Why doesn't my quick bread rise properly when substituting splenda for sugar? I used Splenda in one of my favorite quchinni (squash) recipes and it did not rise at all. It is about 3 inches thick and is heavy as the batter was thick.

Why did this happen, and is there any way to tweak the recipe?

If it is a quick bread then it should be chemically leavened with baking powder or soda.
The presence, or absence, of sugar should not play a role at all in the working of baking powder.

Where sugar may play a role, however, is in creaming the fat. If this recipe calls for solid fat such as butter or shortening then it will often also call for the sugar to be creamed with the fat. This step is very important as it will create the millions of little bubbles that will define the texture of the finished product.

You can try adding more soda which will affect the flavor. You can try beating the butter more on it's own. I have read that some people folded beaten egg whites into the batter.
I can't recommend one approach over the other.

My personal opinion is that if the recipe calls for creaming butter and sugar then it is not a good candidate to use splenda.


How to properly clean a whiskey flask? I found an old stainess steel flask that someone once gave me. I want to use it again to hold whiskey.

There doesn't seem to be any liquid inside, though it may have contained some just before the flask was forgotten.

How do I properly clean to start using it again? Just hot water? No soap? Can I trust it? It was only used to hold whiskey.

I'm answering my own question because I did a bunch of stuff from a lot of resources, and collected valuable information that more people may use in the future when coming across this post.

I wanted to use household items. My flask is a stainless steel with some copper.

What I actually did:

Cleaned with a small amount of tap water, shaking it a little bit;
Boiled a glass of water, and a bottle of vinegar/water (50%/50%);
Cleaned the flask with the boiled water, them with the vinegar solution (50% of the flask, shaking it a little bit). Then cleaned again with the boiled water (50% of the flask), shaking it, them with the vinegar solution again, then with the boiled water (50%), then with boiled water again (this time 100%). I didn't emptied the flask from this last cleaning;
I let the water inside for 24h;
24h later, I opened the flask, and emptied it in a glass cup: there wasn't any solid particles, and the water didn't have any taste, so I believed it was ok to put some whiskey.

Maybe your flask is an old one, with leather, I don't know. In this case, I suggest you check these resources:

http://www.whiskywhiskywhisky.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4254

http://www.thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-knowledge-how/29045-cleaning-inside-antique-hip-flask.html

http://ask.metafilter.com/111820/Mildewsmelling-hip-flask-can-it-be-salvaged

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18080329


How do I distribute pastry in a tube pan? Recently I tried to bake a cake in a silicone tube pan. I evenly distributed pastry over the bottom of the pan and put into the oven.

While the cake was baking pastry expanded and started to fall over the inner edge of the tube, but not over the outer edge.

What have I missed? Does pastry expand unevenly or what? How do I distribute pastry inside the pan so it raises evenly?

I'm going to take a wild guess at what's happening, based on what I know of thermodynamics, (but I could be wrong about the whole thing)

When a cakes and bread bakes, it bakes from the outside ... as it forms a crust, it can no longer rise.  (for yeast breads, this is why we slash the top, so it can get a little extra rise out of it)

With a cake, as the sides set, it'll continue to rise in the middle, creating a domed top.  With a metal tube pan, the heat from the outside of the pan conducts to the middle of the pan, so the middle will set shortly after the outside.

...

With the silicone pan, you've actually got an insulator ... the heat's not going to conduct to the inside, so it's going to be able to rise longer than around the inside -- basically, the domed cake, but you've got something for it to stick to, so it doesn't fall back down as it sets.

As I don't think the issue is distribution of the batter, I'd recommend trying other techniques to reduce the domedness of the cake -- cook it at a lower temperature (try 25F / 15C lower) for a longer time.  You can't remove the problem entirely, but you might be able to reduce it.

I'd also look at the instructions that might've come with the pan -- it's possible that they have reommendations on how to deal with the problem.  (and it's possible that this might not be as significant a problem in convection ovens, but replacing your whole oven for a set of pans is kinda silly)


Do these smoked ham hocks which contain dextrose, contain gluten? I love using smoked ham hock in soups, beans and stews.  Dextrose is a listed item on this package I bought - does dextrose contain gluten?

