How to sweeten pickled ginger to be served with sushi? I bought a jar of pickled ginger from the local asian food market to go along with the sushi I have been preparing at home.  This texture of this ginger is harder, and the taste much bitter. This is not the gari I am used to tasting from the sushi bar.

The ingredients of the jar read "Ginger, water, vinegar, sugar, salt, FD&C red no 40. as colour, saccharin as sweetener, sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulfite as preservatives."

Do sushi restaurants do anything special to sweeten their gari?

There are two common varieties of pickled ginger in Japan (and a bunch of less common ones). The "gari" is "amazu-shouga" (甘酢生姜 or 甘酢しょうが) it's usually thinly sliced and often, though not always, left uncolored, or just colored enough to leave it slightly pink instead of yellowish-white. Due to generous use of sugar or other sweeteners, it's usually somewhat sweet, and that's right there in the name,  which roughly translates as "sweet vinegar ginger". It's generally made with a young ginger that has a pretty thin, moist skin.

Another variety, which typically comes in the shape of thick matchsticks, is a bit saltier and, because of the thickness, a bit firmer. It's called "kizami-shouga" or (きざみ生姜 or きざみしょうが). Kizami refers to the shape, not the flavor. Occasionally this will be labeled "beni-shouga" (紅ショウガ), which means red ginger. I believe that more mature ginger is used for kizami-shouga than is used for amazu-shouga. It's generally used to garnish and season things like yakisoba or okonomiyaki, but is not typically served with most types of sushi. The amazu shouga is more common for most sushi.

So it's possible that you've picked up kizami-shouga instead of amazu-shouga. While there's nothing stopping you from adding sugar or other sweeteners from the brine, that probably won't help that much. If you do have amazu-shouga, it's also possible you've just found one that doesn't taste that good. The quality of packaged Japanese pickles I've found in the US isn't all that great, though I've occasionally found decent umeboshi.

You might try a different brand, or consider pickling your own ginger. The basic process for pickling the ginger is a hybrid between salt pickles and vinegar pickles: You peel and thinly slice the ginger, and rub it with salt, leaving it for at least an hour or overnight to sweat. You'll then add a solution of sugar and rice vinegar, occasionally with a little bit of ume-zu, which is the salty brine extracted from umeboshi-making, or beet juice, if you want to guarantee a pink color.


Color of fried beef steak: sometimes dark, sometimes light-colored. Why? I have noticed that sometimes when I am frying beef steak it does not turn dark but it becomes rather light-colored. I have also noticed that those steaks that do turn dark during the frying tend to taste much better (more juicy, more like beef) than the light-colored ones.

Just today I was frying a rump steak which turned out light gray.

What explains those different results? Is it the beef quality, the preparation or something different?

It's quite likely that the steaks that ended up darker were dry when you started cooking them.

If you don't dry off the surface of your steak, the heat is used to evaporate the moisture on the surface, which ends up steaming the steak rather than developing a good char/crust.

The darker colors are the result of a chemical reaction that results in more flavorful compounds being created.

As for the juiciness, the higher heat (as there wasn't evaporative cooling) will brown the outside faster while leaving the inside more rare (and therefore moist/juicy).  When it steams, we leave it cooking longer, which can result in the middle overcooking (squeezing out moisture).


I have a recipe that calls for 5 leaves of tarragon, how much dried should I use? I have a recipe that calls for 5 leaves of tarragon, how much dried tarragon should I use?

The general rule when substituting dried herbs for fresh herbs is to use a third of the amount (because it shrinks and becomes concentrated). However, tarragon doesn't shrink when it is dried and your recipe only calls for 5 fresh leaves, so I would say just use 5 dried leaves.


Defrosting frozen soup I am planning on defrosting some leftover turkey soup for supper tonight. To make it go farther I am planning on adding noodles to the soup in addition to some vegetables (ie. carrots). In this case I think the soup needs more liquid in it but I don't want the soup to become to bland.

Should I add water to the soup and if so should I just add bouillon crystals (I have chicken and beef) or something else? Also should I defrost the soup then add the noodles/vegetables and cook it in the soup or cook it separately and then add it to the soup?

Well, you can always add some broth -- chicken would be good. That would allow you to control the salt more so than using boullion crystals.

As far as cooking the vegetables, it depends on whether there are already pieces of vegetables in the frozen soup. If yes, then you may want to cook your add-ins first so that the stuff that's already in the soup doesn't get mushy. If no, you could cook them in the soup.

(However, I have a caveat as far as cooking noodles in broth. When you cook noodles, some of the starch from the pasta transfers into the cooking liquid. This is why pasta water is often used to help with the texture of pasta sauce. If you don't mind having the starch in your soup, you can go ahead and cook the noodles there. If you are bothered by that, cook the noodles separately, drain, and then add them.)


How do I get my pizza dough base really crispy? How do I get a crispy crust for wood fire oven pizza? Do I knead the dough enough for a windowpane test? Do I add oil while kneading?

By crispy I mean real crisp on the base yet smooth as you bite further into it. Not crispy crunchy like short crust pastry.

This may be more of a function of cooking surface and temperature, but there are a couple of other issues too.  Traditional Neapolitan pizza is fermented at least overnight (which reduces the the need to knead intensely because gluten develops over that time).  This type of pizza dough has a fairly high hydration and no oil. We are talking 70% hydration.  You will also want to use 00 flour, which is milled powdery soft.  It's cooked on a stone surface at a very high temperature  (600 - 700F), for a short time (2 -3 minutes). Thus achieving a crisp exterior. If you have a wood fired oven, I would recommend your first experiment be a high-hydration dough with 00 flour, and an overnight ferment.  There is also a technique to stretching this dough.  I am sure you can find some videos on the net, but it does result in a center that is thinner than the edges, as another poster suggested.  Do not use a rolling pin to stretch your dough as you will ruin the effect.


White stains that make potatoes sticking to my iron frying pan I've got a well seasoned, never soap washed iron frying pan that I love and take care. This pan used to work well and not stick at all. Untill now.

There are now small white stains that make potatoes sticking to. Just potatoes (the last I bought, "agatha" variety), not other food.

To correct that I tried to heat up salt (2mn) and re-seasoning (1mm of olive oil, until smoke appears, I put it under cold water and wipe with paper towels)

It didn't work, white stains are still there and potatoes still stick to.

What may I do? Do I need to wash it with soap? I don't want to do that in order to not break the seasoning, but if I can't do anything else...

These are hard-water deposits, mineral residue from your water that can build up over time, and interfere with the pan's non-stick properties.

You can get rid of them with a paste of equal parts baking soda and vinegar applied to the discoloration, and left to do it's work a half hour or so. Attack it with a nylon scouring pad, and finish off with a thorough rinse and dry.

You shouldn't need to re-season the pan when you're finished, but a fresh coat of oil and some time in the oven afterwards couldn't hurt.


Can I reduce heavy whipping cream for a sauce a day ahead of use? Can this be done the day before using it for a sauce?  Because of a time crunch, I was wondering if I could reduce the heavy whipping cream the day before I make the actual sauce?

The only issue with reducing cream and then cooling it, is when you then reheat it you'll likely find the sauce will split leaving a layer of fat floating on the top. This is easily fixed by adding a touch more cream during the reheating process.
It's how we deal with white wine cream sauce at work.


Do I have to use oil when making pie crust? This easy pie crust recipe from cooks.com calls for flour, oil, salt and milk. When you make this crust can you substitute the oil for eggs or something like that, or is oil the best thing to use?

Oil is not substituted for eggs, as it has completely different properties. It is normally substituted for the solid fat.

While it is certainly possible to do it this way, it is much fussier than just using solid fat. It requires frequent trips to the refrigerator during making if you want to end up with a solid crust and not just a pap. You have to be well experienced with pie doughs to be able to recognize exactly when to put it into the refrigerator or freezer. The result is not all that different for solid fact, except for 1) taste, if you use some strongly flavored oil (like one of the toasted nut oils), and 2) bragging rights that you pulled it off.

If you are just looking for an easy recipe, use one with solid fat (butter, lard or shortening; shortening is easiest to work with but has the least taste) and adhere to the instructions. You will recognize a good pie crust recipe by following criteria:

it warns you against overmixing the butter and flour
it tells you when to refrigerate
it also mentions what kind of texture it produces (although in some cultures where only one type of crust is desired, e.g. flaky for American pies, this may be missing).
it uses reasonable ratios. This would be between 3:2 and 2:1 for flour to fat by weight, maybe a little outside this range. If it contains any other ingredients beside egg, water and sweetener, they should be in very small amounts (tablespoons or even teaspoons).
if it is sweet, it does not use normal sugar. It uses either confectioner's, or some liquid sweetener.
generally, a recipe given by weight is more trustworthy than one by volume. I have made many recipes by volume which did work, but because they are riskier, pros prefer to work by weight. With volume, you never know how well developed the recipe is before you start, and never know if you will achieve the same ratio or if mismeasurements will ruin a recipe which worked perfectly well for the author.


Recipe calls for Tapioca pudding - none to be found! Any suggestions on what to use?  I want to make a recipe called "Orange Creamsicle Salad.  You boil the tapioca pudding, gelatin and pudding.  Any ideas on what I can use other than Tapioca pudding?

I've seen recipes that does not use tapioca pudding (just jello and vanilla pudding)
The final consistency will not be the same, but it should work.
https://parade.com/841414/kristamarshall/popsicle-in-a-bowl/
https://www.madetobeamomma.com/creamsicle-fluff/


Are dried elderberries safe to eat? I know that in order to eat elderberries in a safe way, one has to cook them beforehand. Today, I found out that dried elderberries are a thing.
That new knowledge arose some questions on food safety:

Is it safe to eat those dried berries?
If it is safe, then why?
If it is safe, what is the process to dry them at home?

