Chinese cooking wine varieties I have access to a lot of Asian and specifically Chinese grocery products where I live (Austin). However, a thing that's never been made clear to me by anything I've read or watched is whether the commonly-used "cooking wines" are really intended to be obtained as "cooking wine".

In Western cooking, "cooking wine" is generally considered unusable; if I'm making a European wine sauce I'll of course use "real" wine, like wine that I'd be willing to drink.

Is that the case for Chinese "cooking wine"? Should I look for drinkable wine, or are recipes designed around the "cooking" versions that generally have a lot of added salt?

That depends on the wine.

Generic "rice wine" usually means something like sake.  Chinese recipes often use Shaoxing wine, which is a drinkable dark/sweet rice wine.  If it's a Chinese recipe, and it calls for just "rice wine", you may need to guess at the flavor expected.  If the sauce should dark & sweet, then Shaoxing, if it's supposed to be light or acidic, sake.  Chinese, Japanese and Korean folks also cook with Plum Wine, which should be called for specifically.

All of these wines are drinking wines, and you'd no more substitute the cooking variety than you would with wine made from grapes.  As with grape wine, "cooking" rice wines are really just poor quality wine that's been salted to make it undrinkable.

Except there is one cooking wine that you should use specifically: Mirin.  Mirin is a sugary sake made for cooking, and recipes that call for it expect that sweetness. If you have to substitute regular sake, you'll need to add sugar to the recipe.


How does hydration of a sourdough affect baking features? Looking at different recipes for sourdough starters, there's everything from a mix as dry as cookie dough to as wet as gruel. In this (danish) recipe from the acclaimed chef Claus Meyer of a pretty wet sourdough (1:1 water-flour-ratio by volume), it says that:

  This type of sourdough is mostly used to give a nice and mild sour
  taste, to give the bread character, and not as much for its leavening
  features. Therefore, in most of our bread recipes we use a combination
  of sourdough and a very small amount of yeast.

This got me thinking, does the hydration of a sourdough affect its baking features? If so, in what ways?

Note: This answer goes in a bit more detail than necessary to answer the question. If you truly only care about the hydration, please only read "Water/flour ratio" and "Flavor of the bread". I have added the other information as well since the effects are similar to that of a change in hydration.

I've frequently baked (about once to twice a week) with sourdough for 4 years now. I'm not a professional. The only thing I can take a bit of pride in is that a professional baker who tested a loaf of my sourdough bread told me that it's "fantastic, considering the little possibilities available to control the conditions the sourdough and loaf are exposed to at home". So while far from perfect, I'd consider my sourdough breads and knowledge pretty good.

Most of what I'm writing now was first read on the internet somewhere and confirmed through testing it with my own sourdough culture (I'm still using the same one I started out with).

Apart from the flour you use, there are several factors that affect the taste of the resulting bread:

Temperature

This has, in my experience, the biggest impact on the taste. The following rules apply:

Anything over 40°C is deadly to the microbes in your sourdough.
Lower temperature: More acetic acid, less lactic acid, yeasts develop more slowly.
Higher temperature: More lactic acid, less acetic acid, yeasts develop more quickly.
Lactic acid bacteria prefer temperatures at around 30-35°C
Yeasts like temperatures around 25°C best

Note: Your sourdough can be 1-2°C warmer than the environment due to microbial activity. That can be important to keep in mind.

Water/flour ratio

Most of the time, people use a ratio of 1:1 water/flour for the sourdough and that will give you good results, but you can play around with that ratio to change the taste to your liking:

Lower water content causes more acetic acid production and less developed yeasts
Higher water content will make it easier for the yeasts to grow and increase the lactic acid content
I've found that having more than 1.5 times the amount of water compared to the flour will hardly have any effect on the dough anymore and I'd recommend stirring the dough every couple of hours with that much water.
On single staged sourdough, using less than 0.75 times the water compared to the flour is also not a good idea and you will probably be required to add yeast in the bread dough.

Salt and oil

Adding these, especially salt, to the sourdough already will have a considerable impact on the sourdough taste. A sourdough made with salt in it will taste quite different from one without it. I'm not quite sure about why this is, but it may have something to do with the yeasts growing more slowly (more information below).

Both salt and oil will slow down the growth of the yeasts, but don't have much of an effect on the lactic acid bacteria.
Adding oil mainly affects the mechanical properties of the dough (it will be softer and more ductile). It also helps with the structure of the bread (the air bubbles in the bread will be smaller and more uniformly distributed), especially in the presence of an emulsifyer (lard is both fat and an emulsifyer, so it works well in this regard). For this reason, it doesn't make much sense to add it to the sourdough already.

Of course, if the fat isn't tasteless, it will also add to the taste of the bread (I love using natural olive oil in my wheat breads).

Flavor of the bread

Sourdough actually has some pretty complicated chemistry that I know little about. However, here are some effects that I do know:

Lactic acid will give your bread a mild, sour taste. This works very well for wheat breads.
Acetic acid gives you a stronger, more sour taste (very noticable while eating). This works great for rye breads
The amount of yeast in your sourdough also has a big impact on the smell and taste of the bread. Yeast is beneficial to the bread not only for it's leavening properties. Apart from CO2, it also produces ethanol, which will esterify the lactic acid to ethyl lactate over time, which in turn has a strong flavor.

Okay I think that's it. I hope this helps you.


Can I use an induction cooker to restore silica gel's water absorbency? It was mentioned in an answer to my previous question that silica gel can be heated in the oven to restore its water absorbent properties.  I only have access to an induction cooker, so it possible to use that instead?

If you heat silica gel, you will drive out the water from it. What actually happens depends on how you heat it, and how hot it gets.

If you have a thick layer, you may not be able to effectively dehydrate the crystals in a reasonable time.

If you try to use a gas oven, you're on a loser because burning gas makes water and carbon dioxide - it takes ages trying to do the job with moist heat.

You might be able to do a thin layer in the bottom of a pan on an induction cooker, but remember that you cannot achieve temperature control very easily. The optimum range to regenerate the silica gel is 120 degC to 140 degC, and you really want a gradual temperature rise to do the job effectively - better to hold the stuff at 80 to 90 deg C for half an hour before you go to 120 deg C.

If you try to dehydrate too quickly, the crystals will crack and break up, so you may end up with a fine powder, rather than crystals.


In Indian cooking, what does it mean when a recipe says "until the oil begins to leave the side of the pan"? In many Indian recipes I see the phrase "cook until the oil leaves the side of the pan". For example, this recipe says:

  Add tomato puree and cook until oil leaves the side.

Similarly, this one says:

  [C]ook the gravy until the oil leaves the sides of the pan.

Is this the same as "cook until the oil separates" as described in this other question? Or is it something different? Since the other question talks about the oil leaving the curry/gravy rather than the "sides of the pan", they seem to be different phenomena. Thanks for your help!

Since I'm not an expert in Indian cuisine, I can't say this for certain, but I agree with the comments so far that this seems basically equivalent to the separation of the oil from the curry.

To my mind, the wording makes perfect sense, because in some cases with a lot of oil/butter, you can get separation happening early on the pan's edges.  Oil tends to float on top, and usually the center of a pan is heated more strongly over a burner.  Thus, you tend to get boiling/bubbling in the center, which tends to push any floating oil toward the edges.

But these recipes are not looking for that small amount of oil along the edge (which, depending on stirring and the thickness of the curry, can stay there through much of the cooking process).  They are specifically waiting for the time when separation increases and fat appears floating on the surface even away from the edges of the pan.


How to incorporate grape flavor in a chiffon cake? I'm trying to make a layer of chiffon cake, with a grape flavor but I'm not satisfied with the flavor. I have tried using the juice from the grapes, incorporated into the batter, but it is not particularly potent and the end result is rather bland for my palate.

What would be the best way to incorporate a grape flavor? Is there anything I can do to the grapes to enhance the flavor and maybe add more depth or complexity?

Grape juice, purchased as such, is often diluted with water and sugar and other juices. Additionally, many varieties of grapes, especially table grapes, don't have very much flavor at all.

Using grape juice concentrate will add a ton of sugar which you might be able to compensate for in the recipe. Unfortunately, in a chiffon cake, the sugar plays a role in stabilizing the egg foam.

Fresh, undiluted, unsweetened, Concord grape juice has a lot of flavor and color and is not overly sweet. I don't know where one can acquire it as I get it from neighbors who grow it. Perhaps homebrew supply store might have some for small wine batches.

Failing that, grape extract could most easily be used, as renisis commented above, but the flavor will be less fruity and simpler- like grape candy.


Can I make a neverending Soup in an instantpot? I'm a truck driver, and I have a minifridge, a microwave, an Instant pot, and an electric water kettle on the truck with me. I've been experimenting with various ideas on how to best feed myself. So here's my version of the question. If I cook the soup with some veggies and meat, scoop some out to eat, and seal the lid and keep the instant pot set to "Keep Warm" (145-175 degrees F) will it be safe? It stays sealed except when I'm dishing out a new dish, it stays above 140 degrees, and each time I add new stuff to it, I'll re-cook it, but will whatever I've left in there still be good?
I was just reading through this question: Never ending soup; is it actually safe? and I had a modified version of it to ask, but since that question hasn't been active in over a year, I thought I would make a new question.

I've actually tried it. It didn't work very well for me, but it might work better for you.
The problem is, cookers like the Instant Pot are designed for quick pressure cooking first and foremost. While they have a "slow cook" or "keep warm" setting, the heating element is still driven at high power, just at a lower duty cycle. Over time, that encourages solids to settle to the bottom and dehydrate and burn. (In contrast, a slow cooker operates at a lower power and heats to a lower temperature.)
However, the motion of the truck might actually help you out here by agitating the soup. If the soup doesn't have anything starchy (like beans or potatoes) that might be sufficient to prevent burning.


Is the caramel recipe wrong, or is it my technique? Twice now, I've made the "Ultimate Tarte Tatin" recipe from the Food Network site. In both cases, the crust and apples worked out perfectly.

And in both cases, the caramel seemed to come together before adding the apples, but never really firmed up and remained a thin liquid throughout the cooking process and afterwards.  Tasty, but not really caramel at all, and not a successful pie.

