and get technically with my preparation.

As you will have the freshest fish possible and only limited equipment and ingredients in your camp, why not choose a preparation that is in its simplicity highlighting the fish, needs almost no equipment and creates no trash:

Plank cooking, also known as Loimulohi.

The cleaned fish, filleted or butterflied, is nailed on a wooden plank, either with ordinary nails or wooden pegs. Then the whole board is either stood up vertically around a (blazing) fire, leaned forward towards the fire or placed over the embers, depending on your preferences.

You can use basically every untreated, non-poisonous wood, in the Pacific North West, cedar is traditionally used because of the aroma it imparts.


Stock: Canned, Bouillon Cubes and Powder What are the Pros and Cons to each one? Most of the time I am making vegetable soup.

Thanks

Commercial stock or broth products come in several categories.  Of the ones you ask about:

Canned

Bulky, but ready to use.  May be the highest quality product of the three you asked about, with the best flavor.  Especially low salt versions contain less salt than the cubed or powdered alternatives.

Cubes

Contain lots of salt.   Must be dissolved in hot water before use.  May not be as high a quality product as canned.   Requires little shelf space.  Often inexpensive on a per serving basis.

Powder

Essentially the same as cubes, but not yet pressed into cube form.  Somewhat easier to dissolve than the cubes.

Concentrate

While you did not ask, concentrated stocks are also available on the market, which are almost like a jelly that you can add to thicken and enrich sauces, or reconstitute with water to use as a soup base.  These tend to be marketed at commercial kitchens, and may be a higher quality product than some of the others.


How can I bake bread using a mother culture? If I want to make bread using a 'mother' culture what do I need to do?  How do I go about starting the 'mother'?  How should I keep the 'mother' going? and how do I use the mother in my bread?  What should I use to make the 'mother' for different qualities?

There is a good blog post on the Al Dente blog that talks about getting started with a sourdough starter. They use a starter from King Arthor Flour that is supposed to be 250 years old. :)


How do I neutralize melter honey? I was wondering how to neutralize melter honey into more of a straight sugar base and get the acid levels down.

Melter honey is melted and extracted from the caps of the honey comb. The prolonged heating can caramelize the sugars a bit and darken the honey.

Although it may reduce a little, I'm not able to find any resource that says that it reduces enough to become significantly more acidic than regular honey.

Regular honey can be neutralized for cooking by adding 1/2 tsp of baking soda for every cup of honey that is used. I think this ratio would also be appropriate for melter honey.


Not Burning a Wood Fire Pizza We cooked some pizza last night and had a good time. However, it cooked so fast that the pizza was really dark (burnt in places) and had cheese that didn't melt. On some pizza's, it was still doughy.
We have an Alphaforni 5 Minuti Wood fire oven running at 375°C (700°F). The temperature was measured using the built in thermometer. I had preheated the oven for two hours.
The dough was store bought and frozen. I thawed it out in the fridge overnight. Then it was sitting out of the fridge for about 1.5 hrs before we got it into the oven.
What would cause it to both burn and still have shredded mozzarella cheese not melt? The cheese was under the pepperoni.

A pizza burning on top while being undercooked on the bottom can be caused by uneven heat in the oven, as well as a pizza being overloaded with toppings. The former can be an issue with the oven itself, or can indicate that you are not drawing enough hot air over the top of the pizza. The latter is self-explanatory.
A trick sometimes used by pizzaiolos to prevent the bottom of the pizza from burning when the top has not cooked enough yet, is to lift the pizza closer to the top of the oven using the peel. This way, the top of the pizza gets some extra heat, while the cooking on the bottom slows down.
This image, which stems from a pizza oven manufacturer's Instagram post shows what I mean. The post also explains what is happening, and introduces the wonderful term "doming" for this practice.


Do I need a bread maker? I'd like to try my hand at baking my own bread.  Do I need a bread maker to get decent bread?  Are there any advantages to using a bread maker vs. my normal oven?

You absolutely don't need a bread maker for good bread.  They have been making bread for at least 22,000 years and I promise, in the vast majority of those, having a bread maker would have gotten you stoned as a witch (if you had electricty to run it).  However, a good bread maker will vastly cut down on the time you have to spend making bread.  Basically, bread by hand requires a few hours and lot of physical kneading to develop the gluten that gives bread it's structure and in a bread machine, you dump the ingredients in, turn it on and walk away, then come back and enjoy some fresh bread.


What is the place called where cheese is aged? When cheddar cheese is made, it is kept on shelves in a climate controlled place and each wheel is turned over once per week. What is the place called where the cheese is kept during this aging process?

I don't think there's a specific name for it.
I found a book that simply refers to it as an "aging space/room".

The Aging Room: The "Big Three" Design Issues
When designing an aging space, there are three main factors to consider: temperature, humidity, and air (both air exchange and movement). Each of these factors will be influenced by the volume and type of cheese being aged; your area's native influences (weather and soil/earth stability and properties; also if your building is underground); and the building structure and size.
The Small-Scale Cheese Business: The Complete Guide to Running a Successful Farmstead Creamery p. 126

Around the web, I've seen it referred to as a "cheese cave", which refers to the historical habit of using caves for aging cheese.

How to Make a Cheese “Cave” - This is a guide on aging cheese in a refrigerator.
Crown Finish Caves - A cheese aging facility in Brooklyn, NY.
Wegman's Food Market opened a "cheese cave" in 2014.

For a similar reason, I've seen a smaller number of references to "cheese cellar".


How long do raw chestnuts keep? I bought some chestnuts in the fall for Christmas but haven't used them all yet. How long do they keep? How would I tell if they 'went bad'? They look just like they did when I bought them (no blemishes) but may weigh less (they seem light) and seem harder to the touch (but I may be misremembering).

According to Chestnuts for Sale:

  Chestnut storage is not the same as most nuts. Fresh chestnuts should
  be stored like carrots. Chestnuts are comprised of about 40-50% water
  and thus if not stored properly, they will spoil. Therefore, chestnuts
  should be stored with great care and attention. The ideal storage
  conditions for chestnuts are 33-35 degrees Fahrenheit and 85-90%
  humidity. We recommend storing chestnuts in covered containers in the
  coldest part of the refrigerator. Stored properly in the refrigerator,
  chestnuts can have a shelf life of approximately 2-3 weeks.   If you
  plan to use the chestnuts soon after receiving them, simply place them
  in a covered container in the coldest part of the refrigerator. The
  colder, the better.

Otherwise, they recommend freezing them (preferably par-cooked), and provide information at the link above.