All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison."
(Paracelsus)

Like with so many things in life, it’s a question of willingness to take a risk and of personal health and individual metabolism.
The general rule is that raw elderberries shouldn’t be consumed because they contain cyanogenic glycosides, i.e. substances that can be transformed into cyanide and ultimately cause cyanide poisoning. As with all plant-based substances, the content can and will vary a lot depending both on the specific strain of plant and the environmental conditions, including soil composition, water or rain and change significantly during the life cycle and ripening stages. For elderberries, the content of cyanogenic glycosides decreases significantly in fully ripe berries, some researcher1 found as little as 0.0054 mg hydrogen cyanide equivalent per gram of berries, which is roughly 0.0001 mg per berry. Considering that a healthy adult human can safety ingest 0.02 mg per kg of body weight, a few ripe berries should be harmless enough. This is the same reason why eating a few apple pips (containing amygdalin, also a cyanogenic glycoside) is harmless.
The numbers above should also explain why individual reports of toxic effects vary so widely, from no effects at all to severe digestive issues.
If you want to consume unheated elderberries, I recommend you chose fully ripe berries and limit the intake to just a few initially (see the numbers above and go way below the statistically safe threshold because individual tolerances may be lower). Note that this post is not an endorsement, it’s just to help you make an informed decision.
The drying process is the same as for other berries - ensure good ventilation and place them on a cloth or fine netting, because the berries are so small. If you want to use a dehydrator, you may have to cover the trays with cloth or mesh if the slats are too wide. Consult the manual for settings.

1
Petra Demmer: Kapillarelektrophoretische Untersuchungen an cyanogenen Glykosiden. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften im Fachbereich Chemie und Pharmazie der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Münster 2004, urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-28659388497.


Is great gluten-free extruded pasta possible? I'm gluten intolerant and tempted to have a go at producing my own pasta. Does it make sense to use an extruder attachment for a kitchen machine to produce e.g. rigatoni or fusilli, or will this never match the quality of store-bought dry pasta?

I remember with horror the first commercially available packs of gluten-free pasta, which were brittle and slimy when cooked. Luckily most manufacturers have now improved their recipe. Can I recreate - or even improve - their result at home, or would one need the high pressures and precise temperature control of commercial machines for this?

I would be extremely grateful for some honest opinions of people who've actually eaten home-made extruded gf pasta before I invest in a dedicated attachment. (Possibilities are Kenwood AT936 or AT910 - any shared experience with those would also be very welcome, along with good recipes).

If pasta rollers are sooo much better, I can of course make do with tagliatelle...

Many thanks in advance!

Edit in response to Joe (thank you!):
Extruders appeal to me, because I suspect that the real value of pasta rollers is to develop the gluten - and that's obviously superfluous in gf pasta. The difference between wheat or no-wheat dough should be less obvious when using extruders - unless you really need the high pressure of commercial machines.

I have never used extruders, but I make a lot of tagliatelle using my pasta roller. I expect extruders to not be as easy to use with gluten free pasta (please correct me if I'm wrong), as the gluten free dough is shorter than normal pasta dough.

The pasta roller doesn't really change the dough too much with gluten free pasta, as you say a big thing is to develop the gluten, so it's mainly to get the correct shape. One thing with gluten free pasta is that the resting period is really important, if it doesn't rest long enough you will end up with a dough that is impossible to work with.


Using Elderberries in Cooking I noticed that there's lots of elderberries near where I live, and I had an idea about making an elderberry brulee, but I'm sure that the elderberries would be a little too sharp if simply cooked.

Would it be worth cooking them down with sugar first, then maybe removing the skins with a sieve? Any thoughts welcome on this.

One of the very English methods for rhubarb cake is to cook the rhubarb in apple juice first.
Since rhubarb is incredibly tart, the cooking and the apple juice help relax it a little.

The same should work for you with the elderberries. Naturally, you can substitute a sugar solution for the apple juice, but you should dissolve the sugar in the water first and then add the berries.


Can you store dissolved rennet tablets? The rennet tablets I have are for large quantities of milk, 50 litres, much larger batches than I would ever make at home. However, separating out a tenth of a tablet is finicky and inaccurate, so I thought it might be better to dissolve half of or a quarter of a tablet in water, and doing the math to add the correct equivalent quantity of rennet solution each time. Can this reconstituted rennet be stored, if so, how and for how long?

Yes, you can.  In fact, high-quality rennet is sold in liquid form (and I recommend this over tablets).
Just put the dissolved rennet in a bottle and store it in the fridge (it will degrade at room temperature).  It should be good for a few months.
Given your method, though, you'll want to be very sure that the tablet is completely and evenly dissolved.


Can you use regular knife sharpeners on damascus steel? Can you use regular knife sharpeners on  damascus steel?

I'm aware it should be sharpened properly once a month on a wet stone, but I want to know if I should keep it bright by using a steel between uses?

Is there anything else to bear in mind? I was thinking of getting a little gadget which was recommended, but I don't know if it can be used.

Yes, you can use a honing steel with a damascus-style carbon steel knife blade.  Depending on what you have, you may need to get a harder honing steel, because the carbon steel of the knife is harder than a stainless blade.  I have a honing steel from Shun that works quite well.
Do NOT use that "Anysharp" sharpener or any sharpener like it.  Such sharpeners are designed to sharpen blades by aggressively removing metal from the blade edge.  If you use one of them, you can expect to wear down the edge of your blade and use up the hard steel there in just a few years.

NOTE: Many "Damascus" blades sold commercially aren't actually Damascus-style, that is, folded carbon steel.  Instead, they are stainless or standard carbon steel with two face plates of folded steel on either side of the blade, purely for decorative purposes.  These blades have the same care instructions as any stainless or carbon blade.


How to keep my pizza hot and crispy during transport I am planning to make pizza for my work potluck this year. I will be the second time.

I cook it fresh in my over 10 minutes away from work, and then put it in pizza boxes to transport.

My initial concern last year, was that the pizza stays warm. The first pizza has to wait about 18 minutes for the other pizza to cook, then the 10 minute drive to work.

to solve this problem, I immediately took the pizza out of the oven and placed it directly into a aluminum foil lined box. The catastrophic and unxpected side effect, was that the heat and humidity ruined the crispyness of the bottom of the crust, and the pizza was a soft and saggy and sad mess.

This year I need to improve. I need to keep the pizza warm and crispy!

My first improvement is to put the pizza in the box, on top of an elevated cooky cooling grate. This will allow the bottom to breath.

Now I am looking for ideas to deal with the humidity in the box.

Could I put something in there to absorb the humidity? Would a bunch of sheets of paper towel be good. Maybe I could go further and put a tonne of flour in the bottom? Maybe silica packets?

I am just looking for ideas to keep the pizza warm and crispy over about a 26 minute period.

Pizza parlors have adapted to using thermal bags to slide the pizza boxes into and keep the pizza relatively warm. One or two of these might be worth the investment. 18" square x 5" would be for larger pies, but you can get smaller bags, the 5" depth would hold two standard pizza boxes stacked on top of each other. There are a lot of similar products on the market which may work, but I linked a restaurant quality bag. Your local restaurant supply store may have them in stock (and most sell to the public).  The bags eliminate the worry about humidity, although many restaurants use a thick sheet of something similar to wax paper to prevent grease from bleeding through to the box.


Using the leftover oven heat I use my oven a lot to bake things and roast vegetables, usually at 350 or 400 F. It stays hot for a while afterwards, and it seems like such a waste to not somehow use that heat. Are there any dishes or kitchen maintenance things I can do with an off-but-still-hot oven?

Drying herbs is what I'll use residual oven heat for.


Pressure cooker rice quality vs high-end rice cooker I'm considering buying a proper rice cooker, as we've eaten most of the non-stick coating of the cheap one. The forums rave about induction heating, Zojirushi, Tiger, Toshiba RC-18NMF with its cast-iron pot, Buffalo with their stainless steel pots. And now there is also the Tefal RK704 with its ceramic pot to consider...

Occasionally it comes up that folks cook rice in their electric pressure cookers, and it takes them on the order of 10 minutes! That speed sounds like a major advantage. Why would anyone use a rice cooker? (At least the expensive ones?)

Comments such as this one seem to indicate that the high-end rice cookers do something special, resulting in longer cooking times (50 minutes) and better-tasting rice.

So my question is: is this difference real? Is it noticeable by ordinary people? Has anyone tested this side-by-side, with the same rice?

Is there any other reason I'm missing that a rice cooker be more convenient than a modern electric pressure cooker?

There are some advantages to a pressure cooker, but I don't think that the rice QUITE finishes in 10 minutes in my experience. For proper texture, it still seems to take some time for the rice to fully hydrate and steam itself after the heat is off. A normal well-covered pot of (most kinds of) rice takes approximately 25-30 min after it comes to a boil, and 10-15 minutes of that is resting with no heat. The pressure cooker might save 8-10 minutes off of that, because I think you'll not need as much time on heat.

The downsides of a pressure cooker include: 1) It's much too easy to cook off too much water and burn or dry out the rice while on full heat, because you cannot see how much water is inside. 2) It doesn't hot hold the rice very well. (In Japan, Korea and China, it's generally considered rude to serve cooled off rice). and 3) It's also not so easy to cook a small amount of rice, because the minimum amount of liquid (by manufacturer recommendations, based on capacity of the vessel) may be higher than you'd need for a typical 180ml scoop of rice. Items 1 and 3 can be mitigated with practice, I suppose. I had pretty good results with a stovetop pot that wasn't a pressure cooker back when I did it regularly, and I think it's not that hard to adapt to the difference with a pressure cooker, but I've certainly made my share of timing and water volume mistakes.

The induction rice cooker I have does have a "quick" mode, which finishes in about 23-25 minutes (similar to stovetop). The cycle doesn't seem to perfectly steam the rice compared to the regular or eco mode cycles, however; texture is a bit firmer than it ideally should be. The 43 minute standard cycle produces very good results, never burns, and keeps hot without major texture compromise for up to about 8 hours (after that texture degrades, but mine will keep even longer if I leave it on). Some models even have an "okoge' feature to simulate the traditional cast-iron pot technique that was common in Japan through the early 20th century, which results in an intentional slightly crusty bottom. IH and Fuzzy Logic rice cookers make constant subtle adjustments that you may not need to make if you're very consistent in timing and volume with a stovetop or pressure cooker.

Mostly the value of a rice cooker is that you set it and forget it. Once you start it you can focus on the prep work for other things. I use it even when I'm using the pressure cooker for lentils or whatever. The hot holding, which is still essentially an extension of "set it and forget it," is another key advantage.