The caramel is 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsp water, and 1/2 stick butter.  The instructions are brief, probably fine if you know what you're doing. I'm a caramel novice.

Any suggestions on better or more specific ratios, or more-foolproof techniques, would be appreciated.

I like the recipe from Gourmet magazine because I don't have to try to stand apples up in hot caramel. It uses the same amount of butter, less sugar, and no water. Works for me every time.


Looking for the name of a sweet green drink A long time ago I tasted an alcoholic drink which was green and tasted very sweet (possibly like banana, definitely not mint), and it had a long french name, something like (pesong, pisang, ...). Does anyone know the real name of it?

It sounds like you are looking for Pisang Ambon, a banana liqeur, which is seethrough and green. It is popularly served over ice, mixed with orange juice for a Tutti Frutti kind of drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisang_Ambon


What kind of bourbon is best for making whiskey balls? What kind of bourbon should I use in this recipe for "whiskey balls" (aka "bourbon balls" aka "tipsies")?

  1 6 ounce pkg — 1 cup chocolate bits (chips)
  3 tbsp light corn syrup
  1/2 cup bourbon
  2 1/2 cups fine vanilla wafer crumbs (use a rolling pin!)
  1/2 cup powdered sugar
  1 cup finely chopped walnuts

  Melt chocolate over hot — not boiling — water. Add syrup and bourbon. Combine crumbs, powdered sugar and nuts. (I do this first before melting the chocolate.) Blend into the chocolate mixture, stirring well.

  Let stand about 30 minutes; then form in 1 inch balls (rolling in hands). Roll balls in granulated sugar. Let ripen in covered container for several days. (Makes about 50.)

P.S. Being very much an amateur drinker, I woulddn't know what difference in flavor there might be between, say, Old Crow or Wild Turkey. What I'm looking for is a list of brands that will add a strong whiskey flavor to the product, without my paying extra for nuances and overtones that will get lost in the chocolate. As a man of simple tastes, I will have no problem sipping the leftover whiskey, even if it is not of the highest quality, or I could save it for the next holiday. As for other types of booze, I'm sure rum balls would be delightful, but bourbon whiskey is traditional — the recipe is from a dear departed aunt.

Honestly, "whatever you want" is the only answer :)

I have a similar seasonal recipe, and in various years, have tried:

expensive bourbon
cheap bourbon
rum
Drambuie
Kahlua
And so on...

The flavors of your chosen liqueur will be somewhat muted by the chocolate, and so something with the complexity of Drambuie was a bit of a waste. However, ultra-cheap bourbon was a little disappointing, as it provided booziness but not much other taste. Kahlua, Grand Marnier, and similar choices with their own flavor profiles can play very nicely with the chocolate, so it's also OK to get creative.

The best choice is a bourbon (or other) that you might enjoy sipping on its own, ideally one that is already on your shelf (if you don't mind sharing 1/2 cup of it). If you hate a particular liqueur, you won't enjoy this dessert as much! If you don't know much about whiskey or have much interest in it other than as an ingredient, a mid-range price is probably the way to go. Asking the proprietor of a liquor store can often result in a good brand recommendation.


What blender is required to create an emulsion? Let's consider for specificity an emulsion prepared with the use of a protein possessing emulsifying properties as an emulsifying agent. Domestically most commonly prepared protein-based emulsion is mayonnaise.
Recently Cook's Illustrated has complicated matters by reporting that at least one of the blenders they tested using a tachometer has the blade rotating at a speed, which does not correspond to the specified by the manufacturer. It looks like these findings were not replicated by other teams. Defects are not uncommon in production of household appliances, but if it is not a problem to measure temperature within an electric oven using a thermometer, measuring speed of rotation is not as easy since a tachometer also has to be tested for accuracy of performance. Yet the speed of rotation is a critical determinant of emulsification efficiency. What also is of interest is that manufacturers like KitchenAid (probably the second most highly rated brand after Vitamix) do not specify the speed of rotation of their blenders’ blade, so a blender suitable as an emulsification device can be five times less expensive than renowned for high speed alternatives if it meets minimum speed and power requirements.
So I would like to know whether anyone here has experience of using different blenders for emulsification and does not mind to share it with others.

An emulsion, like mayonnaise, can be made with a fork, a hand whisk, an electric whisk, a stick blender, or a traditional blender with a jar. I've made mayo, at some point or another, with just about all of these.  For home use, the hand whisk is often the most convenient if you are handy with the technique.  However, I find a stick blender to be the best option, for speed and easy cleanup.  One caveat is that the container you are making the mayo in should be just slightly larger than the blade end of the stick blender.  For me, a cocktail shaker is perfect.


Is carob bean cooked when used as a thickener? Many yoghurts contain carob bean gum as a thickener. Does anyone know if this is raw or cooked carob bean  ?

Carob bean gum is extracted through industrial processes, not generally reproducible at home.

Per CAROB BEAN GUM
Chemical and Technical Assessment (CTA)

  The seeds are  dehusked by treating the kernels with dilute sulfuric
  acid or with thermal mechanical treatment, elimination  of the germ
  followed by milling and screening of the endosperm (native carob bean
  gum). The gum may be  washed with ethanol or isopropanol to control
  the microbiological load (washed carob bean gum). It may  also be
  further clarified (purified, extracted) by dispersing in hot water,
  recovery with isopropanol or  ethanol, filtering, drying and milling,
  which is called as clarified (purified, extracted) carob bean gum.
  Clarified carob bean gum in the market is normally standardized with
  sugars for viscosity and /or reactivity.


What are the possible substitutions for Cumin in Indian cuisine? I've always been interested in trying to make some type of dahl or other Indian cuisine but I'm severely allergic to Cumin. This typically strikes me out for recipes with curry or chili powder. Does anyone have some PRO tips on types of curry (green, yellow, etc) or Indian foods that would allow me to venture off into this culinary space?

P.S. I'm also gluten intolerant and allergic to nuts and shellfish.

You know, I don't think you need to overthink this too much. If you look at a typical Indian curry recipe, it might have 10 spices in it. Just leave out the cumin, and maybe bump up the other spices a little to compensate. It won't be exactly the same, but it will still be delicious. You are correct that you'll have to be careful to avoid pre-packaged spice mixtures unless the ingredients are spelled out. Here is my Chana Mushroom Masala, from which you can safely omit the cumin: http://www.herbivoracious.com/2009/09/quick-chana-mushroom-masala-chickpea-curry-recipe.html


Advantages of using vinegar as a salt substitute for enhancing flavor? I read a short blurb in Cooking for Geeks that said vinegar can be used as a substitute for salt, as a flavor enhancer, to make food less bland.  I plan on experimenting, but I don't know where to start.

From Cooking for Geeks:

  We were reading Thomas Keller, and he
  talked about how salt is a flavor
  enhancer, and he mentioned that
  vinegar does a similar thing. It
  doesn't add a new taste, but it often
  alters the taste that's there.

What are the distinct advantages of using vinegar over salt as a flavor enhancer?

The advantage would be cutting some sodium out of your diet.  If you are like many in the western part of the world, you probably get more than your daily allotment of sodium regularly.  By making sure to cut sodium where you can, you gain the health benefits of a well-balanced diet.

Since salt is a flavor enhancer, a low-sodium diet can often seem bland.  Many look for alternatives.  Vinegar brings out flavors in a different way and adds a significant flavor of its own.  I'd start small, using just a bit of vinegar.


How to cook small fish(unfrozen and frozen) in water without overcooking? I believe the rule is that fish which is 1 inch thick should be simmered for no more than 10 minutes.

What about fish like anchovies, whitebait and sardines which I think are less than an inch thick.  How long should they be simmered for in order to avoid overcooking?

What if the anchovies, sardines or whitebait are cooked from frozen(due to perishability), how long should they be simmered for in this case?

As with all fish, just don't cook it any longer than necessary - all you need is long enough to get the temperature up (to 145F/63C), and anything past that is just overcooking. Boiling is a really fast cooking method, and simmering or poaching is not much slower. Note that this also means removing it from the water as soon as it's done, since the water is way above the necessary temperature and will easily overcook seafood even if it's removed from the stove.

Tiny fish like you mention will probably be done in only a minute or two, similar to small. The best way to tell, though, is not to use a timer but to directly check the fish: it should be opaque and flaky. (For small fish, those aren't very big flakes, but you could still pull it apart or bend it and tell.)


What to do with fermented lentils? 3 days ago, I decided to do some brown lentils, so I did a lentil soup with zucchinis and spice (a lot of cumin and cayenne). I didn't have tupperware so I left  it in the pot with the lid.

And this morning, I found out they are fermenting. then is some bubbles and a strong fermenting smell, still a "clean" smell.

I'm not sure what to do, part of me want to throw it away but I don't want to waste it either. Can I save it or maybe use it for something else?

thanks

Throw it away, it's spoiled and probably contains several colonies of foodborne illnesses. Sealing food isn't sufficient to stop it going off, you need to refrigerate it or freeze it.


I've made a bechamel sauce and added sherry to it, but too much: How can I fix it? I've made a bechamel sauce and added sherry to it, herbs, etc; the sherry is too overpowering. How can I correct that?

Bechamel sauce is only flour milk and butter. Even with the sherry, it's not a big expense. If you make a mess of one batch it's probably best just to bin it and start a new. Diluting it down with more sauce may work by your probably just going to end up with loads and loads of sauce that you'll never eat.


Why do hamburger patties have ridges on one side? Why do hamburgers have one streaked/furrowed and one smooth side? Which side should be cooked first in a pan?

I'm talking about their shape, not their color or anything similar. If you look at a raw patty from its side it looks like the drawing below.

---------------------------
|  _   _   _   _   _   _  |
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|

You can see the ridges I'm talking about on this photo.

What sort of streaking? A pattern of lumps or is there color streaking?

If there's color streaking and the meat is supposed to be raw, the meat's probably bad.

If there ridges or a pattern on one side it's from the hamburger patty press.

It does not matter which side you cook first. While with most meats you want to cook the "presentation side" (the side that will be up on a plate) first, with hamburger, because it's usually inside a bun and hidden, you don't generally cook one side differently than the other for any particular reason.