Washington Chestnut offers the following information about storing chestnuts, to prevent molding to which they indicate the chestnuts are susceptible due to their high water content:

  Do not let fresch chestnuts freeze and thaw (except if you are freezing for a purpose)
  Never store chestnuts in a sealed plastic bag (except dried or frozen)
  Keep chestnuts refrigerated unless drying or sweetening the chestnuts
  If black molds have entered into the chestnut kernel, do not eat the chestnut
  Chestnuts can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks
  Cooked chestnuts must also be refrigerated if not consumed right away
  Never bathe the chestnuts in plain water - this causes mold spores to be transferred to all the chestnuts passing though the bath water -
  instead, wash in clean running tap water
  Try to purchase fresh chestnuts close to the time you want to eat them


Can I bake bread in pieces? Because bread is basically brick sized and shaped, it'll take a long time to get cooked properly.

Assuming I don't care about the shape, does it make sense to cut the bread dough into small pieces and then place them all separately on the baking sheet?

How much cooking time reduction should I expect? Do I need to take care of anything else in this case?

Smaller breads are usually called rolls or sometimes buns. There are also a lot of names for specific kinds of rolls, beyond obvious things like "sourdough rolls".

You can certainly take an existing recipe and just form in to more, smaller pieces, and reducing baking time. They'll look funny if you just cut it into pieces, though; you should reform them into something rounder.

It's hard to say exactly how much less baking time it'll take, since it depends on exactly how small you make them. It might be anywhere from roughly a quarter to half the original baking time, and especially for smaller rolls with shorter baking times, you'd probably want to increase the temperature so they'll still brown by the time they're done. Very small ones will be on the low end of the time range, and need more increase in temperature; larger ones will take longer and not need as much temperature increase.

Given all that, you might want to just look for a recipe for rolls that suits you. Simpler, less chance of messing up!


Do cocktail onions need to be pressure canned I've decided that the cocktail onions I can buy pale in comparison to some that I've had in better establishments.  They're tiny and lack crunch, even when I try to buy something top-notch.

So, I think I'd like to try my hand at making them.  There are a ton of recipes out there, like https://www.marthastewart.com/1144099/cocktail-onions.  I've never done any canning before, and it's a bit intimidating, so I'm reading up on this.

Now, I've come across things that say since onions are low-acid, they should be vacuum canned. Do I need to do that for pickled cocktail onions, even though the recipes I've seen don't say to?  Does the acidic pickling have anything to do with this?  If I do need to vacuum can, will that make the onions mushy?

In canning, you can't make up your own recipes. There are too many "gotchas" which you cannot predict or measure. So while in principle yes, acid will make a low-acid food cannable in a water bath, just taking a recipe meant for other use and canning it is not safe. And you have to follow it exactly - if the recipe is for cut-up onion for example, you cannot use whole onions.

There likely are recipes for canning pickled onions, look around for those, and try them out.


Does Paprika extract actually taste of Paprika? I’m looking to use paprika extract to flavour a dish, however upon googling it there really is no mention of this extract being used in this context. From what I can see its use is mainly to colour food and for chicken feed (to give their yolk an intense colour).

If I bought paprika extract would it contribute an intense paprika flavour to my dish like say an essential oil would?

There are two types of paprika extracts; one, as you mention, is mainly a food colour. I understand this is made from raw, unsmoked paprika. It has no real flavour.

The other is mostly a smoke flavour. I believe it's taken from the smoked paprika leftovers, not from the raw paprika.

Neither is any good for simulating the colour, texture, and taste of paprika.

There are also many types of paprika, each having a different level of spice, colour, oil, and smoke. It is just a question of taste and culture to which one you like. So getting an extract to match what you think paprika is, is also difficult.


How can I modify corn bread recipes to accomodate a wet filling? I am hoping to make dough cups using a corn bread style dough. My approximate recipe would be, presumably, to par-bake initially, then fill with a pot pie style liquid/solid mixture, top with a corn bread puck, and bake until it is molten and exterior browns.

Standard style corn breads I have eaten are too spongy for this kind of application, and would not be able to be pressed against the walls of the muffin pan to form the walls; to give an idea, my initial idea was to try something more like beer dough for the par-baked crust.

Is there something in between? Even if corn-bread is throwing off my search results, I am guessing perhaps there is a molten cup cake batter/dough recipe or something that can be modified to have a savory corn-bread flavor and still really stand up to baking with a liquid inside.

How can I modify standard corn bread recipes to accomodate a wet filling?
Am I underestimating the resilience of corn bread to not succumbing to exploding from its filling?
Would it be possible to use a standard corn bread recipe, but then, in effect, laminate the inside with something toothsome but not too distracting in texture (for instance, egg wash might prove a good laminate, but I am looking for vegan solutions)?

I have done similar things with egg wash before, would a wash of flax/Chia egg produce the same result?
melting something like cheese on the inside might work, any vegan options spring to mind (other than daiya)?

(Vegan options preferred, but I can make substitutions as necessary)

I agree that cornbread will not have the structure you need since it's close to a sponge cake.  Instead of modifying a cornbread recipe, I would recommend modifying a pie crust recipe.

A standard pie crust is approximately 3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part water. To achieve the cornbread flavors, replace some of the flour with the cornmeal, as it can serve the same purpose as flour in this case. You can also replace some or all of the water with milk or buttermilk. If you do not like the grainy texture of the cornmeal, soak the cornmeal in the liquid you choose for several hours to overnight.


Does turning a gas stove on high move the heat to the outside of the pot? When you turn a gas stove on high, you get a big flame with a wide diameter. When you lower the heat, the diameter of the flame shrinks. (I'm not sure this description makes sense. Does it?)

Does turning the heat up all the way move the hottest part of the burner to the outside of the pot? And further, does reducing the heat just enough to shrink the diameter of the flame cause the heat to be more evenly distributed across the bottom of the pan? I've noticed that, while trying to boil water, it tends to boil first around the edges of the pot and doesn't necessarily ever get to a big rolling boil like I've seen on an electric stove.

Is your pot too small for the eye you are using? If the pot and the flame diameter are roughly the same size the effect you're describing probably happens.


Ground Turkey "with natural flavoring" I notice that Foster Farms brand ground turkey (in Calif, USA) is actually labeled "Ground Turkey with natural flavoring". I am curious what sort of "natural flavoring" Foster Farms has added to the turkey meat. The ingredients list is no help as it just lists the two ingredients: ground turkey and natural flavoring.
This product is not sausage. It seems to be just ordinary ground up turkey meat with no visible herbal particles or spicy looking speckles, etc. Does anybody have any idea what natural flavoring this might be, and why it would be added to ground turkey?
Would salt be considered a natural flavoring? OR do you think they might add MSG?

Ground turkey has rosemary added as a preservative.
Effect of Commercial Rosemary Oleoresin Preparations on Ground Chicken Thigh Meat Quality Packaged in a High-Oxygen Atmosphere
I have wondered the same thing.  It seems ground turkey invariably has rosemary.  I thought maybe turkey had some funk that was countered by rosemary.  But I could never taste the rosemary.    It turns out it acts as a food preservative.  I imagine that having "rosemary" on the label is more palatable to consumers than some chemical preservative name.