Is it possible to get crispy, crunchy carrots from canned carrots? I understand this is basically just a question of laziness and as such if the answer is 'no' that's perfectly fine, but as someone that enjoys the convenience of canned carrots and also enjoys a crisp, crunchy carrot slice...

Is there any way to prepare canned carrots such that they would be crispy and crunchy like stir-fried fresh carrots can be?

No, once its [over] cooked that's it, there's no going back.

If you dry them you will eventually get… you guessed it - dried, cooked carrots. Think 'packet soup' minestrone, or the unfortunately named 'spring vegetable' with salty knotty chunks of partially reconstituted ingredient - a childhood delight.

Once the cell walls are gone, there's no rebuilding them; nor will you ever get them to taste like fresh food again.

Canning is a 'heat-blast' technique to ensure only that the contents are absolutely sterile. It is not a technique which at all concerns itself with the texture or flavour of that result.

If you like canned carrots - & someone must, they seem to sell enough - then be happy with canned carrots.

If you like fresh, then you have no choice but to get them fresh.

If it's pure laziness (you said it, not me ;) then supermarkets sell them ready-prepped… baton/julienne, round cut or grated. They cost more [but so do canned] & they taste unsurprisingly almost exactly like ones you prepared yourself.


Regarding cutlery and industrial dishwashers This question I recently got a variety of cutlery for my school's cafeteria. However, after purchasing the cutlery, I realized that it may not be able to be washed by an industrial dish washer. These are for a relatively large school, and so, I assume, that an industrial washer is used to clean the countless spoons, forks, and knives. My only concern is that once they come into circulation, they may somehow deteriorate after being washed, or taint the food that is being eaten. Do I need to be careful as to what kinds of cutlery I buy, or are all metal cutlery okay to use?

The dishwasher shouldn't be a concern - if anything it will be a little gentler on your cutlery.

Industrial washers work on a very short cycle (~2mins vs 2 hours).  Although "industrial" they actually clean a lot less than a domestic machine - home users expect  to put things in filthy and come out spotless and dry-ish. In a restaurant dishes are pre-cleaned.

That there's only about 20 seconds of cutlery sitting in salted water and steam(vs20-30min) makes a big difference.

Additionally, domestic powders often have abrasive agents, while this is uncommon in commercial kitchens where liquid-based systems are the norm.

The operating temperature is only about 5c higher so won't make much difference.

The main difference with restaurant grade cutlery is that it will be guaranteed to last a certain amount of time and manufacturers are careful about this because a restaurant is definitely going to look for their money back.


Am I slow cooking chicken correctly? I tried to slow cook chicken today using the hob on my gas cooker.  I started on a very very low heat and just left it for an hour and noticed it was doing a good job of absorbing flavours in the liquid which is what I wanted. I then slowly brought it to a simmer, simmered for 10 minutes and then lowered to low poach and left it for 45 minutes. Unfortunately upon taking it out I noticed leg pieces seemed overcooked and where falling apart and juices had come out.

From my understanding slow cooking is cooking at lowest temperatures of poaching up to simmering and doing it for between 4 to 8 hours.  Having tried and thought about it if you cook chicken for 4 hours at low poaching of course it is going to overcook and tear up.  4 hours is too much for chicken let alone 8.  Anyway have I missed something here or how do you slow cook chicken without overcooking it?

Yes, you are slow-cooking correctly.
If you were cooking some chicken adobo then having the meat fall off the bone is intended.

Otherwise if you want to serve if while everything is still attached, you can do so anytime after you have simmered or poached the chicken (making it safe to eat), not sure it qualifies as slow cooking however. As pointed out by @Aaronut, extended cooking will break down connective tissues - it breaks down collagen.

If your chicken is fat, then it may take longer to break down.
You can develop a caramel crust on your chicken so that it holds longer and lock in the juices.
tip: put the fattier part on top, so that it runs down the chicken.

Here is some information about searing; it can cause a maillard reaction which does a few interesting things:

it will add more complex and varied flavors, by reacting the sugars, amino acid, and heat.
caramelize stuff, e.g. onions :D

In some cases, pressure-cooking can achieve the same results as slow-cooking in less time, while making it easier for the maillard reaction to happen.


What is the purpose of the sugar in ketchup? Most ketchup recipes - even homemade ones - include several tablespoons of sugar.  Commercial ketchup often has lots of high-fructose corn syrup.  What purpose does all of this sugar serve in a ketchup recipe?

High fructose corn syrup is a preservative. While sugaring your ketchup is good for flavor, HFCS is great for shelf stability, as is the vinegar.

The reasons you typically see HFCS in American Ketchups is that it is (1) heavily subsidized and domestic and cheap, (2) farmed by the same companies making the tomatoes, and (3) a preservative. Also, it helps to improve flow while maintaining viscosity.

Sugar generally can be used to cut the acidity in a tomato dish without inhibiting the taste or outshining the tomato. My stepfather had digestion issues with high acidity meals and swore by a teaspoon or two of sugar to help aid the stomach issues. Likewise, the acidity of ketchup may well be mitigated by all the sugar.


Cook chickpeas directly in soup? I just started cooking dried chickpeas in my pressure cooker. It made me wonder... I have some soup recipes that I make in my IP that call for canned chick peas. At first I was subbing in my cooked chickpeas. Is there any reason I can't just add my already-soaked chickpeas directly to the soup? The soup will be cooking at pressure for at least as long as my chickpeas recipe calls for anyway.

I don't see why not.

I make channa masala from scratch - fry onions, garlic, chilli, add spices, drop soaked chickpeas
...and enough extra water so it will absorb and evaporate in the required time.

That's your only bit of guesswork, but for soup that's probably not as crucial as for a dish which is served almost dry.

What may be your sticking point -  you may have to salt towards the end, or they will be tough. As I don't pressure-cook, I'm not sure how easy that would be. For regular stove-top, it would be 30 minutes before the end of a 2-hour cook.


When making crockpot chili and adding raw hamburger, won't that make the chili greasy if not strained? If you add raw ground beef, what about the grease in the meat mixing in with the chili? ill..

The amount of grease the meat exudes is dependent upon the amount of fat in the beef. If your beef is lean (<10% fat), you will not likely notice a difference in the greasiness in the final product by not straining. If your meat is fatty (ground beef in the US can contain up to 30% fat), then the final product will have noticeable grease. The fat contributes in a good way (IMO) to the flavor and mouth-feel of chili if the meat is in the 15% range.


How can I fix a hollandaise sauce after it has split? I made a hollandaise sauce on the weekend and it split so I threw it out and started again but I was wondering if there is anything you can do to save it once it splits?

You can rescue it by starting the process again, with an egg yolk in a bowl over a bain-marie which you whisk until it starts to thicken a little.  then incorporate a little warm melted butter into the egg yolk.  Once this is incorporated you can slowly start to add the split hollandaise and this should then incorporate into the new base, unsplit.

There is a video here


Baking scalloped potatoes at 275 °F instead of at 400 °F I have a single oven.  My ham needs to cook for 2 1/2 hours at 275 °F, my scalloped potatoes need to be cooked at 400 °F for 1 hour.

Do I put both dishes in the oven at 275 °F and if yes, when do I take my potatoes out?

Timing can be more challenging than creating a meal itself. When this combo is part of a family gathering, I take timing out of the mix by baking the scalloped potatoes first, cover and set aside. Then do your ham. While the ham “rests”, to redistribute the juices, put the potatoes back in the oven, turn oven down to 300F & warm them. Good luck!


In what ways can solid egg yolk from a boiled egg be processed/preserved? There is a lot of wastage of egg yolks in my college canteen breakfasts. Almost everyone who takes boiled eggs on his plates eats the whites and throws away the yolk.

I live in a country with the largest number of malnourished children in the world; looking at the wastage daily bothers me quite a bit.
Is there any way the yolk can be processed/preserved etc. to make it usable for atleast 4-5 days or so?

I know about breakers which separate the white from the yellow while breaking, but my canteen is....as rudimentary as any. Nothing easier than just boiling the eggs and serving them.

I'll add an answer that doesn't address your question directly, but does address the underlying concern:

If patrons regularly discard part of the dish, you should ask why. With hard boiled eggs cooked in a large scale cafeteria kitchen it's easy to overcook the eggs, just leaving them in the water for hours on end. This results in a greyish, crumbly and unappealing yolk, often discarded.

If you can get the kitchen to improve their process, perhaps with smarter egg boiling appliance, the end result will be more appealing and thus less wasteful.

This, of course, is extremely optimistic, and getting a cafeteria to invest in the tools and training for no immediate return will be very difficult. Perhaps a more feasible alternative is to petition for less wasteful egg preparations, perhaps omelets, where the entire egg is used.


Can grilled steak be eaten next day if refrigerated and the heated in the oven? I grilled a few beef steaks on the electric grill and then kept it in the freezer. Can it be eaten for next few days , by heating in the oven? Thanks!

FF

You certainly can do that, but if you are going to eat the steaks within three days I don't see the point of freezing them, it would be better to leave them in the refrigerator. But heating from frozen is safe. USDA guidelines are a little weird on reheating frozen food, personally I wouldn't even go there. If they were fine when they went into the freezer (or fridge in the last 3 days), they will be fine when you take them out. Just heat to the point of tastiness.


Can I use German flour Type 405 for a recipe that needs self-rising flour? I'm totally new to baking/using flour in general. I'm wondering if Type 405 is enough for a recipe that specifies "self-rising flour".

  Germany's Flour Type 405 is equivalent to pastry flour. Pastry flour is made from soft wheat and has a gluten content of 8-10%. It is soft and ivory in color. Because of its low gluten content, it is best used for baked goods that should have a soft consistency yet still needs some structure, such as muffins, buscuits, pie crust, tart dough, cookies, some sweet yeast doughs, etc.

  Pastry flour is available in the U.S. in health food stores, specialty stores, and mail-order businesses. To make a flour with the same gluten content as pastry flour, combine 1 1/3 cups (185g) all-purpose flour and 2/3 cup (90g) cake flour (which is available in most markets and has a gluten content of 6-8%).

  Source

FWIW, I'm planning to make some home-made munchkins. The recipe doesn't need an oven but is deep fried.