Dextrose is another name for the sugar glucose.  In the US most powdered dextrose and/or glucose syrups are produced from corn starch, in the UK and other European countries they may be made from wheat or other starchy plant sources.  According to a 2008 study from Finland, even though wheat based glucose syrup was found to contain low amounts of residual gluten, it was tolerated without harmful effect by people with celiac disease.

Though the ham is not likely advertised as "gluten free", even if there was gluten in the dextrose, the final concentration of gluten in the ham would likely be well below the 20ppm concentration to qualify as such according to the FDA rules.


How to know if Dover Sole is fresh? How do you know when Dover Sole is fresh?

According to this other question, about all fish, you have a few ways to know:

the gills should be bright red
the skin/scales should be bright and shiny like metal
this fish shouldn't really smell of anything except 'watery'
the flesh should rebound quickly when pressed
the eyes should be bright and clear
really fresh fish is also quite slimey to touch if it's straight out of the water. I remember being quite surprised at this from my first fishing trip a few years back.

And all of these ways don't work, because the fish bores under sand and lives there. Is there any way to tell with Dover Sole?

Umm.. I'm not sure what you're saying. I've seen and filleted whole Dover sole, and everything on the standard 'fresh fish' list applies.

Agreed, though, that smell is often a good indicator.


Slow cookers - capacity and mess I am thinking of buying a slow cooker because the communal kitchen is usually really nasty and I want to save time. I will use it for cooking up big amounts of meat (chicken fillet, minced meat mostly).

The biggest I found has a capacity of 6.8 Liters. Would it be possible to cook 2 kg of chicken fillet in this at once, if not, how much? (I.e do I need to add water or can I use 6.8 Liters purely for food?)

I can't leave it in the kitchen, so can I use it in my corridor room or how much odor / mess does a slow cooker usually create? Is everything sealed or is it like when cooking normally?

Is everything sealed or is it like when cooking normally?

Slow cookers are definitely not sealed. It'll release odor while cooking (which, depending on what you're making, might be pleasant!) and there's no way to get around the potential mess of transferring food to/from the cooker. You'll want at minimum to have a relatively clean, clear area where you can fill and use the cooker.

That said, the enclosed and relatively weak heating elements of slow cookers generate less excess heat and can be used outside of a kitchen without too much risk. Make sure the surrounding area is relatively clean and free of flammable material for safety; make sure your electrical outlets are likewise in good working order.

  do I need to add water or can I use 6.8 Liters purely for food?

Check out this related answer - you need some sufficient level of liquid for just about any slow-cooked recipe. I would advise you to carefully follow a recipe at first rather than going off-script and trying to develop your own. You'll be better assured of success this way.

(That said: yes, 2 kilograms of chicken should fit in a cooker this large.)

  I want to save time

Keep in mind that they don't call it a "slow" cooker for nothing. These devices are only capable of low, slow heating, and can only be used for recipes that take extended low-temperature cooking, usually at least a few hours. They can't sear, or saute, or boil; they are by design incapable of any fast cooking method. Those methods can be key to developing flavors (browning meat is often quite important) and although you can usually cook safely without them, you don't want to just skip those steps if they're called for in a recipe.

Slow cookers can be convenient in that they can safely run for several hours without being actively tended (unlike, say, a pot on the stove) but how and where this will actually save you time depends on how well you can plan your cooking ahead. If you have an unpredictable schedule, limited refrigerator space to store prepared food, or simply don't want to eat the same thing a few days in a row, a slow cooker probably won't save you time, money, or aggravation.