Is cheese seasoned by default? When I buy some Gouda, can I expect that it only contains the original fermented milk?
E.g. cheese usually tastes somewhat salty and sometimes nutty. Is this because of seasoning or because of the properties of the milk that was fermented?

If it is seasoned, how does unseasoned cheese taste?

There are dozens if not hundreds of kinds of cheese in the world.

Several kinds of non-shelf-stable cheese do not contain any added salt, just the natural salt content of the milk. Quark is a prominent example, paneer can also be made without salt. Of course paneer will reflect the taste of the acid that was used, for example lemon juice - it is up to you whether you consider it to be a seasoning or not.

Cheeses that have a ripening time need salt for conservation purposes, so they are all salted. If you want to taste a low-salt cheese of this type, try Emmentaler - the traditional ones go as low as 0.5% salt, and I am not even sure if this is added or not, so maybe it doesn't even fall under your definition of "seasoned".

In addition, there are cheeses which also contain seasoning specifically meant to change their taste, for example wild garlic cheese or pepper cheese. These are added to the curds before pressing. Other types of cheese, like some cream cheeses or American cheeses, have seasoning added in an additional processing step. The seasoning in this step is highly varied, and can include not only the traditional herbs but also things like fungi or bacon pieces. And quarks are frequently seasoned with fruit at this step.

So, there is a huge variety, and you can have seasoned or unseasoned cheese as you prefer.


Proper grind and measurement for a pour over coffee maker I've seen different sets of instructions from different sources, and experimentation has had mixed results.

Right now I have about a level scoop of coffee for every 4 ounces of coffee and this results in a fairly good-tasting brew for a medium grind, but the strength leaves something to be desired.  When I have a finer grind for anything larger than a six-ounce cup, the coffee clogs, even when following suggestions to stir the mixture while I pour.  I have a "single-cup" pour over coffee maker.

Should I be using a different grind, different measurements, only pour up to six ounces at a time, or some combination?

To me, the best thing about the pour-over method is that you can experiment without wasting much.

A few more details about your equipment would help.  How big is your "level scoop," what shape are your filters and are you using paper filters?   I make mine with a simple plastic #2 cone filter holder and paper filters and don't have any issues with clogging with about 2 Tbsp of beans.

Are you using a proper grinder or one of the whirling blade style?  The blade-type can do a decent fine grind, but you can't get a consistent medium or coarse grind unless you have a burr grinder.

Even a fairly cheap kitchen scale should be good enough to get a consistent amount of coffee, I'd start with 2 Tbsp (~ 10g) of beans for 6oz of water and adjust from there.  Try more beans and see if a coarser grind gets rid of your clogging problem.

In general, a very fine grind combined with the extraction time you typically get in a pour-over will give you a bitter flavour.  With the beans I've been buying recently, I use a fairly fine grind, but not as fine as I'd use for Espresso.  Manufacturers of paper filters claim that they trap sediment which reduces bitterness.


Is there a substitute for tahini in hummus? If I don't have tahini is there anything similar to use to make hummus?

Sort of.

If you have sesame seeds on hand, grind some up. You could also use toasted sesame oil, and even combine it with the ground seeds.

You can also use all-natural peanut butter. Don't use mass market crap with sugar and other additives. The ingredients should list only: peanuts, salt. Obviously, this will taste like peanuts. It will still taste good in a hummus, but it will be a distinctly different hummus than with tahini.


Cooking a Turkey crown I have a question about roasting a turkey crown. I've seen plenty of advice on cooking a whole turkey, but nothing on turkey crowns. Does the same advice for whole turkeys apply to crowns?

Cooking it upside down to let it self baste, rubbing butter under the skin, covering with bacon, et cetera. I know that my mum has a habit of overcooking turkey and making it dry, I'm cooking for her this Mother's Day and want to show her how it's done.

The idea of cooking a turkey upside down is that the fat from the fattier bits of the bird (the legs etc) runs down into the breast. As a crown has none of these bits, there's no point in cooking it upside down.

By all means butter and bacon it though - turkey breast is very lean so needs all the fat it can get to keep it moist, so use good fatty bacon.

Take it out of the fridge a good hour before you cook it, preheat the oven to 180C, and cook for 20 mins per pound (454g) + 20 mins. Baste regularly, but be aware that every time you open the oven door the heat drops dramatically, so don't be overzealous - once every 20 minutes should be ok. Then let it rest for half an hour, on a warm plate, under foil. This will help with juiciness.


Storing Green Onions? What is the proper method to store green onions? Additionally, how long can it be stored in the chill chest?

I wash them and take off the outer skin part and cut off the roots, of course. I chop them into half inch pieces. Put them in a tupperware with a paper towel underneath.  Put the lid on and put them in the fridge. Keep it loose, don't stuff them in there.  I sprinkle them on everything I eat.  Change your paper towel if it gets moist.


How do you make a chocolate chip cookie where the chips remain gooey after baked and cooled? Just had a chocolate chip cookie at local bakery.  Cookie was crunchy with gooey chocolate chips inside, like right out of oven gooey, but cookie was cooled.  Any ideas?

Naturally, chocolate is solid at room temperature. The only reason that chocolate chips are ever gooey is because they have been warmed recently enough that the chocolate has not yet reached it's solid state.

You may want to consider making your own chocolate chips with a little bit more liquid than normal to get the soft texture.

  Some Easy Ways to Warm Them Include:

  Throw the cookies up on your car windshield for a while.
  Stick them in the oven for a minute (generally dries them out)
  Put them in the Microwave for ~10-15 sec


What are the reasons for sauteeing with fat? I know it's a basic question and of course it's what I do every time I cook. But I'd like to know in depth what the reasons are and the detail of how it affects heat transfer and chemical changes in food.

When you're sauteing something, you want it to heat up quickly, so you put it in contact with a hot piece of metal. However, the food is not perfectly flat, so there will be a few contact spots and lots of pockets of air in between. This air acts as a very good insulator, so you will end up with a piece of food that is very unevenly heated.

If, on the other hand, you add some fat, this will 'fill in the cracks' and provide a more even heating of the foodstuff. (Fat does not conduct heat as well as metal, but much, much better than air.)

Also - fat tastes good.


Are roasted bean flours edible as is? By bean flour, I mean dry beans that have been made into a flour-like consistency such as through using a high-powered blender. From a digestion standpoint, it seems at this stage to be equivalent to raw beans, but would roasting the flour in the oven or on the stovetop allow it to be digested without problem?

Possibly not. Lectins (the toxins found in raw beans) are inactivated by boiling, but dry heat seems to be less effective (though not entirely ineffective). See https://www.peanutscience.com/doi/pdf/10.3146/i0095-3679-13-1-2 .


Enriched dough help please! I tried making panettone last night - although the recipe is really more similar to brioche.. 2 eggs, 5 egg yolks, 250g butter, 500g flour.  I kneaded the dough (by hand)for 10 mins as the recipe said ..but it was 'streaky' and hadn't got to the silky stage.. My house is quite cold so I put it in the airing cupboard to rise, which may have been a bit too warm - the dough rose very well but was leaking butter and was incredibly greasy when I was adding the fruit & peel before the second rise.. It took ages to bake and has turned out very heavy and cakey..