If it is not suitable is there anything I can do/add to make this kind of flour be a suitable substitute for self-rising flour?

The keyword here is “self-rising” - which describes a mix of flour and baking powder.

So if you are going to use 405 instead, which would probably be a good—enough choice (especially as it’s “the standard flour” in German supermarkets), you have to add baking powder. As a rule of thumb, use one pouch (assuming you are in Germany, where that’s the standard unit) per 500g of flour. If your recipe calls for self-raising plus baking powder or baking soda, use the extra amount as well.

I personally prefer he German 550 flour as my go-to type, which is closer to what other countries call “all-purpose”, but it may or may not be available at your store. Unless you are making bread and similar goods, 405 will most likely be ok.


Why do fridge temperature standards between US and other countries differ? US recommendations always go for +4°C at most, and this would correlate with how the danger zone is defined in the pertinent literature.

In Germany, most literature (and also the specification next to use-by dates on packaging) suggests +7°C or +8°C. http://www.br.de/radio/bayern1/inhalt/experten-tipps/umweltkommissar/kuehlschrank-temperatur-energie-verbrauch-umweltkommissar-100.html

Surprisingly, the first dutch google result http://www.consumentenbond.nl/koelkast/extra/temperatuur-koelkast/ suggests +3-4°C.

France, http://www.linternaute.com/bricolage/pratique/electromenager/17004/temperature-frigo-tout-ce-qu-il-faut-savoir.html +4°C

UK,
http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11517 +8°C and redefines the danger zone.

What is up with that, given +4°C vs +8°C is not as trivial a difference as it looks like...

Not truly answered in possible duplicate What is the ideal fridge temperature. If even on this site such things aren't accepted as a "matter of opinion" (generally good!), why would they be between devoloped nations?

One would assume biology and state of science being the same in all these countries, either things are likely or very unlikely to spoil in a non-visible way at that or that temperature...

As a starting point, I found this article, which says:

  The suggested temperature specification for refrigeration of foods has been revisited from time to time as knowledge and technology have advanced. Initially 7°C (45°F) was considered the optimal temperature; however, technological improvements have made it economical to have domestic refrigeration units working at a temperature of 4-5°C (40-41°F). For perishable products ≤4.4°C (40°F) is considered a desirable refrigeration temperature. ... Even these measures cannot control all pathogenic bacterial growth. For example L. monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Aeromonas hydrophila, B. cereus and C. botulinum will multiply at recommended “good” refrigeration temperatures (5°C [41°F]). There are other bacteria (Salmonella spp., E. coli and S. aureus), that, although unable to grow at temperatures below 5°C (41°F), will take advantage of temperature abuse and grow. ...

If you're interested in additional detail about all that, the article does have a bibliography, but most of it is not accessible online. I did find this table of temperature ranges for growth for several common bacteria, though. Note that for example C. botulinum grows down to 3.3C/38°F, and L. monocytogenes (listeria) grows down to 29.3°F (-1.5°C)! So even 4°C isn't stopping everything.

In any case, there definitely is concrete benefit from the 4°C guideline: many foodborne bacteria will definitely multiply above 5°C, which would lead to shorter safe refrigeration times (or more foodborne illness if you times aren't adjusted) at the 7°C or 8°C temperatures used in Germany.

I don't know anything concrete about why Germany has chosen to tolerate this risk, however. The historical progression to lower temperatures cited there does suggest that Germany simply hasn't adjusted their standards lower as technology has improved (as mentioned in the article) but it's not clear why.

A side note: outside of food safety, the primary way fridges can have an undesired effect on food is by accidentally freezing it. (Temperatures vary by position in the fridge, and by time.) There's a balance here between reducing temperature as much as possible for safety, and keeping far enough above 0°C that variance doesn't routinely freeze your food. Given that some things grow even below 4°C, I'm guessing that if it were possible to hold temperature more constant, we'd actually see even lower temperature recommendations, in the same vein as previous decreases in temperature recommendations.


How can I get brownies to bake evenly? I can never get the middle of my brownies "done" without overbaking the outsides. The middle is tasty, but gooey.   What is the secret?

Oven Temperature

Most ovens keep inaccurate temperatures with respect to your setting. You may be setting it to 350, but it could be baking at 375. I would suggest investing in an oven thermometer. I've seen these for a dollar--well worth the investment.

Baking Vessel

I was surprised to find this out, but the pan color actually affects heat conduction. If you use a non-stick tin, for example, your brownies are more likely to burn. I've seen some people use silicone brownie pans to minimize this kind of uneven cooking.


How well do counter top knife sharpeners sharpen knives? Are counter top knife sharpeners like the IQ knife sharpener good for sharpening knives (or cheap knives)? I have used the IQ sharpener and it is still hard to cut through big onions. I would like to know if it's problem with my technique or the product category itself just sucks.

A pull-through sharpener will never do as thorough a job at sharpening your knife as a stone, and over time will lose its efficacy and actually dull your blade. In a pinch they can be useful, but be sure to give the knife a few passes on a good quality steel afterwards, as the pull-through sharpeners tend to remove metal quite coarsely.


Do egg whites thin out when salt is added, which will make them easier to mix? Does adding salt to eggs cause the white to thin out and increase in size, making it easier to mix?

Salt, sodium chloride, is slightly chaotropic towards protein colloids, so it should loosen up the egg whites slightly by decreasing protein-protein interaction.

That should make the whites easier to mix, but I doubt you'll get a significant size increase out of it.


Is it a bad idea to pour water on a pan without letting it cool off? Obviously I have enough common sense to not add pour water into boiling oil, but after the cooking is done I try to add water to the pan so it's easier to wash. Usually I let it sit there cooling off and more often than not I just forget about it and have the biohazard that is a greasy cast iron ribbed pan to deal with in the morning.
If the pan is still somewhat hot and you feel it's warm feel 3-4 inches above the surface of the cookware is it fine to add water? Can it damage the pan in the long run?

Depends on the pan and how hot the pan is ; glass pan is likely a problem, and some of the glass-like decorative coatings on metal pans are a risk. Otherwise temperatures would need to be well above cooking temperatures to even consider damage to a metal pan. Hot enough that the water will "bounce" out of the pan because of rapid steam development.  Aluminum could be a problem at 800 F ( Melting begins around 1000 F ). Magnetic stainless ( 13 % Cr)  is happy as auto exhaust to 1400 F ( red). Non-magnetic stainless ( 18-8 ) will go higher. Cast-iron and copper can go 1300 F + ( dim red) : however the tin coating on older copper will be destroyed above 600 F... BUT , some pans will warp even at normal cooking temps; I have had a couple inexpensive aluminum frying pans develop a rounded bottom so they won't sit flat on the stove (no water cooling involved)


Can defrosting chicken make it slimy? I bought chicken drumsticks on January 11th and froze them on the 11th. They had a best before date of January 13th. I put them in the fridge yesterday to defrost and am cooking them now but they were slimy. They didn't smell though. Does frozen chicken go slimy when defrosted? Safe to eat? Thanks!

Chicken naturally contains a lot of water, it also absorbs some more from the cleaning process (up to 8% reportedly). Some manufacturers also "tumble" the raw chicken with brine to increase flavour and, of course, weight and thus profit.

The freezing process will damage cells in the meat as the water expands, so when the chicken is defrosted some of this water/protein mixture will escape from these ruptured cells. When cooking you may see this as a white gunge forming in the pan.

It can feel quite slimy once defrosted, but this is just the raw "juices" coming out. I buy chicken in bulk and vacuum seal/freeze it into portion sizes. Good quality meat and drying the chicken before freezing can help. Flash freezing is preferred, but this is not practical at home.

I believe food safety is OT here, but it should not be an issue as long as you follow all the recommended guidelines for storage temperature and times.


What can I do with cilantro stems? I often buy cilantro from Trader Joe's in a big bunch. I love using the leaves, especially in Indian cooking, but always end up tossing out the stems, which make up half the bunch. Is there something I can do with them that I'm unaware of?

The stems are edible too. They look nicer in the food though if you chop them up a little, instead of leaving the long stems intact.

If you are in the habit of making any kind of brothy soup (chicken or other) you can dump a bunch of whole cilantro stems in and then remove after they have imparted their flavor contribution.


Can I add cocoa butter to 100% chocolate I have several kilos of 100% Grenadian chocolate bars that are old.  I enjoyed them when they were fresh but now they are dry and, although they still 'snap', somewhat crumbly.  I would like to temper them and add cocoa butter to increase the creamy taste. Is there a limit to how much I can add?  Will just tempering them restore to original consistency?

Chocolate can age in different ways. The most common, and probably what happened to yours, is that it 'untempered' (blooming?). I believe simply melting in and properly tempering again will recover the brightness, texture, and flavor. If it doesn't, it might have oxidized and got rancid. This is very uncommon though since the cocoa fat is very stable and rich in antioxidants. It lasts more than two years usually.

Cocoa butter can surely be added to create a silkier and smoother texture. It is solid and stable at room temperature so in principle I don't see why there should be a limit. The science behind tempering is that of crystallization. Cocoa butter can crystallize in six different forms, each having very different physical properties (melting point, resistance to shear, etc). For this reason, it is good to keep in mind that the more butter you add, the trickier it can be to temper properly.

Personally, I find it easier to temper mixing with some already tempered chocolate, a method known as seeding. But in your case I don't know if it is worth it if this means mixing your 100% Grenadian (good stuff!) with some other commercial chocolate.


What is the difference in taste between stock and broth? I am under the impression that stock should not really taste like anything. It should smell nice and have a flavorful aroma, but the taste should be very neutral. The idea is that when you add stock to something else, it will accentuate and add depth. Like sour cream!

Broth should be flavorful and have taste and seasoning. It can be consumed as its own thing or have ingredients added to it to make a different dish such as a soup.

Am I right in this way of defining the difference in taste between the two?

Even though I think they are essentially the same, based on general practices while you’re making stock you’ll end up with a high gelatin content, it will be thicker than a broth, as you tend to use mostly bones.

Stock is generally cooked and reduced longer compared to broth, so I would say stock would actually be more flavorful. However as you have noted, broth also involves seasoning and stock is on it’s own for later usage... They might have different flavor profiles based on how you cook and season them.