UPDATE:

The hamburger patty press uses dimples on one side (which produce the ridged pattern) in order to increase the pressure on the meat and the resulting compression of the patty. A more compressed patty results in more efficient packing (the same mass fits in a smaller volume) and a more stable patty (less likely to fall apart during cooking).

If you've ever seen roadwork which includes preparing a dirt surface to be layered with gravel or asphalt, there is a compression process involving what I think is called a sheep's foot roller, which is like a steam roller, except the roller/compression drum/wheel is studded with "feet" that result in a waffle-like appearance in the rolled dirt. This is done because this pattern increases the compression possible on any given portion of earth, creating a significantly more stable surface on which the road surface will be layed.

The hamburger patty press uses exactly the same technique for pretty much the same reason.


Is fresh pasta just good marketing? I noticed some questions about fresh Lasagne sheets and it reminded me of something I heard, but sadly too long ago to be able to attribute although probably a chef on TV (I'm un the UK), and that was that Italians always use dried pasta and that fresh pasta was just something that had become popular outside Italy, probably because anything "fresh" always sounds as if it should be good. So, great for supermarkets and chefs!

Please note, I realise that certain pasta must be fresh, for instance when making ravioli. I'm really just referring to spaghetti, tagliatelle, linguine etc.

Also, although Italians (are said) to use dried pasta it is not just a convenience; they are still concerned about the quality of the pasta and may even make it and dry it themselves.

So, to summarise, is it true that Italians generally use dried pasta and that fresh pasta, other than where obviously required, is really just a marketing concept to get people to pay more?

Firstly, there is no one way Italians use pasta.  Italian cuisine is defined regionally, and each region's cuisine approaches pasta somewhat differently.  Secondly, it might be better to consider fresh and dried pasta almost as different ingredients.  They produce different results and are used in different dishes.  I presume that more dried/factory produced pasta is consumed than fresh both in Italy and elsewhere, simply for reasons of convenience.  However, it is not just "marketing", in my opinion.  Fresh pasta, in the correct applications, is delicious, and the correct ingredient for the dish.


How much does a a cup of rice weigh? I use the cup that came with my rice cooker to measure the rice for each meal.

I often eat 120ml~160ml rice (before cooking) measured in the cup at a time. How much does that amount of rice weigh? (I don't have a scale). The purpose of the question is to plan how much rice to buy at a time..

That depends on the rice. I have done my own measurements in the past (I hate volumetric measurements,) and found:

1 full-to-the-brim rice cooker cup of dry SunRice Brown rice (medium grain?) weighed 142g.
1 full-to-the-brim rice cooker cup of dry SunRice Calrose rice (medium grain) weighed 150g.

Both were Australian grown rice.

The rice cooker cup's top measurement is 160ml, but I always fill to the brim because ... I'm too lazy to look at the notch.

Why is the weight different?

Because different grains of rice can wedge together more efficiently (less air pockets.) The weight measurement for a long grain rice like Basmati would be different again.

TL;DR: buy a scale to be accurate.


Time estimate for reaching 155F for baking 9lb Turkey breast? I have a 9lb turkey breast to bake. I've learned that I want the internal temp to register between 155-165 on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast when it's done.   Anyone know approximately how long that might take and what the best temp is? I've read about people baking turkey breast anywhere from 325F to 425F and can only imagine that much variability in baking temp would certainly affect the cooking time. Thanks!

325 will take 3-4 hours and please wait until it reaches 160 in the center of the thickest part of the meat before taking it out.  Let it rest for 20-30 under tin foil before cutting.


Should I be scared of chicken livers? Can I make them less scary? (Ragu Bolognese) I am planning to make this Ragu Bolognese. The recipe looks so good, and I am due for a fun freezer filling project.

The thing is though, that I hate, hate, hate liver.

On the other hand, I really don't want to miss out on anything.

Part of what I hate about liver will be mitigated by pureeing, because the grainy texture really puts me off, but I also hate that chemically, metallic, toxic nastiness.

Are there any Bolognese experts out there who can reassure me? I'm told that the liver really hangs out in the background, and can't be picked out as it's own flavor. I have no problem believing that of the fish sauce that comes later, but liver? Really?

Is there any way I can get the effect of long simmering the livers in the sauce but adding them later (or at least maybe half of them later) so that I can add them to taste?

Also, does soaking them in milk make them more mild?

OMG this turned out great!

Really good.

I ended up using half of the liver called for in the recipe, otherwise I followed it to the letter. There is a richness to the sauce that I don't think it would have had if I had skipped the liver entirely, but I can't taste it. For a bit of extra protection from toxic nastiness, I did carefully clean the liver and I soaked it for two hours in milk.

The pasta is imported Italian Campanelle.

Fair warning, a 5 quart Dutch Oven is not quite big enough.


What kind of rice to serve with Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)? What kind of rice to serve with Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)?

Are there any kind of preferred techniques, or spicing perhaps?

I believe that it is de rigueur to use basmati rice when serving northern Indian/Pakistani sauced dishes.


Conversion rate in volume of freshly picked beans as opposed to dried beans I wish to use fresh beans instead of dried ones.For a kg of dried beans as per the recipe how much of fresh beans should I use?

if by "fresh" you mean as in cooked canned beans, the general rule of thumb is one part dried beans equals three parts cooked beans, so you should be looking to use 3kg of canned beans. This is, of course, after draining.


Chocolate chip substitutions Can I substitute a German's sweet chocolate bar for chocolate chips in a rice crispy treat frosting recipe?

Yes, although you probably want to chop it up.

The German's brand is very sweet, but it is real chocolate and should work just fine.


Are there cheeses that are not suitable for making for macaroni and cheese? I've noticed that american and gruyere are dominant cheeses recommended in mac and cheese recipes. I assume this has to do with their mild flavors and ability to melt somewhat quickly.
But what is to prevent someone from using cheeses like parmesan or blue cheese? Is there a criteria for what constitutes an optimal mac-and-cheese cheese?

I can think of three general reasons why some cheeses are better than others for melting:

Age:
The age of a cheese often determines how well it'll melt.  For instance, a 5 year old cheddar will (generally) not melt very well into a bechamel sauce.

Texture:
You may find that stringy cheeses like mozzarella make the mac'n'cheese more difficult to eat, as it's a little impractical to have strands of cheese hanging from your spoon.  At the same time, cheeses like parmesan or feta may not melt the way you'd expect for a cheese sauce

Taste:
As for flavour .. I don't think many people would line up for macaroni and blue cheese :o


Does vinegar need to be refrigerated after being opened? So while wandering around our local Asian supermarket here in San Diego, my wife and I found some Wan Jia Shan red vinegar.  My wife loves the taste of vinegar, and so we have about 9-10 different types of vinegars at home.  Then we noticed on the bottle that it said to refrigerate the vinegar after opening.  I had never heard this before, and though that this would be a good question to ask.

So does vinegar need to be refrigerated after opening?  Thanks in advance.

If in doubt, follow the instructions on the label - since this is a vinegar with extra flavoring, all speculation on whether it could spoil (by oxidation of flavor compounds) or even become unsafe to consume is just that: speculation.

Also, make sure that vinegar is stored with the lid down tight if not refrigerated: Asian bottles are often badly designed (caps that tend to stay half open or not seal well), and a half-open vinegar bottles can attract fruit flies and similar surprises into it.


When to add noodle water to tomato sauce? I keep hearing about adding some of the pasta water to the sauce, either to thicken it or to make the sauce stick to the noodles. But when are you supposed to do this? Wouldn't you be boiling your noodles right before you eat them? And wouldn't the sauce be finished cooking at that point? Wouldn't adding water then just dilute your wonderful tomato sauce?

This is a technique used for sauces that are otherwise very thick, such as a well-reduced marinara or a cream sauce (which will thicken as it cools). You wouldn't add it to a sauce which is already at the right texture.

As you deduce, yes, it's the kind of thing you do just before serving. You boil the pasta, save some of the water, and stir it into the sauce. You might give it another minute of cooking to ensure that everything is well incorporated, then plate the dish. The starch in the water gives it a supple texture that simply thinning with plain water wouldn't achieve.

This is an old restaurant trick, and they do it a little differently. They'll end up using the same water over and over, maybe for the entire service, so it's very starchy and thick. Doing it at home is a little different, since you won't have as much starch, but it's still a ready source of hot water that can be used to perfect the texture of a thick sauce.

Cream sauces like alfredo are especially useful for this: the starch water doesn't change texture as much as the cream does during cooling, so the dish stays at the right level of thickness as the diner eats. This may not be quite as necessary at home, where it isn't necessarily part of a long dinner service (and where the dish won't ever have to wait at the pass for other dishes to finish). Still, it's a good tool to have in your toolbox.

So, if you've got a perfect tomato sauce, don't do anything to it except eat it. But if you've been cooking it all day, and you find it's more "ragu" than "sauce", the starchy pasta water is the right tool, right there.


How do you freeze blueberries so that there are ice crystals inside? I eat frozen blueberries straight out of the freezer multiple times a day, and sometimes I buy a bag and the blueberries inside are frozen perfectly so that the core of the blueberry has crunchy ice crystals, and the outside doesn't, resulting in a massive burst of blueberry flavor. Can someone tell me how to freeze blueberries this way myself? I'm pretty sure this isn't a common question so please don't be afraid to post an answer that you aren't sure is correct, because this is top of the line blueberry science that is very experimental, and i'm willing to try multiple freezing techniques to get the perfect result.

Normally freezing processes try to avoid forming large ice crystals by freezing rapidly and maintaining a temperature well below the freezing point of the liquid in the product (not simply 0°C due to sugar and other solutes, which concentrate as some liquid freezes).

I suspect that the ones you are aiming to imitate have been through a thermal cycle in transit -- quite possibly as you take them home.

So you can try to do the opposite. Freeze fresh blueberries at home, in a single layer but fairly slowly (perhaps freezing them in an isulated container and/or adding large containers of room temperature water to the freezer at the same time). Allow to nearly defrost and freeze again. If you're starting from frozen berries, allow them to nearly defrost and then refreeze slowly.