As noted by @Catija, you could consider a "multi-cooker" as an alternative; that would broaden the variety of cooking you can do, allowing the options of searing or sauteeing whether called for in a slow-cooked recipe or just if you're in a hurry to make dinner. Many of these devices will allow for pressure cooking that cuts down on overall cooking time, and they have enclosed heating elements and other safety mechanisms. Keep in mind though that this would not minimize the mess, odor, etc. of those cooking methods. Oil can splatter whether you're doing it in a pan or a fancy multi-cooker in your bedroom; the same applies to the odor, smoke, and noise involved. These devices are also generally more expensive than a traditional slow cooker, so if you have budgetary constraints you might want to try a cheap slow cooker first, figure out if it works well for you, then upgrade later on.


My cocoa powder is not dark. Is it still dutch processed? I bought whole foods "baking cocoa". On the back in the ingredients section it says "processes with alkali." Then, just above the bar code it says "dutch-processed cocoa". Also, it actually smells like chocolate, unlike my Hershey's unsweetened cocoa. However, it is still very light in color compared to all the pictures I have seen online of dutch processed cocoa. Anyways, my question is, if it is not dark in color, is it still considered dutch processed?

Dutch processed cocoa is "washed" with a potassium carbonate solution to neutralize the acidity to a pH of 7.  While it does give cocoa a richer hue, the color can range quite a bit from a light reddish brown to a dark brown.  Color is less an indicator than the label on the product.  The process is used to provide a more mellow flavor.


Is having an extending blade near the knife handle a serious risk when cutting food? Here's an example of a very typical knife design:

Look at where the arrow points. That's a blade part that extends from the handle orthogonal to the knife axis and it's pretty thin and its side actually continues into a very sharp blade edge.

My concern is the following. Suppose I need to cut a chicken carcass. I will want to stick the knife deep and then start cutting. What if while I'm sticking the knife my hand slips along the handle onto that edge pointed to by the arrow?

I expect an epic cut should that happen so I've been avoiding such knife design for years and always preferred knifes where there's a piece of plastic extending from the handle in from of that blade edge (kind of hilt or guard). Maybe I'm just overly paranoid about this.

Is there real risk of having a cut while cutting food in the scenario I described?

No, there is not a risk to getting the kind of cut you describe, as long as you treat your knife with the respect it deserves.

If there's a dull, raised part at the back of the knife, it is called the bolster, otherwise it's the heel of the blade.  The raised version is a common trait in forged knifes, and is supposed to add strength to the blade.

From experience: yes, you can cut yourself on the heel of bolster-less knifes, but generally not in the way you describe. I would not avoid them, or avoid knives where the blade tapers from the handle for safety reasons. I've cut myself a couple times on the heel of the blade when grabbing for a knife in a hurry, but these kinds of cuts are generally superficial and fast healing.

There is also a significant advantage to bolster-less blades: they're much easier to sharpen, and have more usable length to the blade.


Why aren't glass spoons used for eating? Why aren't glass spoons used for eating? It seems it would solve the problem of metallic taste with some foods.

There has actually been some significant research into cutlery being made of the correct substance to match the food

Testing shows perceptible difference in tastes from various metals when combined with certain foods. Just as silver spoons and egg are an unpleasant experience, some metals (e.g. copper, zinc) acted as a catalyst and improved the taste experience of certain foods

We use wood and ceramic for similar reasons, often for the mouth feel of the cutlery and heat dispersion, e.g. hot soups with metal spoons can be painful

Glass would have it's place, but probably not to dissimilar to porcelain (ceramic). Glass spoons are available, but rare

Some references:

Institute of Making - Sensoaesthetic Properties of Materials

Fine Dining Lovers - Cutlery food science


Smoking Boston Butt and Smoker Went out - Food Safety I borrowed a buddies pellet smoker to test it out. I got it going bright this morning. Got it up to about 225 and loaded it up a 6.5 pound Boston Butt. It never really stayed at 225, but hovered between 200 and 225 for the first 3-4 hours of cooking.

Then the fire went out, it started to drop. The meat was around 130. I wrapped it in tin foil and set it on my outdoor table while I looked at the smoker. After an hour of not getting it going again, I put it in the oven @ 225. After another hour I got the smoker working. Turns out the fan got jammed up and I had to get it moving.