Using proofed (?) yeast in a recipe (confused about amounts) I'm following a recipe that begins with "process 3.25 cups flour and 1/8 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast in food processor until combined, then slowly add 1.25 cup ice water"
On the instant yeast packaging, it says to mix 2.25 tsp yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar, let stand for 10 min, then follow recipe.
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to

Ignore the packaging directions and stick 1/8 tsp dry instant yeast pellets into the recipe

Use the ratio of water:yeast from the packaging with 1/8 tsp yeast, i.e. mix 0.125/2.25 (tsp yeast) = x/.25 (water) = mix .125 tsp yeast with 1/72 cups of water
2a. If so do I use 1 cup ice water in the recipe, or 1.25cup minus .0138 ice water?

Mix the yeast/water/sugar together, let stand for 10 min, then use 1/8tsp of the resultant mixture for the recipe

Also how to reconcile the warm vs ice cold water directions?
Edit: Full recipe and context as requested
It's from a recipe for lahmajun, Turkish pizza (although the author contends that pizza should be called Italian lahmajun :)). It's Cooks Illustrated, so helpfully the author describes what they want to achieve and some of the science behind it (I highly recommend the magazine!): https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/2457-my-best-lahmajun "On a Roll" section  I think this explanation (which I reread after getting my answers--thanks guys!) probably makes it clear to most readers to ignore the yeast packaging instructions, but I'd never made dough before and wasn't sure.
Ingredients

3.25 cups (16.25 oz) King Arthur All-Purpose flour
1/8 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1.25 cups (10oz) ice water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 tsp table salt
vegetable oil spray

Directions

Process flour and yeast in food processor until combined, about 2 seconds. With processor running, slowly add ice water, process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough rest for 10 min.
Add oil and salt and process until dough forms shaggy ball, 30-60 sec. Transfer dough to lightly oiled counter and knead until uniform, 1 min (texture will remain slightly rough). Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, about 6.66 oz each. Shape dough pieces into tight balls and transfer, seam side down, to rimmed backing sheet coated with oil spray. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 16 hours or up to 2 days.
Make topping (combine lamb, spices, and veggies in food processor)
One hour before baking lahmajun, remove dough from fridge and let stand at room temperature until slightly puffy and no longer cool to touch. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (rack should be 4-5" from broiler element), set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.
Place 1 dough ball on unfloured counter and dust top lightly with flour. Using heel of your hand, press dough ball into 5" disk. Using rolling pin, gently roll into 12" round of even thickness. (Use tackiness of dough on counter to aid with rolling; if dough becomes misshapen, periodically peel round from counter, reposition, and continue to roll.) Dust top of round lightly but evenly with flour and, starting at 1 edge, peel dough off counter and flip, floured side down, onto floured baking peel (dough will spring back to about 11" in diameter). Please 1/4 of topping (about 1/2 cup) in center of dough. Cover dough with 12 by 12" sheet of plastic and, using your fingertips and knuckles, gently spread filling evenly across dough, leaving 1/8" border. Starting at 1 edge, peel away plastic, leaving topping in place.
Carefully slide lahmajun onto stove and bake until bottom crust is browned, edges are lightly browned, and topping is steaming, 4-6min. While lahmajun bakes, begin rolling next dough ball.
Transfer baked lahmajun to wire rack. Repeat rolling, topping, and baking remaining 3 dough balls.

PS If you've read this far, would you be kind enough to tell me what a baking peel is (step 5)?

The recipe you're using sounds nontraditional (the full recipe may be helpful to describe the "why"), but it is almost certainly looking for you to use 1/8 tsp of instant yeast granules directly into the flour.
The small amount and use of ice water, rather than warm water are not traditional for bread, but also not unheard of. The method for your recipe may include other non traditional details as well--perhaps a longer proof time, or a  less fluffy outcome.
(If you edit your question to include the full recipe & method as well as what you're making, it may be easier to answer that part)


Slow cooking chicken (thigh), why 4 hours? I don't get why slow cooking recipes recommend 4-6 hours for chicken thighs on LOW (which is 185F) when Sous Vide recipes for chicken thighs recommend only 1 hour (up to 8 hours) at 160F.
Again, for chicken thighs:

Slow Cooking: 4 hours 185F
Sous Vide: 1 hour 160F

Does it make any sense?
PS: I sous vide'ed recently chicken thighs, 1 hour, 4 hours, and 8 hours at 160F, not a huge difference between 4 and 8 hour batches, not actually that more easier to shred than 1 hour one.

While both recipes will produce "cooked chicken thighs", the intended texture of the result is different. In the case of slow cooking, the temperature is meant to be high enough to render out fat and convert collagen into gelatin. The texture of the meat itself will be somewhat stringy and shreddable, with some dryness (hopefully compensated for by the fat and gelatin). In the case of the sous vide recommendation, the result is meant to be firm rather than shreddable, with more retained moisture, and no attempt to convert collagen.
For slow cooking, the long cooking time is required to effectively render the collagen. For sous vide, you basically just want to hit the target temperature, so recommended time is lower (but can be extended without affecting things much).


Temperature controlled work surface? I made croissants yesterday, but couldn't be bothered to keep returning the pastry to the fridge in order to keep it cool, so the butter became too soft.

While the end result was still pretty amazing, I couldn't include enough butter to get the right crumbly texture.

One alternative to returning the dough to the fridge would be to have a temperature-controlled work surface.

Does that exist, or will I have to make my own?

It ought to be fairly simple to slap some peltier elements onto a slab of aluminium or stainless steel, and a small PID controller.
(It would probably be easier to work on stone, though, so one could glue a piece of decorative marble on top. There may be problems with thermal expansion, but you can get tiles made for underfloor heating, which ought to work.)

It would also be possible to reverse-bias the peltier elements to heat up the work surface slightly, e.g. in order to let the dough rise.

Has anyone made such a thing as a DIY project, or can they be bought ready-made?

You can search online kitchen suppliers for marble slabs used for this purpose. You can either take advantage of the thermal mass of the slab warming up more slowly, or if you have refrigerator space, you can even pre chill it before use.

I don't include links because they can become stale, but searching just now finds several. Search for "marble pastry board"


Lyle's Golden Syrup tin design, why is it like this and how to clean it Lyle's Golden Syrup has a distinctive lid design, in which the top of the tin has a lip. This inevitably fills with syrup and makes the whole thing stickier than it needs to be. Is there a reason for this design? My first thought was that it was to "catch" syrup, but after using the stuff a lot recently I'm convinced it does more harm than good.

Also, any tips on cleaning the tin/lip? I found a damp paper towel works ok but it's probably not efficient, I also suspect that something is wrong if I'm needing to clean packaging like this at all.

I suspect you are looking for deep explanations where none exist.

Flat metal work is flexible; by introducing a bend, it becomes stronger.  This is the same principal that makes corrugation, and the same reason car parts are all curved.  You will note that paint cans have essentially the same design, for the same reason.

The lip around the removable lid is quite likely to be there simply to give it enough strength to allow the lid to be removed and replaced multiple times without distorting the can.

This has nothing to do with the specific product inside.

As to cleaning, a damp paper towel seems ideal.  If the lid is well sealed, you could run it under some water to dissolve any caked on syrup, and then dry...


Oven racks and heating element I read that we should place the cake pan on the middle rack when baking a cake. Since my oven has only 4 racks, I am not sure if I should put my cake pan on the second lowest rack or the second upper rack? The cake I want to bake is Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake.

Also - My oven has no fan inside. I have the option to have a bottom or top heating element. I can even use both the top and bottom heating element at once. So I was wondering which heating element should I use to bake a cake? Top / bottom / top and bottom?

Heat transfer is via

conduction
convection
radiation

You don't have any conduction as you are not touching the heating element

The top element has direct radiant exposure to the cake so it will crust the top surface.  Can use the top element (broil) to brown meat.

From the bottom there is radiant energy to the bottom so that will crust the bottom but to a lower extent as it is shielded by the cake pan.

Convection will provide the most even heat.

On the third rack use a smaller empty pan or baking stone to shield the second from most of radiant heat from the bottom but not block circulation.  Preheat, cook on second shelf, and only use the bottom element.


Do burgers cook better when close or far apart? I was in a debate with a friend in regards to cooking burgers if they should be close together or far apart on a grill.  I searched the site but did not find anything that would answer my question so my apologies if it does exist.  So my question is: Do burgers cook better on a grill if they are closer together or far apart while direct grilling on a charcoal grill?

On the grill, most of the heat will be coming from underneath the burgers (you already knew this)

Having a gap between them will let air flow between them and increase the temperature around the meat.  If they are touching, the airflow will be hindered and you won't get even cooking.  When the burgers are all squashed together, you're effectively cooking one big burger and not many individual ones.

ie)  The spot where the meat touches will cook slower than the outsides where there is now more heat.

Purist grillers will tell you that the "best" way to cook on the grill is with the top open, if you do this, you'll get even less heat in bunched up areas.

Separating them more than an inch apart won't really affect cooking time.


Fresh pasta work surface Is there any risk damaging my nice large Boos cutting board to make fresh pasta on?  Each recipe/video/tutorial I see on fresh pasta just says "work surface", but does not mention how to properly clean it afterwards.

I have an oversize plastic board as well, would that work? Would an alternative be to make it directly on my granite countertop?  I love pasta, but don't want to damage anything of value in my kitchen making it.

You can generally make pasta on any surface.  I have seen it on:

Marble
Stainless
Wood

The key issue is having the surface well floured, so that the pasta doesn't stick.

You certainly would not harm a quality wooden cutting board by making pasta, although if your recipe contains raw egg, you will want to wash it well and sanitize it afterwards.


How can I make pierogi gluten-free? I'm half Carpatho-Russian, the love of pierogies is in my blood, but my recent gluten sensitivity has stopped me from eating them, and I really miss them as they taste great and give you a lot of energy (the potatoes really help).

So can someone tell me what I need to swap out to make pierogi gluten-free?