You'll have to be careful about the quality of other things in your freezer doing this, and the goal is to stay cold enough that food safety isn't an issue, or at least no more of an issue than keeping fresh berries in the fridge for a few days before freezing. As a result I leave the mechanics at an exercise for you. A cool box with a thermometer inside may be useful.


Knife heat treatment I visited a chef knife shop and spoke to the owner. He mentioned that he didn´t like Shun knives because they become dull so quickly due to bad heat treatment.

When I asked him about details he tried to change the subject.

How does heat treating affect the blade quality in knives and is he correct about Shun becoming dull due to poor heat treatment?

Heat treatment changes the allotropy of an iron alloy. Steel doesn't equal steel; first, there are chemical differences (different amounts of carbon, nickel, etc. added) and second, there is a difference in the microcrystalline structure of the metal.

The different allotropes (= same material in different structures) of steel have different mechanical properties. They have different levels of brittleness, flexibility, softness, etc. So, if you have two steels made from the same proportion of elements, it is possible that one of them will be harder. If you make a knife out of it, it will keep its edge for a longer time.

Molten metal has no crystalline structure, it is a liquid. The structure forms when you cool it down to a solid state. But depending on the conditions while cooling down, different structures will form. There are a few factors determining which structure you'll get in your finished blade, but the most important one is the rate (and direction) of temperature changes to which the blade is subjected. Specific tempering processes will create different proportions of different allotropes, determining the final mechanical properties of the knife.

I don't know which process Shun is using, but it seems that it has properties which your shop owner doesn't like. This is not necessarily a bad thing: there is no perfect combination of properties in a knife, everything is a trade-off. Knives hard enough to keep an edge longer are very hard to impossible to sharpen at home once they go dull. Knives which achieve perfect sharpness with enough care will be much worse than the average knife if you don't invest enough time in them. And so on. So, you should choose a knife based on your sharpening skills and willingness to invest time in it, not on what professionals consider the best.


Resources for cooking for Wilson's Disease? I have a friend who has been diagnosed with Wilson's disease, and needs to go on a low-copper diet.

There are plenty of websites that spell out which foods are okay and which to avoid.  (some are more complete or more detailed (2) than others ... but there isn't the wealth of information as with other food restrictions (lists of specific brands to prefer over other ones for given items, recommended substitutions (eg, for a non-soy soy sauce), recipes tailored to the restriction, etc.).

The only thing that I've found with any deeper information is a thread on a discussion board.  (which requires logging in to read easily)

Is anyone aware of any other resources with advice / menu planning recommendations for dealing with this situation?

update: I was trying to not explain the health side of things, but as most people aren't familiar with Wilson's Disease (I wasn't until a couple of months ago; and it's not Wilson's Syndrome): the issue is your body absorbing too much copper, which causes liver failure (and then death).  I didn't ask specifically about 'low copper diets', because although a low copper diet is part of the treatment (<1mg/day initially, so about 50% of the US FDA Daily Recommended Value), you also have to avoid anything else that would stress the liver (so alcohol is out)

When I saw this question a few months ago, I didn't want to answer it because:
cooking for people with any kind of nutritional disease is not only difficult, but also dangerous,
therefore, before you move on, please ensure:

You have to have more than a basic understanding of (bio)chemistry
You have to have more than a basic understanding of nutrition
You have to have more than a basic understanding of Databases
You have to consult your physician (in this case: your friend's endocrinologist) with any recipe that you come up with using the below method:

The best freely publicly available scientific source for nutrition is the United States Department of Agriculture's SR28 Database so start with reading the manual!
In this particular case of Wilson's disease, the NUTR_DEF 312 Cu is the one to look out for, so load the raw data files into your favourite RDBMS, delete all references in FOOD_DES that contain 312 and presto: you have a USDA database customised to your friend's disease!
Select any of the ingredients that are left in the database, and start coming up with safe and yummy recipes that you have to give to your friend's  endocrinologist to vouch for them before actually making them...  :)
Note 1: If you have multiple friends with multiple allergies and intolerances, you leave everything in the database and SELECT * FROM Food_Des WHERE Nutrient_No NOT IN (Nutrient, Nutrient, ... );
Note 2: I answered your question because I feel sorry for your friend and no one has even tempted to answer your question in the last few months that I can notice.
Note 3: No, Seasoned advice is not a recipe-writing service so don't bother asking for recipes, they're off-topic here!
Note 4: Yes, I'm a chemist and I help my cousin, who's a professional chef, come up with recipes for sick children's birthday parties, but I have her run any recipes by the child's doctor...


A great book with recipes for Tapas Spanish Tapas is some of the best food I know. I've been to a lot of great restaurants all over Europe. I've bought some books, and tried different recipes for making this food. It should not be very hard to make it as good as in the restaurants, but the recipes I have found in the few books I've tried has all failed. They are indeed horrible!

Is there a great book with really good recipes for this kind of food?

Penelope Casas is the queso grande of Spanish cookbook authors. Her seminal 1982 book 'The Foods and Wines of Spain' is still a treasure trove of authentic, well-researched dishes from the many distinct culinary regions of Spain. She's done many other books on Spanish cooking since then, including the newly revised edition of 'Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain', available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Tapas-Revised-Little-Dishes-Spain/dp/0307265528/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303850450&sr=1-3). In addition to her depth and breadth of knowledge, Ms. Casas is also a transporting writer who'll fill your imagination with the tastes and aromas she so engagingly describes.


How much longer do I cook the roast? I was following the advice of preheating @ 400 and had every intention of lowering he temp to 300 but instead I forgot to lower it and ended up cooking it for the first 30mins at 400. I just lowered the temp to 300 and flipped it. How should I proceed?

Without a thermometer (which I personally do not own), the other way of testing pork to make sure it is sufficiently cooked is to pierce it with a fork or skewer in the thickest part.

Check this extract from recipetips.com:

  Piercing: Another method for testing doneness is to prick the cut of pork with a fork or the tip of a knife and check to see if the juices that escape run clear. If the juices are clear or have just a very faint pink tint, the meat is done. If the juices are not clear, the meat should be returned to the heat source for further cooking.


Tempered chocolate thickens I have now twice experienced that when I'm tempering dark chocolate is becomes incredibly thick - almost solid- in the cooling phase
When it happens I will accidentally heat it up to much as to get it into a texture where I can work with it. (I make filled chocolates)

I use real chocolate, a water-free heating device, the right tempering method, and a good thermometer, so I have no idea why this happens

The chocolates usually turn out okay, but it's frustrating that I can't figure out, what I'm doing wrong

I hope someone out there can help me with some advice!
Thank you on beforehand!

Based on what you’ve written, i can think of two possible reasons why you’re getting thick tempered chocolate.

As the ratio of cocoa solids increase, the viscosity of your melted chocolate will increase. If your chocolate is high on solid content, you might need a bit more cocoa butter to decrease viscosity.
Even though, you have a water-free heating device; due to the moisture of the environment and condensation caused by cold could introduce some water into your chocolate. Adding something to bind the water might help, the go-to emulsifier to bind some water is Lecithin. 0.5% to 1% Lecithin could help with binding the water, thus reducing the viscosity in a couple of minutes.


How do I clean kale and other leafy vegetables for cooking? I'm eating a lot of kale and other leafy vegetables lately, and I'm concerned about removing pesticide residue. Is thoroughly rinsing the leaves in cold water enough?

When washing vegetables that can get muddy (Kale, leeks, etc.) I generally recommend first using tepid to slightly warm water to help soften the mud more easily.  Leeks should be split down the middle and then can be fanned under warm water which will help wash the dirt out more readily.

For Kale, if it isn't muddy then you can use cold water and give it a soak and agitate as hobodave indicated below.  If they're muddy and dirty, then I'd use slightly warmer water to first clean them and then give them a soak in some cold water to help plump them up and increase their turgor pressure to make them nice and crisp.

A good wash in water (universal solvent) should be enough.  Most of what I've read on the effectiveness of "vegetable wash sprays" say that they're no better than a good wash with water.


Baking camembert with crust in a larger pan? I have one small wheel of camembert and some pie dough. I want to pack the camembert in the dough and bake it. I plan to have the bottom and sides in crust, but to leave the upper surface free. But I don't have a pan the exact diameter. When I arrange them concentrically, there is ca. 2.5 cm (1 inch) between the camembert and the pan wall. I don't have enough dough to make a crust this thick, and I wouldn't want to if I had it.

So, what should I do?

Pack the camembert in the crust, put it in the pan, bake as it is? Will the crust melt away from the camembert then?
Pack the camembert in the crust, put it in the pan, fill the gap to the wall with something (the beans I use for blind baking)?
Roll the crust into a disc the size of the pan, put the camembert on it, so that its walls stay free. Bake it that way.

Which version is most likely to result in a tasty camembert where I don't have either overbrowned, dry dough or sticky underbaked dough or dough half-melted in a funny shape? The cheese has no visible cracks, so I think it will stand up to baking without leaking even if it is not tightly enclosed in the dough.

I recommend option 1, baking in the free standing crust.  The crust should not melt away; it will set fairly early in the baking.  The air circulation on the outside of the crust should actually contribute to nice browning.

If you are concerned that it doesn't have sufficient strength to support itself itself and contain the cheese, use an appropriately sized tart ring if you have one to help support it, or form one out of a strip of aluminum foil.   This will help it keep its shape in the early part of the baking.


Is a degraded Teflon pan toxic to all of its users? We have an induction cooktop at home. We use a teflon pan from IKEA, roughly 24 cm in diameter. This pan is frequently used on level 7 of the induction stove. Based on limited measurement with an IR thermometer, I found out that this heats the pan to about 240 °C at least, and very likely past the 260 °C recommended limit since it often runs on this level for at least 10 minutes at a time.

I read that exceeding recommended temperatures causes the non-stick quality of the pan to degrade. I’ve also read that over a certain temperature (I think 300 °C), the Teflon may let out toxic fumes.

While the fumes are a concern in their own right, I wonder if future uses of the pan, even within the recommended temperature limits, could cause toxic chemicals to spill into the food that’s being cooked. This pan has definitely been overheated more than once, and I’d like to know about the health repercussions of this.