Did I knead it too much? Or not enough? And I'm thinking that I should have left it somewhere cooler to rise..?

Enriched doughs usually need either a whole lot of kneading or a whole lot of proofing time (or both - from memory Richard Bertinet kneads his brioche dough for about 10 minutes then proofs for 14 hours).

One other trick is to add the butter after initial kneading so that you can form some gluten first. This should make the resulting bread less 'cakey'.


Using cream cheese instead of cheddar in a grilled cheese sandwich If I want to make a grilled cheese sandwich with cream cheese instead of cheddar, can I get it melted like cheddar?

No. Cream cheese will simply go runny if you melt it. It is in no way a substitute for a hard cheese.


How to get a synthetic cork back in a wine bottle? The past couple times I've bought wine stopped with a synthetic cork, I've had a very difficult time reinserting the cork after opening the bottle. It seems the cork expands after leaving the bottle, and it's made of such a rigid material that sometimes I can't squeeze it back in. (And no, inserting the back end doesn't work, as it sometimes does with real cork.)

Is there a trick to getting an expanded synthetic cork back in a wine bottle?

There is no trick, it just won't work. Synthetic corks are popular as replacements to cork not only because they are cheaper, but more effective at preserving wine as they don't dry out, and they expand more in the neck keeping a tighter seal. This makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to get them back in.

The simple and easy solution is to buy re-usable bottle stoppers. There are many different types, I prefer the ones which have a lever or button you push down to expand the stopper as they are best at preventing spills and leaks. There are vacuum sealers as well, however IMHO they're gimmicks and don't improve the storage of wine.


What exactly is apple cider? What exactly is apple cider?

I've been using Apple Bandit Cider for some recipes in which I needed to reduce the cider. However the Apple Bandit Cider is like a low-alcohol fresh cider/beer kind of drink. And I recently heard that this is an incorrect literal translation of the apple cider. Apparently there is a difference in what we call apple cider in the EU vs. the US.

So when using apple cider, is it best to just use an unfiltered sort of apple juice, or what is the closest description of the actual good?

What is apple cider?
In earlier times, it just meant "apple juice". Nobody had different words for the non-alcoholic and the alcoholic variety, because the freshly pressed (and sometimes cooked) juice fermented on its own when stored unrefrigerated.
In the days of refrigeration, there are different products made by pressing of apples, and stabilized to keep their properties when refrigerated. It just so happens that linguistically, the name "cider" has stuck for a non-fermented variant in the US and for a fermented variant outside. Besides, there are companies who have been using modern technology to approximate the fermented version without following the exact process, this is how products like the Apple bandit come into being. (There are also companies who approximate the non-alcoholic variety, but I think they market it simply as apple juice).
So the word has no single "exact" meaning. All three types are a cider.
Which one is better to use?
The answer may sound disappointing, but it is best to use the type meant by the recipe author. Ideally, the author would have known of the linguistic problem, and specified what they mean. Since the ideal case rarely happens in reality, you have to take your best guess based on what you know of the recipe source. That is, if it is an American recipe, use unfiltered apple juice, if it is European, use the alcoholic kind. Also, especially for older recipes, or ones which require much manipulation (such as your reducing step), it is preferable to use traditional-process cider. The modern style cider  like Apple bandit is fine-tuned to taste good when drunk straight from the bottle, but it might behave very different from old time cider when heated.
In the end, if you have no idea where the recipe came from or who the author is, you can just start with whichever type is easiest for you to use, and see if you like the result. If yes, stay with it. If not, try with a different type.


What are the names of the three main parts of my metal spatula? What are the names of the three main parts of my metal spatula?

Handle
Flat part that comes in contact with the food
The connecting metal which has rivets or pins attaching it to 1 and 2

I don't think there are any 'official' names, but I suggest:

Handle
Blade
Shaft


What is this "Egyptian Coffee"? I came across this video on Facebook, which allegedly demonstrates some sort of "Egyptian Coffee" making technique. What exactly is the video showing? Where can I read more about this coffee making technique, and the associated equipment, etc?

This is actually the Turkish method for making coffee, or a variant of it. Coffee grounds, cold water and sugar are brought just to a boil several times before being poured into small cups. For this method one typically uses the finest possible grind of coffee.

The sand is used to control heat. The pots (called cezve) on top of the sand keep warm, and when you want them to boil you push them down through the sand to make direct contact with the hot plate underneath.


What kind of seaweed do I need for Japanese-style seaweed salad? I've fallen in love with the seaweed salad from a local Japanese seafood buffet. What would be the most cost-effective way to obtain this kind of food in large quantities for regular eating? I would assume that making it fresh would be the best way.

As far as obtaining ingredients, I'm located on the east coast of the United States; so this isn't a native dish.

I'm also confused on the type of seaweed to look for. Google says that I'm looking for wakame seaweed but search results show many different varieties.

The specific type of seaweed salad I want appears to be "sesame seaweed salad".

Here is a photo of what I would like to make:

Because we don't do recipe requests around these parts, I'm going to treat this as an ingredient question.

Japanese markets (and some online merchants, including Amazon) often sell dried versions of the seaweed mix that many restaurants use. It'll be sold as kaiso salad or seaweed salad. Some versions are better than others; some contain a ton of dyes that make the salad look unnaturally neon to my eyes, although the taste and texture is similar. Such blends typically contain wakame and other seaweeds, including agar agar noodles, for example.

If not included in the package, you can make a simple dressing based on toasted sesame oil and Japanese vinegar, in roughly a 1:3 ratio, or use sesame oil and lemon juice (maybe 1:1-1:2 ratio since it's more acidic). You may want to include soy sauce or salt. This is loosely in the category of sunomono, so it doesn't typically contain emulsifiers like mustard, but if you find it hard to blend you can use a touch of mustard or something like lecithin or a stabilizer like xanthan gum.


Recipe generator for randomized meal planning has anyone of you ever tried a randomized week long meal planner for dieting ?
If you have read the 4 hour body delegating the cycle to an alogrithmen makes a lot of sense in my opinion. I'm happy for any suggestions for a 80 % solution.

Honestly, I'm just to lazy to think about the whole
leftovers - buy - cook - eat cycle. I end up munching instead leftovers all the time. So I like to try something new - randomization since flipping coin decisions are fun, why should meal planning not be.

My criteria , 15 min max, low carbs and cheap.

I want title, picture, ingredients and prep guidlines. The ingredients I like to aggregate to a grocery list. If possible serving and shopping sizes are also available as additional constraints - I don't like leftovers (I would munch them).

Preferably there is some kind of API for this :).

Tks for suggestions.