The main source of gluten in pierogi (the plural is pierogi, the singular is actually pierog) is the flour in the dough. You should be able to substitute regular flour for a gluten free version (eg rice flour) to make them gluten free. The same goes for whatever filling you are using, if you would regularly use flour as a thickening agent try corn starch or a gluten free flour instead. It's important to remember, however, that many gluten free flours do not bind as easily as wheat flour, and thus you may need to use more butter than usual.

EDIT

Pierogi dough, when made from scratch, dries very quickly, even moreso with gluten free flour. Be sure to cover the unused dough with a bowl and only take small chunks out at a time while you are forming and filling your pierogi.

Source: Was taught to make pierogi by an elderly Polish woman in my youth, have a niece and sister with celiac's disease


Trouble frying an egg on a stainless steel pan I recently purchased a stainless steel pan from AllClad, but I'm struggling to use it. Food, and in particular eggs, seem to stick readily to the pan, making it hard to use. There is a question on Seasoned Advice that pertains to cooking an omelette on a stainless steel pan, but I think the challenges of frying an egg are different and more challenging. I've been able to cook an omelette in this pan, but have yet to succeed with a fried egg.

Looking online, I learned that stainless steel pans, like cast-iron, need to be seasoned in order to be non-stick. The process that I followed to season my pan was as follows:

Pour in 1/4 cup walnut oil.
Heat pan on medium heat until the oil begins to smoke.
Turn heat off and let the pan cool completely.
Remove the oil and wipe the pan dry.

I tried this process, but when I try to fry an egg in the pan, it still sticks readily. There is some improvement, but it is still not possible to cook an egg without sticking that destroys the egg in the end.

I'm not sure what I may be doing wrong, or is a stainless steel pan just not something that one can use for frying eggs? Should I just expect that there will be some stick whenever I use this pan?

Update

After watching this short course on pay frying, I tried to pre-heat my pan, using the water-test as a guide, and adding just a bit of oil to the pan before dropping the egg in. The results were the same. The egg stuck to the pan thoroughly. So again I'm not sure what I'm doing incorrectly. Maybe the oil I'm using isn't right? I've been using ghee.

Update 2:

I've yet to succeed in frying a egg on this pan, but a few additional questions/issues have surfaced:

Some answers here have suggested that despite the presence on the web of tutorials for "seasoning" stainless steel pan this is not necessary and may not be advisable.
The trick may be to fry the egg starting at a much lower heat then you might with something like a piece of meat. For meat, you often encounter the suggestion to use the "water test", but as at least one answer has suggested here that may not work with a fried egg.

These are the possibly insights I've gleaned so far, but I've also yet to succeed, so these may turn out to be wrong as well.

Satisfying Answer (May be others)

The solution that I have settled on here -- i.e. what finally worked for me -- was to work with lower heat than I thought was needed, and not to season the pan. There is definitely a lot of conflicting information out there about stainless steel pans. There are a great number of blog posts and YouTube videos that talk about how to season a pan. Seasoning may still be a useful thing to do, but I was able to fry an egg on an unseasoned pan finally.

The method I used is more or less as follows:

Clean pan thoroughly.
Take egg out of refrigerator and let it sit in warm water for five minutes or so. (This may not be necessary.)
Put pan on stove on medium flame/heat. (I only tried this on a gas stove.)
Let pan pre-heat until it is warm when you hold your hands over the pan. Warm, not hot! This might take 20-30 seconds, maybe less.
Add the oil (1-2 tbsp), and lower the flame to low. Let the oil heat a bit, perhaps another 10-15 seconds, or less.
Crack the egg into the pan. The whites should stay clear, only slowly whitening. If the egg begins to turn white immediately, the pan is too hot. And the egg should also not stick at this point. There may be a bit of sticking, especially around the edges. You can dislodge the sticking gently by hand, but don't mess with the egg too much. Cook until done or ready to flip. Make sure heat stays low. If you see some sticking it may be (I'm not sure about this) because the pan has become too hot.

So that's the best I've been able to do with help from the selected answer.

From your description there are two things that stand out to me:

1) stainless steel pans should NOT be seasoned in a manner similar to cast iron.  These are completely different materials, and if you "seasoned" your stainless pan, such that it has a coating of basically burned oil on it, you have to first clean that pan until it's nice and shiny/bare steel again.

2) using the sizzle test for eggs suggests to me the pan is too hot.  For eggs, you always want to use lower heat to prevent them going dry and sticking (even in a non-stick pan, you will have some sticking if you use high heat for eggs, especially when scrambling)

so try this:  clean your pan.  when ready to cook the egg, heat the pan on medium heat.  to test for hotness, hold your hand close to the surface to see if it feels warm.  obviously, don't burn yourself ;)  add your ghee to the pan and let it heat a little longer until it looks very fluid and shimmery.  swirl the pan to distribute the oil, then add your egg(s) and do your thing


What is the shelf-life for Homemade Jams? If I'm making Homemade Jams/Preserves, how long will they last?

All home-canned food should be used within a year. This assumes you follow the strict sterilization regimen required by jarring/canning at home. You should also store them in a cool, dark, dry place between 50-70°F.

Over time changes in color, flavor, and texture is inevitable. This will result in a degradation of quality in the product, but as long as the seal is in tact and there are no visible signs of mold or yeast the jam should be safe to eat.

Another thing to note is that lighter colored jams tend to darken faster than others and thus may not look appealing over the course of a full year. They are still "safe" though.

Source:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_jellied.html#7


How much fat should be added to venison when making sausage? I'm making a venison sausage using the front shoulder of the animal.  It appears to be a very lean meat; how much pork belly should I add to the grind?

Michael Rhulman recommends 3 parts meat to one part fat when making sausage.


Can you cook off the acidity in wine? My marinara was strangely too acidic than before even though I used canned tomatoes which are normally ripe, but then I remembered I added white wine to the flavor base (which i reduced).

First I do not know how acidic wine or white wine is (is it? how much?)

Second, considering wine is acidic - can you cook the acidity off like you can with alcohol?

You can' "cook off" acidity, but you can balance it.  Typically in marinara, that is done with a small amount of sugar, or, better yet, half of a grated carrot per 28 oz can of tomatoes, sweated with your onion.


How to mix alcohol with cream? I recently wanted to make a 100% Baileys panna cotta. The idea was that because Baileys has a significant amount of cream, I could just add gelatine.

I should note that my typical panna cotta has just thick cream, gelatine, vanilla and icing sugar.

I ended up having to use about 60% cream vs 40% irish cream, but it did set and was quite good, if strong.

Of course, I had to sieve the mixture to get the coagulated cream (I assume) caused by the alcohol out before setting it.

How could I get the mix to about 50/50 cream/baileys without the cream splitting?

There are a few tricks to get an alcohol-cream mix right:

Pour the alcohol into the cream and not the cream into the alcohol
Stir gently while pouring
Don't overdo it: don't pour more than 15% alcohol into the cream
(yes, Baileys is 17% but they're professionals and you're not  ;-) )
Don't forget that you're diluting your cream so if you normally use 33% fat cream, buy the 40% if you plan on adding 7 Volume% alcohol and 50% if planning on more.

Using the above, you don't have to stick with Baileys but you can use your own favourite brand of whiskey or raspberry liqueur or ...
(If you want authentic Baileys taste, use Jameson's Irish whiskey instead.)
Warning:
Keep these kinds of desserts away from kids and warn guests before serving them something like this.


I think i undercooked my ghee - can I reboil it? I made ghee for the first time on my gas stove. I followed several recipes, but I guess I got shy about how long it was taking. I definitely didn't get any brown bits at the bottom, although it did cook for at least 15 min on high heat.

Can I, and should I reboil?

I don't think there is any downside to heating it again. Note that the brown bits come from milk solids so if you've already removed those (e.g., scraped them off), then you're just stuck with clarified butter.

Also, for the next time you try this: the way its boiling changes as it runs out of water—and that's when the bits will start to brown. It's aroma will also change. You'd probably also see the temperature rise above 212°F/100°C if you had a candy thermometer in the pot (not sure, haven't tested as its not required). Those are the primary indicators of doneness, not how long its been cooking for.


How do I stop homemade Ravioli from going soggy? (storage issue) Last week I made some Pumpkin Ravioli.  The filling was a bit moist, but nothing excessive.

The problem is, that obviously, I don't want to be stuffing ravioli immediately before they go into the pot.  I would prefer to do it earlier in the day.

I made mine about 4 hours before cooking, and when I went to cook them, the lower sheet of pasta had gone soggy, and was sticking to the waxed paper.  This was due to fluid transfer from the stuffing to the pasta.

How should I store the ravioli for up to several hours without this happening?

Freeze it immediately, especially if you can do so in single layers.


sous vide producing inedible food because of fat not rendered I did a 36 hour sous vide ribs at 145 degrees F followed by a 5 min sear under the broiler.

The meat was soft, tender, full of juice and the fat did not render from my spare ribs.

The meal left me...feeling gross because of the high fat content in ribs that I'm not used to.

The fat usually renders from the long cooking in the oven/grill doing it the traditional way.

I googled this problem, and someone ended up with inedible duck from sous vide because of the fat not rendered beneath the skin.

I can't find much info out there on this issue. Any insights on sous vide and the problem of extra fat in the dish and getting around it would help.

I read the intro parts of Thomas Keller's book, Under Pressure. Any recommended resources for sous technique and the problem of fat rendering would be much appreciated.

Sous vide is simply a tool.  It's not the correct one for every job.  Rendering fat is generally a problem because of the low temperatures used.  What was the final result you had in mind?  If you want "traditional" ribs, then the best way to cook them is traditionally.  Google will reveal multiple sources, try Chefsteps and Serious Eats for starters.


Emergency Coffee via Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans? Scenario:
I am out of coffee, both whole beans and ground. However I've got a back of chocolate covered coffee beans.
Possible solution:
Toss the choco covered beans in my grinder and then put them in my drip-brewer... Is this a terrible idea? I don't imagine it would damage anything, since I would have a paper filter in there, but maybe there would be too much chocolate for the coffee to actually brew. Is there any reason to not attempt it the name of science if nothing else?

It probably would not damage anything, but you would end up with rather a mess to clean up, probably, and not a very good product.

The chocolate would melt slowly, maybe clog the filter.  It might overflow hot, sticky coffee chocolate liquid all over.