There is no current evidence that already-degraded PTFE (Teflon) poses any toxicity risks in its solid form.  To quote the University of California School of Public Health:

  There’s no evidence, however, that ingesting any PTFE flakes that might have degraded from the pan’s surface over time poses any health risk, and the American Cancer Society notes that “Teflon itself is not suspected of causing cancer.” That makes sense, considering that PTFE is an inert substance, which means it doesn’t react with other chemicals.

Tibbs Bioscience says:

  PTFE is inert in its solid form, meaning it won’t react with other chemicals, which is what makes it such as great non-stick coating. As such, the minimal PTFE you would ingest will likely pass through the digestive tract without harm.

Other sources I checked had the same answer.  The fumes from overheating PTFE are known to be unhealthful; the solids left behind have no known issues.

Note that the same is not true of another chemical that used to be used in Teflon, PFOA.  Again, per Tibbs:

  After repeated heating and cooling, it is possible that the PFOA could migrate into the food. Research suggests that PFOA interferes with hormonal balances as well as reproduction and fetal development

The problems with PFOA have caused manfucturers to stop using it in Teflon production.  However, if you have an older Teflon pan (pre-2013), it may still have PFOA, as might Teflon pans outside the US and EU.


Concern over whether roast chicken is safe I prepared a roast chicken for the first time today. The chicken weighed about 2 kilograms and I cooked it for about two hours at 190 degree Celsius.
My concern is that the vegetables that I stuffed into the chicken cavity don't seem to be cooked. I cut a huge potato(25g roughly)  into two along with some small onions and put it into the cavity, they're still crunchy and the potato isn't cooked...
Should I be worried about whether my roast is safe for consumption? When I removed it from the oven, there was juice flowing out, is this alright? My family doesn't really eat roast chicken, in fact where I come from, we're most likely to boil it than to roast it. So I don't really have anyone to ask about it.
Can anyone please help me?

The only way to know if your chicken is safe to eat is to measure its temperature.  You should check the breast (165F/74C) and the thigh (can go higher than breast), ensuring your are measuring at the center and not touching bone.  Stuffing is usually not a good idea, because it increases the cooking time, and will likely result in overcooked white meat or under cooked items in the cavity.  Invest in a good thermometer and learn how to use it correctly, you will feel more comfortable and produce better meals.


Boneless Frozen Lamb Roast I was wondering if anybody has ever done a Boneless Lamb Roast in a slow-cooker and what the results were ,Thank you,Larry

It is certainly possible to cook a lamb roast with or without bones in a slow-cooker. Slow-cooking meat tends to give a nice and tender result. However, it is strongly recommended to thaw it first. It takes a long time for a slow cooker to get the food up to a cooking temperature from frozen which is a food safety issue.


Is it safe to put fresh hot soup in a glass mason jar? I make soup in a slow cooker and I'd like to store individual servings. If I take the freshly made hot soup from the slow cooker and ladle it into mason jars and screw down the lids, is that safe? I don't have any experience with canning.

Since you are asking about canning then what you are describing is not a canning process which will give you a result you can store long term at room temperature. Long-term storage of soup would require pressure canning to raise the internal temperature high enough to kill any foodborne illnesses.

If you plan to freeze the soup then mason jars aren't ideal, they'll work but they are bulky and take up a lot of room. In any case you don't get any real benefit from putting the lid on when hot if you are going to freeze them, you're better off letting it cool so you don't end up overwhelming your freezer's cooling capacity.


How to cook chicken cutlets in a cast-iron skillet We want to cook healthy chicken cutlets and were wondering if the best is to use our cast-iron pan rather than a regular pan.

Any advice on best practices for chicken cutlets cooked in cast-iron? Cooking time? Heat level?

We want to avoid the breaded version so we keep it even healthier.

Chicken breasts do not require extremely high heat, nor strong searing (in fact, they are quite easy to overcook), so while a cast iron pan is certainly effective, it is not required.  Any quality pan will do.
If you are sauteing simple chicken breasts (perhaps lightly marinated or seasoned), the technique is quite simple.
Often, you are better off pan-roasting as follows:

Preheat your pan for about 5 minutes over medium high flames (or burner setting if you are electric), and oil it lightly.

Put the chicken breasts in, and leave undisturbed at medium heat until they are lightly browned on one side and released from the pan, 4-5 minutes.

Flip the breasts over and again, leave undisturbed until lightly browned.

If not done, place in a moderate (350 F, 180 C) oven until done, probably 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your breasts.
You will know they are done when they register 160 - 170 F (depending on your preference; I like the lower end of the range) on a high quality instant read thermometer.   You will also learn to know when they are done based on the texture an how much resistance they have to being poked.

Once they are done, remove them from the pan and let them rest a minute or two.

During this time, you may optionally return the pan to the stove top and create a pan sauce of your choice.

While a little more work, pounding the with meat mallet (I don't own one, so I use an 8 inch skillet as a mallet) to an even thickness of no more than a little less than an inch (2 cm) will help them cook quickly and evenly.
Note:  if you have true cutlets (which are about 1/4 inch thick, less than a CM), you will need to raise the heat slightly, and only cook for 2-3 minutes.  The oven phase is unlikely to be necessary.  Otherwise, the technique is the same.


Using own squeezed lemon juice I am using a bought 100% lemon juice (pasteurized).
I thought that it will be cheaper to squeeze some lemons and heat at on the stove for pasteurizing.
How much time can I use my own pasteurized lemon juice? are there other health consideration I need to take into account?

Just because industrial food producers can create a safe process for a given preservation method, it does not mean that you can do it too.

The best you can do in this case is to make canned juice, which, as long as it is in a closed jar or bottle, will last on the shelf for months and years. But as soon as you open it, you will only have 3-5 days in the fridge, after which you have to throw out that can. You also have to subject it to proper canning temperatures for a sufficiently long time, so it will not taste like fresh juice afterwards. Also, it is highly unlikely that you will see any savings - even if your own time costs nothing to you, fresh lemons are more expensive than bottled juice.

Most people do not see the point in that and simply squeeze their lemons whenever they need juice. But if you want to go the canned route, you can simply follow any recipe for high-acid juice canning. And obviously, you don't need to acidify it extra the way it is done with other juices, since lemon juice is already more acidic than standard acidifiers like vinegar.


How long can I leave a freshly baked cheesecake out before it goes in the refrigerator? We just baked a cheesecake and are heading over to family's house for the rest of the evening. Is it ok to leave the cheesecake out for 6 hours or so before being refrigerated?

Referring to the quotes from the below links;

  • “Baked cheesecake should be refrigerated as soon as it is cool or it
  may develop harmful bacteria from heat resistant spores.”
  http://www.canfightbac.org/cpcfse/en/cookwell/ask/dairy/#2085

  • “Foods made with eggs and milk such as pumpkin pie, custard pie and
  cheesecake, must first be safely baked to a safe minimum internal
  temperature of 160 °F. Then, they must be refrigerated after baking.
  Eggs and milk have high protein and moisture content and when these
  baked products are left at room temperature, conditions are ripe for
  bacteria to multiply. It's not necessary to refrigerate most other
  cakes, cookies or breads unless they have a perishable filling or
  frosting.”
  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Hotline_Answers_Panic_Button_Questions/index.asp

When to throw it out; a quote from the link below;

  “Refrigerator Foods    When to Save and When to Throw It Out
  FOOD.....................   Held above 40 °F for over 2 hours
  Cheesecake............    Discard
  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/keeping_food_safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp


Can I turn a can of red kidney beans into red bean paste for Japanese Style Red Bean Paste Buns? I have a can of Red Kidney Beans, and I want to use it to make Japanese Red Bean Paste Buns. Looking online, I found that these buns require Azuki Beans for the paste, not Kidney Beans. Is there a way to turn Kidney Beans into a replacement for Azuki Beans?

Welcome. According to the excerpt below from  this page , kidney beans are an acceptable substitute.

  azuki bean = adzuki bean = Tiensin red bean = aduki bean = asuki bean = field pea = red Oriental bean = feijao bean = red chori    Equivalents: 1 cup dried yields 3 cups cooked beans  Pronunciation:  a-ZOO-kee   Notes:   The Japanese use these small red beans to make sweet red bean paste, but they're also good in rice dishes or salads.  Azuki beans are sweet and relatively easy to digest, so they won't make you as gassy as other beans.  They also don't take as long to cook.   Substitutes:   black azuki beans OR red kidney beans OR Tolosana beans

That said, while you may be able to substitute them you may need to make adjustments to end up with a similar bean paste. For example you may need to add more sugar as adzuki beans have a natural slightly sweet flavor.

Also, even though you have canned beans, they may require a bit of cooking to get them to the right softness. (Adzuki beans tend to have a very creamy texture.) Note that dark red kidney beans tend to be more firm than light red.

All said and done, you can probably make adjustments and end up with a slightly different result. But as for me, I would get the adzuki beans.


Forgot to add sugar to cookies When making chocolate chip cookies, I forgot to add white sugar while I was creaming the butter and brown sugar. I creamed the butter and brown sugar, had just cracked the egg into the mixture when I realized that I forgot the white sugar. So I added it and mixed it in along with the egg, mixing it a little longer than normal. I proceeded as normal with the recipe. The dough is currently refrigerating overnight. What effect will this mistake have on my finished cookies?

It depends on how well you creamed the butter and brown sugar.  The point of creaming fat and sugar in cooking making is to put lots of tiny starter bubbles in the dough which will expand during cooking.

If you really creamed the heck out of the butter and brown sugar, you might not notice a difference. (The cookies might be a little chewier than normal, not because of the over-abundance of brown sugar [you got the white in there eventually] but because of the extra mixing later.)  It would take a lot more time to get to a truly creamed stage - light and fluffy, where you can't feel any sugar if you rub the mixture between your thumb and finger - with half the sugar granules.

However, if your fat-sugar mixture wasn't creamed well, then the cookies will be flatter (less airy) and denser than normal.


Oolong leaves not unfurling I just ordered some new loose leaf oolong, and I've noticed that the leaves don't unfurl all that much--even after two or three steeps. I've noticed with past oolongs that the leaves open up nice and big, but not really with this one. It still makes amazing tea, but I'm wondering if I'm missing out on some flavor. I typically use not-quite-boiling water and steep a couple teaspoons of tea for about 4 minutes.