Why not list out the recipes yourself, say onto cards or something, and then randomly draw them - by pulling cards from the box, or by numbering them and rolling dice, or whatever. Then build the week's shopping list from the list of meals. If each meal is balanced there's no need to write code to optimize for the week. And since you have free will, if you pull 3 meals in a row that are really similar (meatloaf, hamburgers, shepherds pie) you are free to swap Tuesday and Friday, or to toss one back and draw again.

If you plan to eat leftovers roughly half the time, don't draw 7 meals for a week, draw 4. In our house, certain meals have "official" leftover dishes that are made from them. You could just write that on the card: "make leftovers into pulled pork sandwiches the next day."


How to carbonate a drink? How do I carbonate a drink that originally isn't carbonated without altering its taste or the process taking more than a few hours? I've seen some methods that use yeast, but that requires about two days and the taste changes, so that won't do.

How to do it - practical advice

You need a machine for carbonation. There are different brands. You buy cartridges with gas for them, put the bottle with the drink in the machine with the loaded cartridge, and press a button a few times. The drink is then carbonated.

I there are also combined whippers/carbonators which can alternatively take a nitrous oxide cartridge to make foams. This is too complicated and unnecessary if all you need are carbonated drinks. If you are like most people out there, you want the simple system which just carbonates.

Update: Some more words on what forms of carbonation are available

Carbonation is a process in which you get CO2 bubbles dissolved in a liquid. The gas doesn't stay dissolved for a long time, it starts "seeping out" of the liquid, forming tiny bubbles, which rise through the liquid, giving a prickly feeling on your tongue when they reach it.

You can get the gas into the liquid by three general classes of
   methods: add an organism which produces CO2 (biological method), add
   a compound which reacts to produce CO2 (chemical method), or add the
   gas directly (physical method).

Adding yeast is a biological method. Yeast metabolizes parts of
the drink, and releases CO2 as a byproduct. This needs time for the
yeast to live enough to produce enough waste gases, and it indeed
changes the taste, as the yeast eats up some nutrients itself, and
releases other byproducts beside CO2. These disadvantages are common
to all biological methods, no matter which kind of microorganism you
choose.

You could also use a chemical method. It also changes the taste,
as compounds within the drink are used up in chemical reactions, and
there are also products beside the CO2, which have a taste of their
own. A further problem is that you can't get much gas produced that
way, and what you produce dissipates very quickly. So, it is not
advisable to carbonate drinks using chemical methods.

The third way is the physical method. You don't produce CO2, but
add existing CO2 into the drink. Normally, if you just bring a drink
and CO2 gas together, the gas won't dissolve. What you need to make
this work is to release CO2 into the liquid under pressure. The
instrument which does this is a soda-making machine; it gets a
cartridge of CO2 under pressure. When you push the button, the
cartridge is opened, and the pressurized gas escapes from the
cartridge into the drink, where it gets dissolved. This is the
easiest method of the three, and has no disadvantages beyond the
investment in a machine and cartridges. There are inexpensive
machines for home use, so it is what I advise you to use.

Manufacturers sometimes combine machines which can expel CO2 from cartridges with machines which can expel NO from cartridges. Expelling NO is used for whipping foams, e.g. creating whipped cream. The whipped cream spray bottles in the supermarket are a simplified version of such machines, which cannot be reloaded.

While the construction of CO2 expelling machines and NO expelling machines is similar enough that it makes sense to combine them in a single body, the use cases for CO2 use and NO use are very different. If you only want to carbonate, a CO2 machine is sufficient.


Why did my brownie batter separate? The recipe is:

1/2 cup          butter
8 oz             semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup          granulated sugar
1/4 cup          light brown sugar
3                large eggs
1 tsp            vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp           unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4              tsp salt

Melt the butter and chocolate over  low heat. Let cool slightly for about 10 minutes. Whisk in the sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then whisk in the vanilla. Fold in flour, cocoa, and salt. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

I followed this recipe to the letter, but when I added in the flour, the butter starred separating out of the batter. I still followed through with the recipe, and the flavour turned out fine. However, the brownies were very crumbly and the edges very crunchy. I've never had this happen before with brownies. What could cause the butter to separate out?

There is not enough flour in this recipe, increase the amounts to 2 cups.  When using an equal amount of flour and butter you will form a short-crust type texture, this is why it was so crumbly.  It may seem counter intuitive but you actually need more flour to hold all the liquid.


Should I drink pasteurized milk that has a yellowish colour? I somehow found a packet of "full cream" pasteurized milk in the fridge. It was in the bottom section, not the freezer. (My fridge has an ice-making compartment at the top, where I generally keep pasteurized milk.) I have no idea how many days ago it was bought.

The milk wasn't frozen, as expected. It was a slightly cool liquid.

When I poured the milk into the pan, I saw it had a yellow tint to it, but no lumps. As the milk was being heated, the corners began to turn a bright white. Slowly and slowly, the white part was increasing and centering the yellowish part. After I took it off the stove, it had again turned a creamy yellow colour. I shook it, and the cream collected on top. The milk below, however, was white.

I find this very odd—pasteurized milk is usually pure clean white. I can't afford to take risks in such matters.

Is the milk spoiled? Should I drink it?

The smell was perfectly alright. I took a sip: the milk tasted very creamy and delicious.

There are 2 terms with milk that often get mixed up, they are pasteurized and homogenized. Pasteurization is a process where milk is heated up to a temperature which kills foodborne microbes, making it safer and keep longer in the refrigerator, homogenization is a separate process where the milk is processed to create an emulsion where the cream is evenly distributed and doesn't separate in long term storage. What it sounds like is that you have bought milk that has been pasteurized but not homogenized, so the cream is separate and floats to the top. If this is the case then it's perfectly safe, and as long as it smells and tastes good it's likely absolutely fine. It may not be to your taste, I personally do not like running into chunks of cream in my milk, but there's nothing wrong with it. It's also possible that your milk has been processed incorrectly, but the label "full cream" seems to indicate that it is meant to be that way.

However, if you have any doubts about it or have health issues which raise concerns then it may be best to not drink it. It's a shame to waste food but it's worse to be in bed with stomach cramps, you have to balance waste with safety.


Why would mussels be gritty? I've made my first attempt at cooking moules frites however I'm a bit disappointed with the results.

The batch of mussels were purchased from an online fishmonger specialising in Cornish seafood in the UK. Two thirds of the batch had already opened so following advice online I discarded them. The remaining ones I thoroughly washed in cold running water and removed any beards visible. On cooking, they all opened however they all tasted gritty and in the shells I could see black sludge.

Have I done something wrong? Is there an additional preparation step I missed? Or is it a bad batch?

Any help or advice is much appreciated. I haven't cooked fresh mussels before so it's a bit of a learning experience for me!

With regards to the grit, if they aren't farmed mussels (which generally are fairly clean) you may want to give them a soak for a while. This will give them the chance to expel any further sand/grid they may contain. There are varying theories of whether to use tap water, salt water, sea water or various other concoctions. And admittedly there are those who say any form of soaking will do all sorts of harm to the flavour. But if the alternative is disappointing gritty mussels, why not give it a try.