The candy is also probably old enough since it was roasted that it wouldn't brew excellent coffee, even if it wasn't chocolate coated.

Eat them as candy--you will at least get your caffeine fix that way!  You will have energy to go out and get some coffee.


Is there an edible, vegetarian substitute for sausage casings? My research(basically wikipedia) shows that natural sausage casing is made from a layer from the intestines of animals such as sheep and cows. The alternative to natural casings are artificial casings. The most common edible kind is the collagen casing, typically made from animal hides. This isn't vegetarian either. The remaining kinds, cellulose and plastic, aren't edible and are usually removed to form skinless franks.

Are there alternatives in the market? Is it possible to produce a substitute casing at home using skins from vegetables or fruits(like the peeled off skin of an apple, given that it can be reshaped)?

I all do honesty, I'm not even sure what properties a proper sausage casing should exhibit. I don't know if they should be water proof or how  they should react to heat.

Edit
I didn't take into account that different properties in the sausage casing are desired based on the cooking method. I prefer a sausage casing that I could par-cook/poach franks in. I was looking to adapting a recipe for beef franks to use lamb instead as well as attempting to create a vegetarian mix to see if I could make a reasonable facsimile to a real hotdog.

I don't want this question to be localized, so I'll leave my specific reasons for wanting a vegetarian casing aside, however it would be useful to those who have dietary certain restrictions (like only eating halal meats or if one in a vegetarian or vegan) to make sausages at home instead of purchasing them in stores.

If you are looking to smoke the sausage without a casing I would suggest forming your sausage into a leaf, grape or banana or into a corn husk. The banana or corn husk are not edible but the grape leaf would be good to go. I was going to suggest eggroll wraps or spring roll wrappers but I don't think that would be smoker friendly.


How to take care of a wooden mortar and pestle? How to maintain a wooden mortar and pestle?

I just got it, and understood I need to first oil it to seal/protect it from keeping the taste of what I grind, which makes sense.

But how to maintain it for long term? Wash it with water and maybe soap? Oil it again after sometime?

Note that a wooden mortar is first and foremost a wooden utensil and the same care instructions as for other wooden equipment apply.

So oiling it regularly with a food grade oil is a good idea. You can find Q/As on how to oil e.g. cutting boards here on the site.

For general cleaning, it depends on what you used it for.
Dry herbs and spices are easy: a quick wipe with a dry cloth should suffice in most cases. Wet preparations (think curry paste) are trickier, but a rinse with hot water is your first step. You will often find warnings about using dishwashing liquid and they have a point. Wood is prone to absorb whatever liquid it comes into contact with, and who wants the next preparation to taste like dishwater?

But your curry will also leave a taste. A common remedy for lingering smells is rice: grind it in your mortar and it should absorb it. Repeat until it remains neutral. Similar advice uses salt. And of course being diligent about oiling should reduce the absorption of liquids and flavors.

To be very honest, I would probably do two things:

Reserve it for dry ingredients or at least roughly the same flavor profile - prevents that touch of garlic in your dessert - and live with the fact that it will develop a patina of past preparations.
I might rarely even ignore the advice and use the tiniest bit of a non-scented dishwashing liquid for a very quick wipe followed by a good rinse off and probably oiling after it’s dry - but only if it’s absolutely necessary. Proceed at your own risk.

The absolute worst thing you could do is running it through your dishwasher or giving it a good long soak. Do “the opposite” and you should be fine.


What does the oil do in a marinade? A basic marinade is acid, oil, herbs/spices.  I understand the herbs and spices are for taste, the acid helps meat absorb by breaking down the tissue and taste.  What is the oil for?

The oil is for carrying the flavors of the herbs and spices throughout the marinade (and ultimately, into the meat or whatever you're marinating). Some of the chemical compounds in those herbs and spices are more soluble in fat than they are in water, the oil absorbs those flavors and distributes them more evenly throughout the finished dish.


How to make home made jam retain the fruity taste? Today I made a pulp of 2 strawberries, half apple, 4 orange pieces, and 1 teaspoon jaggery.

The pulp was tasting fruity.

To make jam I put the pulp in a frying pan and cooked on low fire for some time till some of the water dried up.

The resultant jam was not thick, it was runny. That is totally fine.

Problem is that the fruity taste was gone. It seemed a bit sour. I am just concerned about the fruity taste.

How can I retain the fruity taste in home made jam?

Most fresh fruits will lose their "sweet fresh flavor" when cooked. (*geeky stuff at end)  When making jams, jellies etc., a good amount of sugar is added. This is done for a couple of reasons, the first is to combine with acid and pectin for thickening, the second is for flavor.

When making jam, the proportion of sugar to fruit will be somewhere between 40-100% by weight. (Jaggery is not as sweet as granulated sugar and you would want to add 1/4 to 1/2 more if you were using it in a recipe that called for sugar) Your jam didn't have anywhere near enough sweetener.

What you can do to retain the fruity flavor:

For cooked jam, add more sweetener.
Make a fresh fruit (raw) jam that isn't cooked, which will not require a lot of added sweetener

Fruit generally contain all 3 sugar types, the majority often being fructose.

From Wikipedia Fructose

  The relative sweetness of fructose has been reported in the range of 1.2-1.8 times that of sucrose.[21][22][23][24] However, it is the 6-membered ring form of fructose that is sweeter; the 5-membered ring form tastes about the same as usual table sugar. Warming fructose leads to formation of the 5-membered ring form.[25] Therefore the relative sweetness decreases with increasing temperature.


What is Bosnian black honey? In Bosnia and Herzegovina, I bought some black honey that someone was selling on the roadside in unlabeled jars. It was the most delicious honey I've ever had. It tasted like caramel but also like honey. It was very dark, almost black. It was less viscous than typical honey.

I tried finding it on the internet, and someone said it might be forest honey, but I found two imported European forest honey products, and they were not the honey for which I was looking.

Can you help me find that delicious honey? I'm curious what it's called and where I can buy it in the US.

It is honeydew honey. It is not made from nectar, but from tree parasite secretions. It has a quite different taste from regular flower/nectar honey, and it is much darker. Sometimes it is also called forest honey.

Wikipedia has a paragraph on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Honeydew_honey

There is a slim possibility that it is not a real honey at all, but pine honey, which is actually a jelly made from pine flowers/leaves (it uses the fresh tips where the needles are very soft). It is used as a bee honey substitute, not a fruit jelly substitute, and the name also includes the word "honey", so there is a chance for miscommunication, especially if a language barrier is present. But I think you'd have described the taste differently. It is also a richer taste than normal honey, but a bit sharper, not caramel-like mellow, and the pine resin aroma is discernible.


How to obtain rennet? I want to make some homemade mozzeralla and I know that I need rennet but I am at a loss at how to obtain it.  I also don't know which type I need out of the artifical or natural.  Is there a way to make it for myself?  My searches are turning up conflicting information and I am a little lost in the woods here.

The easiest way where I live to get rennet is to buy Junket tablets at the grocery store. If they have it it's near the ice cream toppings. You can buy it online from the company. It's very cheap and although not 100% pure rennet it works just fine for the variety of cheeses I have made. The box of tablets comes with reliable recipes for a variety of cheeses and ice cream.

Online cheese making suppliers can sell you "higher quality" rennet that is much more expensive. This may make sense for you- especially if you are buying from them anyway for specialized bacteria or mold to make a particular cheese like swiss, etc. I can't recommend one in particular but they are easy to find.

You can make your own. I wouldn't recommend it. Rennet is an enzyme used by calves to digest their mother's milk. Historically, when a calf was slaughtered the correct stomach (I believe the first) would be chopped up and soaked for some time in water. The stomach was then removed and the water with dissolved rennet would be used to make cheese.

If you have access to a calf and have a tougher constitution than I you could certainly try this.

Nowadays rennet is mostly recombinantly produced. For those opposed to our genetically-modified-bacteria-friends non-recombinant rennet can be found. Vegetarian rennet derived from vegetables or mold with similar properties is also available. Recombinant is, of course, much less expensive.


Using a Dutch Oven as a Heavy Skillet replacement I don't own a large heavy skillet - the one I do own is small and can't hold much. Is using my Dutch Oven on the stove a reasonable replacement, if I leave the lid off?

It depends on what you're doing with it, but for the most part, yes.   Things like giving it a shake/toss to move things around will be more difficult, unless it's one with a long handle on one side, but you can just stir instead.   Also, lifting to pour stuff out of it will be more difficult.


Tools for making Pasta I am exploring the world of home-made pasta.

My first experiments, cutting the dough into stripes using a knife and throwing the stripes into the boiling water - eatable but with rather plump results, and a very cumbersome process! - show that if you want to do this on a frequent basis, you need tools.

I can see two generic types of tools here. One, much used in my native southern Germany to make the famous Spätzle, is sieve-based, using pressure to distribute threads of very thin dough directly into a kettle with boiling water.

The other system, often imported from Italy, is more popular, based on a number of barrels that you feed a flattened piece of dough to. The system will cut the dough into a regular form, ready for boiling. (I'm sure there is a simple english word for this but I don't know it. This is the way you make Spaghetti, for example.)

I'm looking for general tool recommendations for making pasta from both fields. While I'm looking to make primarily Linguine and Spaghetti, feedback is welcome for all forms of pasta. Tools should be suitable for frequent use.

I don't have much of a budget at the moment, so bonus points for especially affordable solutions that will let me make delicious Spaghetti all by myself!

The two tools I have used to make my own pasta are rollers and extruders.

The extruder sounds similar to the pressurized tool you described above. It uses an auger like a meat grinder and produces round pasta like spaghetti. Shells and macaroni are also made by extruding. The material that the die is made from with affect the texture of the pasta surface. The one that I used was an attachment to a stand mixer and costs ~$100.

Pasta rollers have a couple precision rollers with variable spacing for forming the pasta and a set of cutters for slicing the pasta into linguine. There are various sized cutters- my cutters are just one size. The rollers are also a fairly simple machine and can be powered, a stand mixer attachment, or rolled by hand which I have. My hand cranked rollers cost ~$50 new.