Are non-unfurling tea leaves an indication of...anything? Is there more flavor to be had with fully opened leaves?

Not sure if this is the situation in your case, but here's a possible stab. I hope it's informative (and correct!) anyway. :)

Depending on the look of the leaves (can't tell from your link), you might have just the tips and buds, rather than fully formed and unfurled leaves.  If this is the case, this can indicate higher quality (or at least more desirable, commercially speaking) tea, and perhaps the time of year of harvest. If very young, these buds won't unfurl much (or at all).

When harvesting tea, one could pick the more mature (older) leaves further up the branch (toward the trunk of the tree), or further down toward the end of the branch (toward the newest buds), which will be smaller and more delicate.  The latter (buds and smaller leaves) are "better" in various respects, and are generally more expensive in respects of harvesting, processing, etc., and correspondingly less common and more valuable.

Take a look at tea leaf grading guides; the Wikipedia article on tea grading for more on the concept. There are many more guides if you search on that term.  Though usually applied to black teas, I hope it illustrates the point I'm trying to make.  Grades of "FOP" ("Flowery Orange Pekoe") and higher will have some quantity of the buds; more words means "better" in some regard (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery... I have heard of SFTGFOP1, but I am certainly not refined enough to appreciate it). Good white teas (e.g., the picture on this page is an example of leaves that are "hairy" because the buds are just opening) sometimes have lots of buds, which won't unfurl when steeping. Again, you're talking oolong, but hopefully this illustrates the concept.

Other teas are mechanically rolled (e.g., gunpowder green tea) so the look of the leaves before steeping could be similar between buds and processed teas.  Gunpowder tea (the stuff that that I get, anyway) is relatively lower quality, made from more mature leaves, which unfurl completely into large leaves after steeping.

As an aside: For good quality tea, I find using too-hot water yields less desirable tea. YMMV.

I hope you've got a great tea!


New potatoes in pressure cooker with salt: how to optimize water amount and cooking time? I am trying to replicate a recipe that my father-in-law performed once at home… well, not much of a recipe, rather a cooking style, as you'll see.

The idea is to cook new potatoes (specifically, new Ratte potatoes) in a pressure cooker with salt. The potatoes are easy to find (at least here in France), and are quite small: about 5 cm in length. After scrubbing them but leaving the skin on, he put them at the bottom of the pressure cooker, with a little water and quite a bit of sea salt. After a small cooking time (which I estimated at 5 minutes), the potatoes were cooked just enough and crusted with salt.

Now, I have tried that three times myself, and the results were disheartening. The first time, I had put too little water, and burnt the bottom of the potatoes. The second time, there was too much water, and I ended up with regular pressure-cooked potatoes floating in salty water. The third time, I overcooked and while there was no excess of water, half the potatoes has exploded into mashed potatoes (and there was too much salt).

How could I get an idea of how much water, salt and cooking time is needed for this recipe? Trial-and-error is not working very much here, and I have no idea how to figure out these quantities.

PS: it's not relevant to the question, but he made with that an olive oil/coriander/chili sauce that was real good. That I managed to reproduce, at least!

The only time I've ever heard of something similar is Salt Potatoes

www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/travel/escapes/22rNYfood.html

allrecipes.com/recipe/syracuse-salt-potatoes/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_potatoes

but I've never seen them done in a pressure cooker. However, most pressure cooking charts (http://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php for example) list the cooking time of whole new potatoes at about 5-8 minutes. If it was me I would try one of the salt potato recipes and just cook them for less time.


apple crumble for pie My church assembles apple pies for sale on a Monday.  Crusts are made ahead and frozen.  Crumbs are made on Friday and refrigerated.  This year the crumbs have become lump, hard, and almost impossible to sprinkle on the pie at assembly time.  What can we do to prevent this?  We don't have enough workers to make the crumbs during the pie assembly.

Obviously I don't know your exact worker situation, but it seems like 5 minutes in advance for 1 person with a food processor should be enough to make more than enough 'crumbs'? This of course depends on your recipe for your crumbs, but if it's just rubbed butter and flour with salt, flavourings etc, it's possible to 'cheat' very effectively with a food processor.

In terms of chemistry, I'd guess your crumbs got too warm before they were cooled, so the fats in them had started to bond, and lumped together.


How to bake cake and pastries without oven? I don't have an oven and I am not planning to purchase one but there are lots of recipe that need an oven. My question is, is there any way I can get the same functionality on a gas burner stove by some use of utensil or trick or hack!

When I was young in Asia, my mom would bake a cake on a coal stove in a cast iron pot. Hot coals were then added on top of the lid as a secondary heat source.


Vintage West Bend Slow Cooker number settings verses hi low settings I recently purchased a brand new vintage west bend slow cooker which I love however the cook settings are marked in numbers 1-5 rather than high and low like on a typical slow cooker/crock pot.  Obviously I understand the lower numbers are less heat etc but I was wondering if anyone has cooked with one of these before and even if not, can you give me your opinions if I should cook the called for 7-9 hours on low setting on number 1 or 2 or even 3?  Its a first try recipe containing 1" center cut chops with potatoes, rice, and onions etc..  I appreciate the help/advice : )

You should consult the owner's manual for your slow cooker.  According to one manual on West Bend's website:

  There are five numbered heat settings on the heating base, 1 to 5.
  Heat setting # 1 should only be used to warm dinner rolls, muffins,
  etc. Heat setting # 2 should only be used to keep warm cooked foods
  for serving, whereas Heat Settings #3, #4 and #5 are to be used for
  actual cooking of foods. Set the dial directly at the numbered heat
  setting or midway between the numbered heat settings for complete
  temperature control. DO NOT USE A HEAT SETTING BELOW # 3 FOR ACTUAL
  COOKING OF RAW FOODS AS SLOW COOKER DOES NOT GET HOT ENOUGH TO COOK
  FOODS AT SETTING #1 OR #2. Set heat setting and cook food for
  recommended time as given in recipe. As a general guideline, most meat
  and vegetable combinations need 7 to 10 hours of cooking at Setting #3
  (low), 4 to 6 hours of cooking at Setting #4 (medium) or 2 to 3 hours
  of cooking at Setting #5 (high).

Your particular model might have different instructions.


Non-spicy flavors for a spicy-hot food lover? For medical reasons, my friend who adores spicy-hot food, is trying to cut down.  What can we do to food to make it taste "less bland"?

Inspired by this post from a stranger

It depends on the medical reason. If it's a sensitive esophagus or stomach caused by GERD, replacing the capsaicin with pungent components, like mustard or black pepper, or strong acidic or base components, like vinegar, wine or citrus, may be out as well. Even alumvarics like onions and garlic may be out. By contrast, ginger can provide intense heat on the tongue, but is also recognized as a remedy for stomach upset. They will need to check with the doctor or nutritionist to see what's OK.

Used well, the boring old residents of the spice rack can provide strong and piquant flavor profiles without the irritation hot peppers in all their incarnations can introduce. Many traditional Continental, African, Near Eastern (Including Greek) and East Asian recipes that don't rely on heat for flavor are "adapted" for a mid-20th century Anglo-American palate - they're blander and less complex than the originals. Seek out traditional recipes and techniques, or 21st century interpretations, rather than rely on outdated Anglicized recipes. Don't be afraid to explore uncommon cuisines as well - Afghan cuisine, for instance, is very mild yet intensely flavorful - a mix of Near Eastern and Indian flavors that doesn't rely on heat.

Here is an article on intensifying and improving the flavors of commonly used spices and herbs. In summation:

Use fresh and freshly ground whole spices (I use a "magic bullet" style blender) rather than stale pre-powdered preparations.
Use fresh, green herbs rather than dried flakes - oregano is the exception.
Toast whole spices in a pan on low heat before they're ground, or bloom herbs and spices in hot oil, and use the oil as the flavorant.

Here is an article on common techniques to build strong flavor in dishes without introducing spiciness. In a nutshell -

Bloom the spices (as above)
Roast vegetables rather than sauteé, steam or stew.
Don't neglect the aromatics, such as sofrito or mirepoix. (Here is another article on selecting and using aromatic components)
Confit (poach in oil) powerful aromatics like garlic.
Use hygroscopic seasonings (salt or sugar especially) to draw out water and intensify flavors.
Brown butter before introducing it to the recipe.


Are my pots oven-safe? My pots are

WearEver Cook & Strain Stainless Steel 1.5-Quart Saucepan

Model No.:      A8342264
Tramontina 3-Quart Sauce Pan, Stainless Steel

Model No.:      80154/516

The handle of the first one is steel, while the handle of the second one seems to be a mix of steel and black rubber (or something that looks similar to rubber, and you can google and check similar images)

Can I bake or roast chicken drumsticks in either pot inside an oven? How much should the baking temperature be?

I have been using both pots on cooktops to boil food. Sometimes I forgot to watch,  and the water was dried out, and the pots were burnt and became  black.
If I put the pots inside an oven with only chicken inside the pots and without adding water (supposedly?), will that burn the pots as well? Why not?

WearEver Cook & Strain Stainless Steel 1.5-Quart Saucepan

From Amazon Q/A:

  Question: Is this pan oven safe?
  Answer: Oven safe to 500ºF if handles are all stainless steel. Oven safe to 350 ºF if handles have any silicone or phenolic parts. The oven should be completely preheated before placing the pan in the oven to avoid thermal shock. Cookware should not be used in the microwave or on outdoor grills. (per the users manual)

Tramontina 3-Quart Sauce Pan, Stainless Steel

From the Walmart website:

  This saucepan is oven safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit

Note that the website shows an all-metal handle!

For recommended temperatures etc., see your various recipes for chicken or whatever you are planning to roast.


How can one make a reasonable curry with limited spices and poor quality equipment? When travelling one has to make do with whatever cooking equipment is available. Typical deficiencies I've encountered are: thin saucepans and frying pans that have lost any non-stick coating (maybe only one of each), a hob with just one or two rings, unreliable ovens, a toaster but no grill, blunt knives, limiting working space, ....

My original question was overly broad, and asked for cooking techniques (rather than recipes) that are reliable even with poor equipment. In this edit, I'll ask just one specific question that's troubling me at the moment. Please assume that I can buy all the usual spices etc, but not cheaply. I don't want to buy very many, because they will all be duplicates of better quality ingredients I have back home.