So the question is, is my food still safe? A summary of the facts:

6.5 Boston Butt smoked for about 3-4 hours @ 200-225, temp got to
around 130.
Fire went out, It spent one hour in foli and an other
hour in the oven @ 225.
Temp when going back onto the smoker was
about 125.
Now everything is working, it is running @ 250 and the
meat is 163.
I plan on cooking it to 195 or 203 (if time permits).

Thoughts? Thanks!

The standard metric for safety is the cumulative time in the 'danger zone' temperature of 40 to 140°F. Which we really don't know, as that would also include things like bringing it home from the store and stuff like that.

From the sounds of things, you left it out for less than an hour.  As such, you should serve it ... but serve it immediately or hold it in a low oven or crock pot.

If you tend to leave out food for people to go back for seconds, and then pack up the leftovers after dinner, I'd also recommend a crock pot or low oven ... and make sure that it's chilled down promptly after dinner.

If you have a really, really long trip from the store, and you didn't transport the uncooked meat in a cooler, it's possible that you might want to avoid serving the food to immune-compromised people, as it'll be a slightly higher risk.**

** Although all food is technically risky ... you have no idea if that pre-wrapped package went for a 30 min walk with a customer through the grocery store before they changed their mind and returned it to the cooler.


A method to "speed up" marinating or an equivalent way to cook chicken For chicken, I like to marinate or bake in the oven with spices. However, whenever I get chicken for the same day to cook, I usually do not have enough time to marinate overnight. I was wondering if there are things I can do to "speed up" the marination using some ingredient and/or culinary technique, or an equivalent technique to make it taste similar (i.e., balsamic vinegar and mustard/herbs marinade vs. cooking it in the oven using the same ingredients).

Marination can have a number of purposes and mechanisms, the biggest four of which I'll talk about here: Salt, acid, enzymes and miscellaneous flavour compounds.
Salt
Salt can do a few things; firstly and most obviously, it seasons; salt tastes good, and it makes things that already taste good taste even better. Salt can also make meat hold on to liquid better; as it permeates throughout the meat it interacts with some of the proteins, 'unfolding' them a little and making them less prone to tangle together and shrink on heating, meaning they'll squeeze out less liquid.
These processes take time, and for salt, generally, longer is better, though eventually, with enough salt and time, you're not so much marinating as curing your meat. For salt, it will take as much time as you give it, but even a short-term salting will improve your end product.
Acid
The second thing a marinade often has is acid. Fruit juice, vinegar and wine are all common acids for marinades, but there are many other options. Acid also works on the proteins in the meat, but it's not as gentle as the salt; a short marinade can tenderise, but a longer one - anywhere past a few hours - can denature the proteins so much that your meat turns mushy. For acid, a short marinade is generally best.
Enzymes
There are certain ingredients that contain enzymes that work on protein; some fruits, like pineapple, kiwi and papaya, some funguses like koji and to a certain degree fermented dairy like yoghurt will work on meat in a similar way to acid; tenderising, then after too much marination, rendering mushy and chalky in texture. Dairy and koji can be somewhat gentler here; tandoori chicken, for example, involves a reasonably long yoghurt-based marinade, but generally you want to have a good idea of what you're doing with enzymes and marination.
Everything else
Other components of marinades, be they spices, herbs, aromatics like garlic, shallot or onion, chillies and most anything else not included in the categories above, don't really penetrate into the meat, regardless of how long they're left marinating. The flavour molecules are simply too big to squeeze into the web of proteins, so they stay on the surface. As such, they're not generally very time sensitive in a marinade; once it's on the surface, it's going to stay there. Some oil or fat can help the fat-soluble flavours in some of these spread more evenly over the surface of the meat, but that's not really a time-sensitive operation either.
In conclusion, you might not need as long a marinade as you thought; the only thing that's really going to benefit from an overnight marinade is the salt, and even that is often happy enough with a shorter marinade. Oftentimes, overnight marinades are a result of convenience; if you left your meat marinating last night, then it's easier to just get home from work and cook it up, rather than having to do the marinade and then wait for it to take action before you can finally have dinner.