And as always, ask your fishmonger for advice. They will know the origin of the product, and whether or not you need to take extra steps in preparing them.

As for discarding opened mussels, don't just discard them when they seem open on arrival. If the shell is not cracked, give them a light tap (on the counter or with a knife) and see whether or not they will close in response. If they close in response, they are fine. If they don't close or tell you to stop it, then discard them.

And if two thirds of the batch really are dead ... I personally would not necessarily trust the other third to be in great shape.


Should I delay adding barley when making vegetable barley soup? When adding barley to a soup (usually with some combination of vegetables), should I add the barley later than the rest of the ingredients?

It depends on how long the soup cooks for and whether you soak the barley or not. If the soup is going to cook for a couple of hours, you can just add unsoaked barley with everything else. Or you can soak the barley and add it towards the end of cooking.

If the soup is going to be cooked relatively quickly, you should soak the barley and add it with everything else. Soaked barley (soaked for a couple of hours) needs to be cooked for about 30 minutes.

It also depends on how soft you like the barley to be. Some people like it to near-disintegrate, some prefer it a little al dente.


When should I press garlic and when should I chop it? I just found out they make fancy devices for pressing garlic. However, I'm unsure of when I should use this. When do chefs press garlic and when do they chop it? Is there a rule of thumb that needs to be followed? Also, why does only Garlic and Ginger get pressed?

That is actually quite controversial in its own way. If you are going to use a garlic press, you should cut the root end off the clove (you can do that a bulb at a time if desired) and give the individual cloves a bit of a crush with the side of a big knife before you press them. If you do that and you have a good garlic press, you can then just pluck the paper from the press to be ready for the next clove. That's fine, if pressed garlic is actually what you want.

Garlic is funny this way. It all depends upon how fussy you want to be. Pressing is about the least "perfect" way to prepare garlic for anything, but it pretty much works for everything. Many people find pressing to be the most convenient way to deal with garlic. If you press garlic you get fresh garlic juice and smudged garlic paste. For almost anything that is adequate.

If you desire for more than adequate, the kind of superlative awesomeness that Michelin Star judges look for and your little brother would never notice, then you need to break out the knife skills. Slicing, mincing, smearing, crushing, and even pressing give different results, even if those differences are barely apparent to us mere mortals.

I don't think ginger should ever be pressed, and I would not say that pressing is an always adequate technique like I would say for garlic. The best methods for ginger are to grate with a microplane or a ginger grater, to finely dice, to do it in volume with a food processor and then keep in the fridge or freeze in single use aliquots, or to roast and use in big chunks. You might find it helpful to know that you can freeze the whole hand of ginger. Frozen, you can use a microplane and the paper will just drift out of your way.

I'm not aware of anything else for which a press of the garlic press type could be of any use.


Dry seasoned popcorn in oven Is there a way to dry homemade seasoned popcorn ?

I used this recipe and the popcorn felt soggy. Can I dry it in the oven ? I am just afraid of the popcorn burning if I put it in the oven at 350F to dry.

Yes, oven drying is fine. Depending on how much liquid is on the popcorn, 15-30 minutes at 300 F should work. Mix the popcorn around a couple of times during this process.

Keep in mind that hot popcorn will seem soggier than it will be once it cools. When checking for doneness, let a piece cool for a little while before testing it.


How do I boil/cook frozen vegetables to maintain nutrients? There are already a few questions on cooked vegetables on Seasoned Advice. I want to know the best way to cook them straight from the freezer to maintain nutrients. I normally put lots of water in a cooking bowl and boil them for a long time. My wife thinks this loses the nutrients.

Is defrosting them on a pan with a small amount of butter and letting them slowly cook actually helping? Are there any other methods to maintain the nutrients as best as possible for frozen vegetables?

For frozen asparagus I pan cook it very lightly once defrosted with salt and pepper.
For broccoli I place it in a pan with water and boil it.

Is steam cooking better, or microwaving? I don't have a microwave as I don't believe in radiating food.

What you want to avoid is where you leave lots of liquid behind.

When you're boiling, water soluble nutrients (eg minerals, vitamins B) will be leached out.

If you cook it slowly in fat (oil, butter, etc.), but it's so much that it's a puddle left behind, you might be losing fat soluble vitamins (eg, vitamins A, D, E)

Cooking at too high of a heat can also break down nutrients into other compounds ... but it's a trade-off, as cooking breaks down cell walls and makes them more bio-available.

...

Personally, I tend to look at flavor, not just nutrients, as if it doesn't taste good, you're not going to eat it, and then you won't get any nutrients.

So, I'd recommend a 'steam-sauté' method:

Put the vegetables in a pan with a little bit of water (about 3 TB / 45mL) and a lid
Heat until you have steam, and let steam for a couple of minutes (exact time depends on the size of what you're re-heating, but you want them defrosted)
Take the lid off, and let most of the water evaporate.  You can push the veg to one side to speed this up
Add a little oil and whatever seasoning, and cook 'til you get a little bit of color

For fresh vegetables, I'll sauté first, then steam.  (and for brocolli, I saute the sliced up stems before adding the florets)


What Old World Europe countries (apart from Germany and Italy) have their own unique pasta traditions? I was doing some research on websites and came upon a site where a German pasta company had been trying to sell their products into the US (the site is down, looks like the enterprise was not successful).

There is a list of their pasta types given:
Fadennudeln, Schnittnudeln, Bandnudeln, Walznudeln, Nudelnester, Drelli, Spiralen, Makkaroni, Knoepfle, Bauern Spaetzle.

Apart from learning the meaning of the name "Knopfler", I was very surprised to find such a range of pasta with specialized names coming from Germany. I have eaten pasta in Germany, but never before realized that they have their own "pasta tradition".

Being English, with a pasta tradition imported from Italy, I am wondering if other countries apart from Germany and Italy have their own "pasta traditions"? I am thinking Old World Europe; of course the USA has its local variations, but they are not what I am looking for.  My focus is on a unique noodle version.

I can think of several Polish noodle types.

Uszka - shaped like tortellini, filled with mushrooms. Usually served in soup.
Kopytka - made of flour, potatoes and eggs. The composition is basically the same as gnocchi, but they're formed differently: you roll the dough into a rope the size of your thumb, then cut it into pieces diagonally.
Kluski lane ("poured noodles") - a thin egg and flour dough that's drizzled into boiling water. Usually served in soup. Similar to spaetzle.
Pierogi - a round piece of dough that's folded around a lump of filling, making a semi-circular shape. The filling can be a number of things. The most popular one is a mixture of potatoes and farmer cheese - "pierogi ruskie". They can also be filled with ground meat, cabbage, or fruit.
Łazanki - flat square pieces of pasta, less than an inch wide. Usually mixed with sauerkraut, mushrooms, and optionally sausage or salt pork. The name is probably derived from lasagna.
Knedle - these are eaten in Poland, but I think they're originally from Hungary. It's a ball of potato dough (similar to kopytka, above) with a plum in the center.