  How, if at all, given the constraints above, can one make a reasonable vegetarian curry using only one saucepan, and a small frying pan that's lost its non-stick coating?

The one thing that makes a big difference is the knife (and I say that as someone who doesn't look after mine very well). You may be able to take a small sharp knife with you (you can buy paring knifes with plastic sheaths, for example) though this depends how you're traveling and on thy knife laws where you are.

Then generally the idea is to cook simply. Simple doesn't have to mean boring, but dishes that don't use lots simultaneous cooking steps. Space can often make prepping everything in advance a challenge, but you can use cups, plates, and cereal bowls for anything you do prep (and put them on the dining table). Prepping at the dining table can also be a way to gain space, especially if you're sharing the kitchen facilities. Cutting up veg before meat to make better use of the only knife and chopping board is one simple way that does require prepping in a particular order.

Lack of non stick means using a bit more oil to fry, and keeping things moving. This may not be the time to try or your new recipe for homemade burgers, or other things that are prone to falling apart if handled roughly.

Most ovens should be up to most things, including baking cakes, but do you really need to? If you're only using the oven to roast, or make stews or jacket potatoes, you don't need precision, just too cook until done. This makes synchronising something cooked in the oven with something cooked on the hob a little tricky, but that's where simplicity comes in.

I go away with friends quite a bit, in holiday cottages, bunkhouses etc. and also have a campervan in which I like to cook proper if simple dishes, so face this quite often. Making a risotto in the van, for example, I kept the stock hot by putting it in a casserole dish on top of the pan in which I was cooking the rice, then used the pan from heating the stock to cook green beans. The beans were stored in the cold oven after trimming because I wanted to do that before cutting the onion and garlic with the same tools so as not to transfer flavour. My total food preparation surface there is about 40x50cm.


Use of thawed Beef blood I recently thawed a roast and put blood aside to use to add to gravy mix. Was this dangerous to do? It was brought to a boil.

You should be ok as long as it is properly cooked (boiled)
People will often (re)use juices from raw meat in sauces.
For example, you can use the leftover marinade as a base for a sauce.


Is there a way to prep mutton in order to ease its strong flavor? Mutton has a slightly "gamey" flavor, is there a way to prep it before cooking which reduces this "gamey" flavour?

The flavor will vary greatly depending on the cut of meat and the preparation.

Different cuts (eg: chops and legs) taste very differently from one another (legs and tougher meat taste more gamey)
Ground lamb has almost no gamey flavor
Well done meat will taste less gamey than medium (Edit: regarding "done-ness" this how it tastes to me. Since answering, I've discussed this with someone else who says the opposite is their experience)
Cooking with a lot of vegetables or a flavorful starch will by contrast cut down on the strong flavor more than a bland starch. A bland starch will result in highlighting the strong gamey taste


How to make sweet-tasting noodles? I've never made noodle dough before, and I want to try it today. However, I'd like to make the noodles more sweet.

Is the base ingredient ratio for making the noodle dough one egg per 100g flour?

How can I make it sweeter? Would I just add sugar or is there a better ingredient to add that will not change the texture of the noodles?

Will adding butter and milk change the texture of the noodle?

Butter and milk will add fat and water which will definitely change the consistency of the dough. You will have to adjust the ratios if you add them (surely more flour if you add milk).

If you want sweet noodles my best bet would be to add sugar, although I wouldn't do sweet egg noodles... maybe sweet rice noodles?

Why don't you just do plain noodles and then make a sweet condiment instead?


To achieve maximum flavour is it better to cut or tear basil leaves? When I add basil to a dish should I tear or cut basil leaves?
Does it matter?

Tearing is for artistic effect

Some people will claim tearing does not damage the cell of the plant as much as cutting, a simple look under a basic microscope will show you otherwise. Not sure how this would affect basil in particular. What dish are you preparing?

If you want more basil flavour and smell, cut it more finely, or bruise it (back of knife or rolling pin) to release more oils just before serving


How do I make sugarfree chocolate mousse made with 100% cacao chocolate less stiff? I recently made chocolate mousse with 50g of 100% chocolate, and 2 egg whites. No sugar, sweeteners, or cream added. This resulted in a very stiff and even slightly grainy (but that might just be because my chocolate wasn't hot enough) chocolate mousse. Trying the same recipe with 70% chocolate results in a slightly softer, consistent mousse that is easier to handle and mix during the preparation. It becomes even easier to make when a bit of sugar is added.

The sugar seems to alter the texture of the chocolate mousse to make it somewhat fluffier. How do  i replicate the texture of a 70% cacao chocolate mousse when using 100% cacao chocolate without adding sugar? If possible I'd like to make a chocolate mousse without adding cream because I like the lighter feeling of a mousse made with just egg white + chocolate. Do I just need less chocolate in relation to the egg white to make up for the increased concentration of cacao so that the 70% and 100% cacao mousse end up with the same amount of cacao in them rather than the same amount of chocolate?

So there are a few things you could change here.

Firstly I would use 85g of dark chocolate for every 2 egg whites.
When melting your chocolate, 2 tablespoons of hot water will help smooth it out stopping that graininess and make it less stiff/easier for the egg white stage.
Leave to cool and whip up your egg whites. Then fold in a third of the egg whites, then fold in the rest.

If you don't want to use cream, I would recommend trying 50g of greek yoghurt into the cooled chocolate before adding the egg whites. This is not as heavy as cream, will keep the smoothness of the chocolate and also keep it light and fluffy.


Ceramic pans vs PTFE pans I want to buy ceramic pan. The shop keeper told me that ceramic pans are more durable. But they need oil.

Here, I found a different info. They claimed PTFE is more durable. It says that none of them need oil and oil damages both of them. When I look for ceramic pans on shops none of them mention about none-sickness.

I do not overheat pan. So I do not care about how much they resist heat. I have several questions:

1- Are ceramic pans none-stick as much as PTFE? Do they need oil?

2- Are ceramic pans less/more durable than PTFE?

3- Are ceramic pans metal utensil safe? Do they scratch as easy as PTFE? Does stiff side of sponge damage them?

4- What happens if ceramic scratch? Should I trough it away?

5- Do ceramic keeps its none-stickness for one year?

6- To wash ceramic pan, should I use white vinegar or soda?

7- Is none-safety of PTFE about before scratching or after scratching?

I can address a few of your points.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) is the third most slippery substance known to man (the first two being incredibly expensive - an alloy of aluminum and Diamond-like carbon).  There is nothing used in home cooking that is more non-stick.
Teflon pans are NOT highly vulnerable to normal use with metallic utensils.  Just don't aggressively scrape them.
Teflon's safety is related to off gassing under high heat.
Ceramic is a loaded term.  There are many, many coatings that are ceramic, and they all have different properties, where as PTFE is exactly one type of coating.  Judgements of 'ceramic' are not really reliable.  A specific pan or coating technique are the only tangible thing that can be judged.


Is it actually possible to send food to a lab to get the recipe? I've seen this trope on TV shows from time to time. Well now, I know someone who actually has some bbq sauce that they want to send to a lab to find out what the recipe was.

Is this actually possible, and if so, how would we find a lab that can do it? Or is it just a silly TV trope.

Googling turned up nothing.

As long as you have a list of potential ingredients, it would be possible to find out if these ingredients are in the sauce. For example, if you don't know what spices were used, you could start with a list of spices, find information on some signature chemical compounds found in each spice of the list, then tell the lab to find out which of these substances are present in the sauce. This would give you a pretty good list of substances (spices) you could use. You will need a curious chemist-food scientist who has experience with that kind of work and is willing to play a detective, I'm pretty sure you can't get to a general purpose organic chemistry lab and expect them to just plug it in and get a result.

Even that information won't be 100% certain. First, you would have to find substances which are present in one source ingredient but not another - and these are unlikely to be the main aromatic substances, since these tend to be shared between plants, for example eugenol is something you'll find in a lot of herbs. Second, you might have unusual combinations in which the plant may get into the recipe: for example, where the lab suspects the use of inverted sugar and hyssop as an herb, it might turn out that the recipe contained wildflower honey and the bees processed lots of hyssop.

And when you get the information, you still don't have a recipe. Both the ratio and the process are missing. A good cook (or food technician, for industrially produced food) can make educated guesses about possible processes, and with some work, they are likely to create some kind of replica, if the original recipe doesn't include surprising tricks.

So, you decide to do so, it is kinda possible, but it will be a long process involving experts, not a send-the-sample-get-full-answer kind of thing. If there are no businesses offering it as a service, it doesn't seem like a practical proposition.


Why does the roux break down in my chicken velouté sauce? I am trying to make a veloute sauce which involves adding roux to boiling hot water mixed with chicken base (such as Tones or McCormick).  This sauce is then mixed with heavy cream at a later stage to create a sauce for potatoes au gratin.

After you have made the roux and cooked it to a blonde stage (3-5 minutes), the chef that taught me this instructed me to cool the roux to room temperature and then add the room temperature roux to the boiling liquid stock.  I let the stock boil for a few minutes after the addition of the roux and then reduce it to a softer boil (simmer).

The problem that I have encountered is that when simmering the sauce, the roux eventually breaks down releasing the fat (butter) into the sauce and thickening the "center" portion of the sauce.  The fat essentially separates from the flour due to extreme heat (simmering).  What causes this, and is there any way around it?  Most veloute/supreme sauces call for a 30-50 minute simmering of the sauce to reduce any starchy taste and grainy texture.. but if the roux breaks down in the sauce before this how is this even possible?

If I don't leave the sauce at a boil initially for at least 3 minutes and then don't simmer for at least another 2-3 minutes, whatever remains from the lump of roux that was added settles to the bottom of the pan or forms lumps which eventually settle out.  The sauce also has a "grainy" texture and seems to have too much of a starchy or floury taste.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Per SAJ14SAJ's comment, the suspension in a traditional veloute relies on the gelatin to keep everything in place. Stocks are naturally rich in gelatin, due to the bones and connective tissue used to make them. Using a base to make the sauce is probably not providing the gelatin necessary. Other rich liquids frequently do separate when simmered for a long time (think curries and gumbo), so it's to be expected that your emulsion will break down eventually. I think your solution is to either use a real stock instead of the base, or perhaps fortify your liquids with a bit of gelatin before adding the roux (or barring those, cook only until your starch is gelatinized).