Rollers are easy to get used because they are the kind of thing that people get for wedding gifts and never use- like yogurt makers. I got mine unused at a garage sale for $5. This bit of information may not be applicable to you in Germany. :)


Why isn't liver bitter? I know that the liver is the organ that produces bile. I also know that it has a lot of bile ducts leading to a hepatic duct. Given that all of this bile duct and bile is in liver and bile is bitter(just from my knowledge(Mainly from when I have had a stomach virus)) I would think that liver is bitter.

However, I had home cooked beef liver once with onions and it was delicious. It wasn't bitter at all and it was tender. It was like chicken when it comes to tenderness. The taste wasn't like chicken or beef but nevertheless it was good.

Now this isn't a fresh liver(so not like the liver you find in whole chicken when it is sold) so that might account for part of it but still, with all this bile duct and bile that is in liver(even without a single piece of gallbladder), why isn't liver bitter from it?

I mean when I have a stomach virus, I know what I throw up via taste(Acidic and generally yellow(enough to cause me to have heartburn for a few minutes afterward), stomach acid, bitter and generally green, bile, any color and generally tastes like what went in + acid, food, nothing but water, throwing up unsuccessful, saliva).

So if bile is bitter and liver contains bile, then why isn't liver bitter? Is the bile cooked out or something?

A few items that when added up result is a lack of bitterness:

Though bile is produced in the liver, it ends up being stored in the gall bladder for both humans and cows. I wouldn't expect the liver to be full of bile as a result.
One of the main functions of the gall bladder is to concentrate the bile by removing water and electrolytes from and making it, presumably, more bitter in the process. This also makes liver bile more soluble and thus can dissolve into water or other common cooking liquids more easily.
Typical butchering of the liver removes most of the hepatic duct, which is where a lot of the bile in the liver would be.


How do I keep chocolate chips from melting in cake batter? I have attempted to put chocolate chips in cake batter, but they always melt. Bakeries are able to make chocolate chip cakes and the chips are still somewhat solid. Mine come out almost diluted.

My experience tells me that the better the chocolate is, the faster it would melt.  I would suggest to lightly coat the chips in some flour and then add them to the mix.

Let me know if this works, will ya?


What is a substitute for going to culinary school? Is there? We live in the information age. What can I do to learn everything that I would learn in culinary school, but use the available resources that are out there?

One resource I'm impressed with is Rouxbe.com, which is an "online cooking school" with truly excellent video content. (Disclosure: I'm an affiliate, though I haven't earned anything from it - I only signed up because I think it is great, I don't refer anything just to hope to make a buck). That link will give you a 14 day free trial. The thing I like is that it is broken down into really small, highly detailed sections, and the video is HD and shot extremely close up on the hands and pots so you can really see what is happening.


Kimchi / Mo-Chu Ka-roo? I have been looking for this ingredient called ko-chu Ka-roo to make kimchi. I checked in a local asian grocery and I didn't find something with that name. But I found Maesri Chilli Powder.
Is this the same thing? Can it be used?
thanks

You'd be better off trying to find the real thing.

Kochukaru is slightly sweeter and smokier than standard 'ground chilli' and simply substituting it will give you variable results to what your kimchi should traditionally taste like.

If you know what you're doing, and by that I mean you are able to know what Kimchi is meant to taste like and are able to tweak the amount of standard chilli powder you're using perhaps in addition to some sweet and/or smoked paprika you'd probably be able to replicate the flavour and taste of kochukaru in your kimchi.

If you're not at that level of ability (and I mean that with the greatest respect) then you're probably far better off trying to find kochukaru, perhaps at an alternative asian grocers or even online somewhere.


Does a change in altitude affect baking time or temperature? I used to live at several thousand feet above sea level, but now I live only a few hundred feet above sea level.  Will this affect the temperatures and times in my baking recipes (cakes, breads, etc)?  If so, how?  Does a change in altitude affect any other areas of cooking?

Usually this question goes the other way around (how to adjust recipes for high-altitude cooking)...

The main effect that altitude has on cooking times and temperatures is how it affects the boiling point of water. At higher altitudes, water begins boiling at a lower temperature, so anything boiling will not reach as high of a temperature, and often needs to be cooked longer.

Higher altitudes can also cause leavening to have a greater effect. You may need to add extra leavening (yeast, baking powder) to get the same amount of rise that you had at a higher altitude.


What spice in Asian food makes me sweat and my nose running? What spice in Asian food makes me sweat and my nose runny?

I highly appreciate it in those cases where I've caught a common cold or anything the like, just when the original impact is too low so that my body fails to give those reactions by default. (And it doesn't feel wrong even when I feel very healthy otherwise. Just, somehow, purgative.)

Some health food stores will sell Cayenne Pepper capsules for this very purpose. Some people find that taking a couple will help them sweat out colds and flu. Never tried myself, but I agree there's nothing like a dish packed with heat to clear out the sinuses.


Techniques to Remove Water from Vegetables? While listening to a radio cooking program, one of the guests claimed that vegetables can often be made to taste better by removing water from them. His reasoning being the ratio of tasty elements is increased relative to water content. He gave cooking celeriac in salt as an example. The conversation then moved on to other topics. Having recently started eating more vegetarian meals, I'm looking for ways to add flavor back into my meals.

What methods exist to remove water from vegetables?

Ordinary drying/dehydration can certainly change the taste and texture of foods, but the primary point of dehydration is often preserving food rather than improving taste.  Sometimes additional seasonings are added during the drying process (as in beef jerky, although I know you were asking about vegetables).

Application of heat often releases liquid from vegetables.  For example, wilting spinach or other leafy greens on the stove top, or roasting root vegetables in the oven.  Especially with high heat, as in roasting, other chemical processes are creating flavor besides simply removing water.

Osmosis is a another process for removing water.  For example, in making namasu, it is common to sprinkle salt over thinly sliced cucumber and let it sit for 10 minutes to several hours, sometimes with a weight on top
to help press out liquid.  Then the salt is rinsed off, leaving little salt taste but a large change in the texture and flavor of the cucumber.  Add vinegar to this process takes you into the realm of pickling, where some of the change to the vegetable is from removing water but some is from infusing other flavors.


Chopped onion versus dried minced onion Can I use dried minced onion instead of chopped onion? I don't have onions and I have more than enough minced onion in my seasoning rack.

Yes, you can. Here are the ratios of fresh to dry:

Fresh : dried = 4 : 1
1 cup : 1/4cup
1/4 cup : 1 tbsp
1 tbsp : 3/4 tsp
1 tsp : 1/4 tsp

I would suggest you put the dry in some water for a few minutes to rehydrate (similar to the proper usage of dried minced garlic).


Both over- and undercooked beans from a pressure cooker I cooked pinto beans in an electric pressure cooker and ended up with a few overcooked mushy beans, few cooked ones, if slightly al dente, and the majority of beans so severely undercooked that they seemed to be hardly cooked at all. Over- or undercooked beans wouldn't have surprised me, but both at the same time? What happened?

I used my newish electric pressure cooker to cook dried, not soaked, pinto beans. I cooked 250 g (9 oz) in 1 litre (4 cups) of water on high pressure for 22 min (the accompanying booklet recommended 22-25 min) and did a quick release (I did 24 min and natural release before; this resulted in beans so mushy you cannot eat them as anything else other than puree; internet research pointed towards 22 min and quick release). Where was my mistake?

You didn't mention if the beans were completely submerged in the water, so if not, please make sure they are.

Second, assuming all the beans were of the same age, I find that soaking the beans evens things out.  The speed of the pressure cooker can only overcome so much resistance to moisture in the beans themselves.

I have cooked very old beans that have some beans that never get soft, but that doesn't seem likely here since your beans are from the same bag.

Lastly, that could have been an odd bag.  You might give it another try and see if you have different results.


Low-salt Cooking on a Barbecue TL;DR: Looking for evidenced based methods for low-sodium food prep. to be cooked on a barbecue.

My wife has recently confessed that she doesn't like BBQ food as it is too salty! Normally, I use the BBQ during the week as a quick easy meal as you can have a decent meal (burgers or dogs or even grilled veggies) in like 15 minutes. On weekends, I do roasts or steaks or chicken (basically anything more time consuming).

However, since this revelation I am determined to find a middle ground because:

she is right, we need to consume less salt and less meat
I like BBQ.

Here is what I have tried thus far:

I have made my own burger patties (instead of using Costco's) this went over well but flavour was lacking (I confess, historically I have been too lazy and will be tweaking my recipe).
I have tried store bought low-sodium dogs and smokies but it was still too salty.

This has been going on for about 2 weeks now, of different trial and error. So what I am wondering is what are tried and true methods of fast, easy cooking on a BBQ that are both tasty and low in sodium (or effective means of replacing sodium, but not sacrificing taste).

While, I realize that this question could end up being flagged for being opinion based so please provide either experience or evidence to help me. I am looking for methods or tricks to employ that will allow me to maintain the quick/convenient cooking that comes with BBQ food but is healthier and hopefully low enough in sodium.

If you make your own burgers you don't need to include any salt at all. You could make them unseasoned but you may find you enjoy them more if they've got herbs/spices in them. This also holds for sausages if you can be bothered to make them. Marinades don't need any salt either, though of course you may choose to add a little. Spring (salad) onion and garlic are very useful if you're reducing the salt.

Grilled veg is often best simply brushed with oil. I like to use chilli oil or pizza oil (chilli and herb). Along with steaks, chicken etc. you can also brush with a little oil and rub in spices or herbs.

Many sauces you might add after cooking also contain a fair bit of salt. Making your own or choosing ones that taste less salty will also help. Ketchup, for example, varies a lot in salt content.

You're probably used to fairly salty food, but your tastes can adjust fairly quickly.


Omelette cooked in oven or pan? What differences are, besides speed, when cooking omelettes in oven versus in the frying pan?

I have traditionally always used pan but i see now some recipes recommend oven.

Just because the recipe calls it an "omelette" doesn't make it one. An omelette starts and ends its cooking in a pan. If you finish it in the oven, it becomes a frittata. (There are a couple of historic differences, but let's just stick with that.) If the egg mixture both starts and finishes in the oven it would probably be a crust-less quiche.

The benefits of cooking in the oven is the ability to get more even cooking of the eggs to get a more consistent texture throughout.