What nut did I find? I ask this knowing that it's possibly borderline off-topic, but I don't see a Botany SE site where I could ask, so...

A few days ago I stumbled (literally) upon an odd little fruit that had fallen onto the sidewalk. It fascinated me because it had three large lobes and a hard, mottled outer texture. I couldn't figure out what it was, so I brought it home and promptly forgot about it for a couple days.

When I picked it up today, one lobe had softened, and with a little pressure I was able to pop it off. The lobe contained a smooth, dark-brown nut!

Upon examination this reminded me of a chestnut. I broke off another lobe and found a second pod:

I have no idea what these are; they appear very similar to chestnuts but are missing the pointed tip and spiny shell. I don't know what to make of them.

Does anybody know what these are? More to the point for this site, are they (safely) edible? I noticed a lot more had fallen nearby, and I'm not above gathering some if they're tasty.

That is a buckeye, fruit of Aesculus glabra, also known as the Ohio buckeye tree. The seeds (the "buckeye" part) look sort of like a horse chestnut, but the fruit is different.

Do not eat it!

  The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous to cattle, and humans, as is the foliage. (Wikipedia)

(You can, however, make buckeye candy: peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate.)

This is a buckeye still on the tree, as well as some leaves if you'd like to revisit the source to verify:


Cooking rice with limited equipment I will be cooking in my dorm this coming year, and I only have an electric kettle at the moment. Is there a way for me to cook rice with only this (i.e. without a stove), or should I just get one of those plastic microwave rice cookers to use in the floor lounge?

Typically an electric kettle is used for boiling liquids and unless you somehow defeat the safety shut off when the liquid boils, which is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! and absolutely not recommended!! you won't be able to hold a boil.


How to tell when cheesecake is done? I'm baking a cake that shall be categorized as "light cheesecake". The recipe says when the top of the cake is firm, the cake is done. So I baked for an hour, opened the oven and found the top of the cake baked right, but when I cut up the cake the inside was too wet. So I had to bake for another 20min to get the inner texture right, but the top is dry already(and stiff after cooling). What have I done wrong?

My recipe: 33g flour, 75g yoghurt, 140g cream cheese, 50g whipping cream, 50g sugar, 2 eggs for an 6-inch pan. Baked in water bath, oven at 160 Celsius.

Cheesecake is a custard, so your very best indicator of doneness is temperature.  There are a range of opinions, from about 150 F to 165 F / 65 C to 73 C, measured at the center of the pan, in the center of the layer.

If you don't have an instant read thermometer, generally, you want a thin knife to come out clean from the center; similarly, when the pan is shaken a bit, only the center should jiggle slightly.  These indicators are not as good as temperature, so you will need to gain experiene to interpret them.

Once you are measuring properly, problems with the top of the cheesecake being done, but the inside being too unset may be mitigated by:

Baking in a water bath (which you indicate you are already doing)
Baking at a lower temperature (within reason; you indicate you are already baking at a fairly low temperature)
Baking in a wider pan, so the cheesecake is more shallow
Do not use convection

Since you area already using a bath and a low baking temperature, if you are still having problems once you start checking for doneness by temperature, I would suggest checking your oven's calibration with an oven thermometer to be sure it is not running hot.


why should the madeleine tins start off cold? I have a recipe for Madeleine's which calls for the tins to be buttered, sprinkled with flour and then put in the fridge or freezer for the remainder of the prep time.  What is the reasoning for this?

David Lebovitz tells us that chilling the tins prior to filling helps the cakes to develop a "humpy" appearance, particularly if baking powder is used (which some chefs say to NEVER use in Madeleines). Also, since the tins are usually prepared by brushing with melted butter mixed with flour, chilling would keep that where it belongs instead of it pooling in the bottom of the tin.


What effect would replacing the egg in a pie crust with egg whites have? Based off of the recipes I've read it seems like adding an egg to a pie dough makes it easier to work with and improves the final flavor and texture of the crust. So would adding only egg whites make a drier/flakier crust? Or at least cut down on any egg flavor that might come through?

I would say that the effects will be too minimal to notice. So if you want to do it, go ahead and use up your egg whites.
Theoretically, egg yolks provide some emulsifying powers, and lead to softer, richer, sometimes even slimier doughs, while egg whites increase binding more and give you drier doughs. This can be quite noticeable in egg-rich cake types such as genoise or in yeast-leavened cakes. But in the case of a pie crust, it is almost completely made up from flour and butter, with the liquid needed only so you end up with a ball of dough with a bit of gluten, and not a bowl of crumbles.
The standard American crust uses water as the liquid in this type of dough, but when it is used for making shortbread cookies in European recipes, it frequently has an egg instead. I don't remember seeing eggs in tart crusts, maybe it is present in the Alsace. These doughs are not bad to work with, but with the small amount, and especially with flaky crusts deriving their texture from the butter pockets, I doubt that eaters will know that much of the difference. You certainly don't get a strong yolky mouthfeel when you use a whole egg, and with the crust being very fatty anyway, the missing yolk will be even less noticeable. So you are quite free in your choice of liquid, including egg white.
As a side note, if you are doing gluten-free crusts, you do need all the extra binding you can get, so there pure egg white is preferred over whole eggs or water.


Does having spoiling food in your fridge cause other food to spoil faster? We all have forgotten remnants that get pushed to the back of the fridge and eventually become science experiments. Does the presence of such items (assuming they're left in a non-air tight container) hasten the spoilage of other food in the fridge?