Why would eggs have blue in them? Recently when I scrambled some eggs, I noticed some bright blue patches inside the eggs. Not around the outside, but when I took a bite out of part of one there was a bright blue patch in the uneaten half.

It wasn't even a natural, mold sort of blue, but looked almost like dye. But I didn't notice anything when I first cracked the egg. One of my friends has had a similar experience. How could this happen?

I discarded the rest of the eggs, but would they have been safe to eat?

With boiled eggs, the yolk can get a blue/green tint, particularly when over-cooked or cooked at too high a temp a reaction most of us have seen.  It is a reaction between sulfur and iron.  The same can occur with scrambled eggs.  Over cooking and cooking at high temperature is considered a prime culprit.  Cooking in iron reportedly increases the likelihood as it increases the available iron for the reaction.  If the eggs are old, or if the birds have had a diet that resulted in a bit more sulfur in the yolk it might be more likely.


An efficient way to zest key limes? Due to my affinity for baked goods, I decided to try creating key lime pie filling from scratch. I've done so twice now using two recipes. The first of which calls for key lime zest as a primary ingredient. The second of which does not, though a recommended modification of the recipe, which I followed, does call for it.

Timing the process, it took me about 20-25 minutes to grate 3 tsp. of zest from my key limes using a planar grater/zester and a small ceramic bowl. I would like to significantly speed up this process if I can, but the size and texture of key limes makes them difficult to zest for more than a pinch at a time.

Is there a faster way? I was thinking of doing something crazy with my food processor or investing in a proper zester, though I'm not sure how much this would speed things along. There also seem to be rather expensive products like the Spin Zester out there, but they seem of dubious applicability to this problem.

It seems to me, that a quality planar grater is the best solution. The Spin Zester is way too expensive for a home kitchen. I can recommend this fine micro plane grater for zesting:


What does "heat the oven to broil" mean? This recipe states:

  Heat the oven to broil and arrange a rack in the middle.

Then later:

  Broil the salmon on the baking sheet ... about 10 to 12 minutes.

I don't understand what this means. What does "heat the oven to broil" mean? It definitely seems to be talking about putting it in the oven, since it also says "arrange a rack in the middle". And then it goes on to say "broil the salmon".

But if it calls for broiled salmon, why wouldn't I just put it in the broiler (broiler is underneath my oven)?

My oven goes up to 500F, I don't know what temperature "broil" means or how to heat the oven to that temperature, and I'm also confused because how can you "broil" something on the middle rack of an oven, especially a conventional oven, and with only a heating element on the bottom instead of the top?

I can't make sense of what this recipe is calling for if it's not putting the salmon in the actual broiler.

In general, there are two types of ovens:

Ovens with a broiler drawer under their oven.
Ovens with a second top heating element (broiler) in the main oven compartment.

Your oven is the former; mine (and apparently the author's) is the latter.

So, in this case, the instructions mean "heat the oven to the broil setting".

Since you have the first type of oven, your only option will be to put your oven in broiler mode and hope the distance between the broiler and the fish is sufficient. With the recipe calling for the fish to be on the middle rack, it sounds like it's pretty far from the heat source, so you'll probably need to keep a close eye on your fish as I'm guessing your setup will be much closer. It's even possible that it won't work at all.


Slow-cooking pork 'chops'? I was in Austria recently, and at a restaurant there I ate a very simple dish that consisted mainly of two large pork chops in a light, thin gravy. The pork chops were super tender and came apart really easily.

So I have some leftover pork chops at home and I want to know how I can cook them so that they are like that. I usually fry chops, but that gives a different kind of texture I think.

I'm not really sure what to do with them. I don't have a crockpot or a slow cooker so I don't have too many options. I guess the choice is either boiling them (e.g., in gravy, or a stew) or cooking them in the oven, but I have no idea on how to do either of those things without turning it out horrible. Do you have any tips?

Given that this was a restaurant, it's possible that your pork was cooked sous-vide (vacuum packed and placed in a low temperature water bath for an extended time, and then quick-seared).  Cooking pork chops at precisely 140F for a couple of hours can create the effect you describe, but that requires specialized equipment.  There are ways that you can replicate the effect without a dedicated sous vide machine and vacuum sealer (google for "ghetto sous vide"), but those are frankly a bit sketchy for anyone but dedicated hobbyists (Upside possibility: perfect pork chops, tenderloins, and steaks.  Downside risk: Death from botulism or salmonella).

Boiling pork chops absolutely will result in horrible, horrible food.  Baking pork chops will end up with okay-but-not-particularly-tender-or-interesting food.

Were I in your shoes, I would pan fry them, but try to do so for less time than you usually do.  If you're in North America, you don't have to worry about trichonosis, so it is no longer required to cook pork as long as the previous generation had to.  Medium-rare pan-fried pork chops can turn out tender, juicy, and flavorful, without any health risks.


Why do you need buttermilk to marinate chicken before frying? Why do fried chicken recipes recommend marinating the chicken in buttermilk before frying? Is this absolutely necessary? If so, then How long should you marinate chicken in buttermilk before frying?

Rich, slightly acidic buttermilk makes a good marinade for deep fried chicken for a couple of reasons:

The acidity and milk fats help to break down the outer skin of the chicken so it gets crispier as it fries.
It adheres to the chicken and helps the flour coating stick to it.

There is a discussion here that goes through all that and recommends a minimum of two hours marinade time.


Swedish Knife ? What is this? I was looking at the website for Francis Batt, a French culinary boutique (my boning knife is from there, great product IMO, so I'm a fan). I noticed a knife there called a «couteau suédois» or Swedish knife, however googling this in both French and English yielded no real info.

What is a Swedish knife ?

That is the kind of knife you would use to slice gravlax (salt and sugar cured salmon) or possibly smoked salmon into thin, large slices. You need a long, narrow, flexible blade to cut the salmon nicely. I have never seen them referred to as a "Swedish knife" anywhere else though. In Swedish stores they would be sold as filleting knives.


Will swishing or moving a teabag around affect the steeping time in any way? Often times I find myself swishing, dunking, or moving a teabag around to affect the steeping time. Does it have any effect at all on the tea infusion, or am i actually hurting the flavor?

You are not hurting the flavor.
In theory, it will shorten the steeping time a miniscule (probably imperceptable) amount, but the effect is more psychologial perception than reality.
I pour boiling hot water over my teabag and start my timer for five minutes and don't touch or swirl the tea bag. If the bag sits in the hot water 20% longer (6 minutes instead of 5), I would be lying if I tried to pretend that I could preceive a taste difference from the previous cuppa I'd sipped. I cannot.
Costs you nothing - so try it and see if you can taste any difference.


What seasonal vegetable side dishes are appropriate for Hungarian Goulash? We are planning a traditional Hungarian Goulash dinner, and apart from egg noodles, would like a vegetable side-dish to accompany. It's late October, and we'd prefer some seasonal ingredients if possible. What vegetable side dishes compliment a hearty, flavorful stew like goulash?

[Possibly irrelevant-to-you aside: a true Hungarian goulash (as opposed to a North American or German or what-have-you goulash) is a soup. It includes a few root vegetables and possibly some "pinched noodles" (tiny little egg+flour dumplings) in the soup itself, but it is served with a hearty slice of bread or two, nothing more. So in that sense, the answer to your question is "mu".]

If what you're actually making is a meat stew with paprika (what in Hungarian would be called pörkölt), then the traditional accompaniments are either potatoes (with beef) or spaetzle (with any type of meat), and some sort of vinegary vegetable salad — either a cucumber salad, or some other vegetable dressed the same way as a cucumber salad (tomatoes, peppers), or pickled vegetables (sauerkraut-stuffed peppers, gherkins, that sort of thing). Another possibility is red cabbage, which (unlike cucumbers) is at least starting to be seasonal at the end of October.


Should I consider water temperature in kettle or in cup to infuse my tea? Most, if not all, teas have an ideal infusing temperature. Is this temperature the real water temperature at the time of infusion, or the water temperature while pouring it from the kettle ?

For instance, let's say that I have a kettle that can warm up water with a 1°C accuracy. I want to drink a green tea that suggest 75°C infusion for 3 min. What should I do ?

Warm water up to 75°C, pour it on my tea infuser, and wait 3 min.
Warm up water up to 85°C, pour it on my tea infuser, and wait 3 minutes. Because, right after pouring it, since the cup and tea infuser were at room temperature, the water will nearly instantly lose 9-10°C (and roughly 7°C without the infuser from what I measured).

So I wondered which case was taken into account when determining the ideal infusing temperature.

75°C is the temperature you want your tea to brew, so if your temperature drops by 10 degrees when you pour it in the cup you'll want to heat it to 85°C, pour it into the cup and let it warm up the cup before you add the tea, that way it is at the ideal temperature.

The other option is heating the cup up with hot water while you heat the kettle, then pouring that water out of the cup just before you add your 75°C water.

I like the first method if you have the measurements down as you'll get a consistent result with fewer steps, but if you're using different cups the second method is more consistent.


What can i use as a corn syrup substitute in icing? I am making an icing for eclairs and normally use icing sugar, melted chocolate, and corn syrup and refrigerate it overnight. I don't want to buy corn syrup for a couple of Tablespoons. What can I use instead ?

Making your own sugar syrup should work.

Corn syrup can be replaced by a sugar syrup. Combine one cup of pure cane sugar with 1/4 cup of water and heat over a low flame. Cool and use directly in a recipe. If preferred, cover the pan for three minutes to help remove sugar crystals, then add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice or cream of tartar to the pan and stir frequently until it reaches the soft ball stage (a drop of the syrup will form a ball when immersed in cold water). Cool and store in a sealed container at room temperature. It should keep for up to two months.
Alternatively, add granulated or brown sugar to a recipe that calls for corn syrup, cup for cup, then increase the amount of liquids used in the recipe by 1/4 of the amount of sugar added.

For your use, you'll probably want the liquid version.