What's the term for cutting part way through a vegetable or fruit to increase surface area? The other day I braised beef asian style (a bit of weak beef stock, sweet soy syrup, and dark soy sauce if you're wondering), and I put in some ginger. I wanted to keep the ginger together but give the most surface area to let its flavors out, so I cut into sticks which were still connected to the base. I was explaining to someone what I'd done, but I could not come up with a name for what I did.

What is the name for this technique?

I think the term you are looking for is accordion cut. It is the technique you describe, making slices not all the way through, leaving an end or side intact.

It is most widely known for preparation of hasselback potatoes, but can also be used for meat and other items. Please see pics below of hasselback potatoes and meat.

Other times that I have used this cut is when fine dicing celery and other veggies and, quite similar to your use, when using a block of salt meat for seasoning vegetables.


Attempt to make praline paste failed -- what should I do differently? I attempted this recipe:

70 g hazelnuts
100 sugar
1 pinch salt

Toast nuts at 400 F for 10 mins.; let cool.
Put sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and render into caramel over medium-low heat.
Combine ingredients in a food processor and process 3-5 mins., scraping down the bowl as necessary, until it all becomes a smooth, even paste.

Yield: 1 C.

All seemed well until I got to the food processor, at which point the following happened:

Some of the caramel turned to obsidian on the bottom of the food processor bowl.
The paste never became "smooth and even," but remained gritty and unappealing.
The yield was maybe 1/2 C.

What should I do differently next time? I thought maybe I should have let the caramel cool a bit, but the recipe said it should still be hot. Otherwise, I don't know what there is to change; it's about as simple as recipes get.

Upon reading those instructions, I can picture vividly the scenario you describe. It seems like the caramelized sugar would of course solidify and cleave to the bottom of the (relatively cold) food processor as you pour it in. Or is the friction of the food processor supposed to keep the caramel melted at its original temperature as it whirls around while the nuts pulverize? That even sounds kind of unsafe somehow.

Curious, I looked up other recipes for praline paste on the internet - and there are lots. These are the first 4 I came across:

http://joepastry.com/2011/making-praline-paste/

http://www.thedomesticfront.com/pralinepaste/

https://beammeupbiscotti.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/useful-tips-how-to-make-praline-paste/

http://www.chefrachida.com/homemade-hazelnut-praline-paste/

All of these specify letting the caramel and nut mixture harden and cool on a non-stick surface first, and then you break it up into pieces and put into the food processor. The first reference shows pictures of the progression of the product from chunks to powder to paste as the food processor works.

Even though it is contrary to the recipe, perhaps it would work better if you cooled the mixture before processing. I wonder if some sentence or phrase about the pre-processor cooling step got accidentally left out of your recipe.


Why does brining work with dry heat methods and not wet heat methods? If you brine chicken in a high saline solution and and then cook it using a dry heat method it will come out salty.  IF however you do the same thing and then cook it with a wet heat method e.g. soup it doesn't come out salty or seem affected by the brine.  Why is this?

Thanks

Salt dissolves in water. Brining is simply the process of soaking something in a saline solution so that either it absorbs saltwater, or the salinity of the pre-existing water approaches equilibrium with that of the brine. The end state is just a lot of water, some on/inside the meat and some outside, all with approximately the same salinity.

If you roast the result, you're evaporating most of the water but keeping the salt. If you boil it, then you're just reversing the brining process you followed in the first place, by diluting whatever salt (not to mention any other minerals/flavour) it has.

The salt in a brined chicken is not reacting with the meat, it's just dissolved in the water (which is in/on the meat). Give it a good enough "rinse" and the salt water will be gone.


Are chalk labels on food jars safe to use in the kitchen? Despite their popularity, some believe that using chalk to label food jars can create unnecessary dust that can get into the food, is this a real concern, or has technology advanced enough where this is not a problem? Maybe the amount of chalk used on the label is not enough to kick up dust? What about accidental contact when handling the jar?