I'm sure that most of us have, at one point, left some smelly food in the fridge (fish, onions, etc.) and later found that other foods have picked up the odour. Given that, it's a pretty safe bet to say that if some contaminant becomes airborne, it's definitely possible for it to come into contact with other food. So the question then becomes whether or not these spoilage agents can become airborne.
Let's break the problem down into the four major types of spoilage we are presumably concerned with:
1. Ripening ("Rotting")
This is induced by ethylene gas, as discussed in the question: Why does a brown paper bag speed ripening?
If sufficient ethylene gas gets trapped in the fridge - or more likely, in a small compartment of the fridge - then you'll get that same "brown paper bag" effect. If you leave, say, avocados, in the same compartment as a bunch of bananas, and the airflow in and out of the compartment is minimal, then you'll see the avocados ripen and eventually spoil faster than usual.
Note that this would only affect produce which actually ripens in storage, and only when one item produces a lot more ethylene than the other item(s). So while a banana might cause avocados to spoil faster, a bunch of avocados probably wouldn't affect nearby apples very much, and wouldn't affect citrus fruits at all (they don't ripen).
2. Mold
Mold colonies continue to grow spores which eventually become airborne when there's no "room" left for the new spores.
Check out this fun-filled diagram of mold growth stages taken from Envirochex: Mold Growth Requirements. I'd post the image right here, but an animated GIF would be a little distracting.
Anyway, the best way to visualize this is to think of the dandelions you've probably seen outside. Not so much the bright yellow flowers in the summer, but the seedheads (fuzzy gray ones) more common in the fall. Mold colonies look a lot like that on a small scale, and any kind of air current (say from the regular opening and closing of the fridge door) can disperse the loose spores. Even if the fridge is left unattended, its circulation fan is still going to run and that could be enough.
Now, this effect is more likely to be observed if you have everything completely uncovered. Simply being non-airtight certainly makes this transmission possible, but the amount of spores that manage to escape the container and settle on another piece of wet food where they can grow again, is going to be very small if there's anything at all in the way, even just a layer of plastic wrap.
But it could happen. Many canned/bottled foods which clearly could not have started with mold, such as maple syrup, can still end up with mold, and that's because they take in mold from the environment. The more mold is in the environment, the more likely this is to occur.
Even if the mold doesn't manage to inoculate any other foods in your fridge, it's still going to be present in the air, so unless you really like breathing in mold spores, please get rid of anything with more than a 1-inch-thick layer of blue fuzz.
3. Rancidity
Rancidification affects fats, and when not caused by bacteria (see below), is usually caused by oxidation.
Oxidation is (simplifying here) a function of heat, light, and oxygen (or some other oxidizing agent). This is a chemical reaction and not a biological process; since the process of oxidation consumes these things, and does not produce more, food spoilage due to rancidity is not going to affect other nearby foods.
...that is, unless you have other spoiling food that is somehow producing large amounts of light, heat, or oxygen, and if so, forget about cleaning your fridge, you'll want to send it to NASA for further study.
4. Bacteria
Right off the bat we can rule out transmission of any obligate anaerobes like C.botulinum, since those can only grow when there is no oxygen present. That still leaves quite a few pathogens, though, the most notable of which are probably salmonella, E.coli, and C.perfringens, and possibly Campylobacter.
The answer for these is... more complicated. It is technically possible for these bacteria to get airborne, but not by themselves; they need to be carried by something, like dust or aerosols. The exception is Clostridium, which can produce spores, which can become airborne just like mold spores - which is a significant risk with the aerotolerant ones like C.perfringens - but most of the time, the spores won't germinate at cold refrigerator temperatures.
All in all I'd have to say that this is an extremely unlikely occurrence, but any of the following would make bacterial cross-contamination more likely to occur:

Warmer-than-optimal temperature (should be about 4° C)
High humidity (water vapor)
Dust or other particulates

And, as with the mold spores, cross-contamination is much more likely with uncovered food. Since the bacteria themselves are not airborne, it's the particulates - dust, water vapor, etc. - which must land on other "clean" food in order to contaminate it. This is very unlikely to occur if the other food is covered.
The larger concern with bacteria, from my perspective, is contamination of the refrigerator or container surfaces, which can then be easily spread to other foods or directly to your mouth by ordinary human contact. Just one of many reasons why you should probably clean your fridge on a regular basis; however, I'll confess that I don't, and have never gotten sick from my own fridge, so even this possibility seems pretty remote.
Conclusion:
I haven't attempted to quantify any of the possibilities here, as that would probably require a microbiology lab and a lot more education than I've personally had. But those science experiments at the back of your fridge definitely do have the possibility to accelerate spoilage elsewhere, and even items that aren't yet science experiments (like ripening bananas) can still have unintended side-effects.
If you want to be absolutely safe, try to make sure that all or most of what you store in the fridge has an airtight seal, and get rid of any visible (or smellable) spoilage as soon as possible. It's just common sense anyway.


Yellowness of egg yolk Related question: Why are Italian eggs so yellow?

Occasionally I get served a fried / poached egg with a deep yellow/orange yolk. I find it extremely appetising and visually attractive.

Sometimes eggs have very weakly coloured yolks, which is less appealing -- but I couldn't swear that the flavour is affected.

Is there a correlation between the colour of a yolk and its flavour?
When shopping, how can I increase my chances of getting a richly coloured yolk?

Does free-range / barn / battery make a difference?
Is there a correlation between price and yolk colour?

Do egg producers and/or chefs use dirty tricks to effect a yellow yolk? Dye? Food additives?

I'm in the UK, but please feel free to give answers for other parts of the world. If you suspect they're not universal, make sure you point out your location.

Regarding the last question:

  Do egg producers and/or chefs use dirty tricks to effect a yellow
  yolk? Dye? Food additives?

Yes, they do!

In fact scientists have experimented with food additives in order to control the color of the yolk. Interestingly enough the preferred color of the egg yolk differ between countries and even between regions within countries.

One study examined the red and yellow additives from marigold flowers and paprika fruit.
Note that artificial coloring additives are banned in the US, thus the interest for natural colorings.

Details can be found in: Egg Yolk Color as Affected
by Saponiﬁcation of Different
Natural Pigmenting Sources


What type of tea should I use to make Thai Iced Tea? I love the sweet iced tea you get at Thai restaurants, and want to make my own at home.  I used to buy a concentrated solution online (added water and half and half), but they discontinued it.  I'm not sure what type of tea is used, but it is reddish in color and has hints of coconut taste in it. Cheers!

I currently live in Thailand and there is really only 1 brand that's used (If there is another brand I've never seen anyone use it!) nationwide by all the street vendors to make traditional Thai Ice Tea and that's this one...

I don't know the name of it but I'm pretty sure it's just Number One Brand. I'll confirm the name when I get chance!


Puff Pastry vs Pie Crust I have been making the following pie dough for a while (with great results): https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/06/old-fashioned-flaky-pie-dough-recipe.html

Recently I made some rough puff pastry using this recipe (also great results): https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/06/fast-easy-short-cut-blitz-puff-pastry-recipe.html

What struck me as odd is that both the recipes and the processes are nearly the same. The puff does get bigger in the oven, presumably because of the extra folds. But this got me wondering: What is the defining difference between these doughs?

Why are pie recipes calling for puff pastry so uncommon?

Really, the difference is the process -- full sheets of butter results in layers of the dough which allows it to puff up.

But it's a lot of work for a crust that's going to just be bogged down toppings.  And if it's too flaky, it has no structural integrity -- it breaks apart as you're trying to eat it, making it pretty useless as a crust.  That's part of why some pie crust instructions call for docking the dough and using weights if you're blind baking it.

Now, what you linked to isn't actually true puff pastry.  It's what's called 'rough puff', where it's not quite as laborious as you're not dealing with a whole slab of butter ... but it still takes hours to make, as you have to keep it chilled down as you go just as you would normal puff pastry, so the butter doesn't mix with the flour before it goes into the oven.  That recipe you linked to has over 4 hours of resting.

So, for something that's not going to functional as well as a pie crust, is the extra time worth it?  I'd say no, myself.