There certainly will not be enough chalk-dust-kick-up to warrant any safety concerns through inhalation or otherwise. The only concern I could think of would be to have to constantly rewrite labels after handling!


What is the conversion ratio from whole potatoes to potato flakes? I have a recipe for butternut squash soup that calls for 2 potatoes which will be pureed in the end. I only have potato flakes. How much of the flakes do I use to equal the 2 potatoes?

I would aim for the amount of flakes that would make 2 cups of finished mash. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of it and see where you are in terms of thickness of the soup. If the soup is still thin add more.

This also depends on what potato the flakes are made from, any additives to the flakes, etc.

Usually when a recipe is not specific with an agricultural product I assume I have a lot of margin for error.  Cooking requires a lot of experimenting, but using the flakes may actually make your life quite a bit easier here as you can add as much or as little as you want "to taste."


Why does pistachio ice cream not taste like pistachio nuts? I have eaten pistachio nuts (roasted, salted) many times and I like it. I also like pistachio flavoured ice cream, but I don't find it much similar. If it wasn't named like that, I would probably not make the connection at all.

Why is the flavour so different? Is it similar to "Banana" flavoured ice cream, which often uses some chemical compounds supposed to taste like banana, but which doesn't really either?

Firstly, let me disagree and say that I have tasted some (amazing) pistachio ice creams that tasted very much like the actual nuts. That said, I can think of several reasons why the ice cream might taste differently from the nuts:

Artificial flavours, like you suggest. You might be able to figure out from the ingredients list if these are used.
Salt. If you have only eaten salted pistachio nuts, you might have a different benchmark for pistachio flavour. Salt is a flavour enhancer, after all.
Temperature. The temperature of food and drinks radically changes how it is perceived when tasting. This is why (bad) coffee is OK when hot, but terrible when at room temperature, and why melted ice cream tastes much sweeter than the frozen stuff.

A final side note, which I include mostly because I find it interesting: I used to think 'banana flavour' was based on a different type of banana than commonly found in stores. Doing some searching for this question, it turns out I was wrong.


How should I wash butter muslin? I used butter muslin (the link is to the specific product I used as an example) to roast a turkey crown (following the method from this article). I now have a piece of muslin with a tie-die pattern of browning from where the creases were. I can get most of the butter out by rinsing it in the sink but obviously it needs proper washing before I store it and use it again.

Can I put it in the washing machine on a typical clothes-washing cycle? (Not quite on-topic, but how wary should I be of putting it in with clothes I don't want to ruin?)
Is there anything I should do after washing it to make sure it is food-safe? Is there any risk of detergent residue I need to look out for? I normally use 3-in-1 laundry capsules.

Accept that it will never look pristine white ever again.
Whatever you do, don't wash it in Persil. That stuff is designed to make your clothes bright & nicely perfumed, not something you need in your turkey - "seven day freshness" isn't quite what they meant in the adverts. At least it doesn't have fabric conditioner in it, which would be even worse. No-one ever bought Comfort for how good it tastes;)
Unless you want to invest in some pure soap*  - flakes or liquid at various prices from reasonable eg Wilko's to truly ridiculous "they saw you coming & laughed" then you'll be fine just washing it in regular washing-up liquid, or give it a soak in bleach first, so long as you rinse it afterwards until you can no longer smell it. [I'd just go with Fairy myself & put up with the staining].
*& run it through the washing machine all on its own, wasting an entire wash cycle for one cloth.


How to avoid the rhubarb teeth effect? I have a lovely rhubarb plant in the backyard.  It grows like a weed, as rhubarb is wont to do.

On occasion, I like to slice off some stalks and bake myself up a nice rhubarb crisp, or a rhubarb cobbler, or some rhubarb turnovers.  Delicious.

Inevitably, when I eat these, I end up with the gritty "rhubarb teeth" effect.  I'm not sure if it's just me, or if my rhubarb weed plant just produces an unusually high concentration of oxalic acid, but it's annoying.

I understand that drinking milk can exacerbate the effect, but the only milk I tend to consume along with my rhubarb is in the recipe itself (usually in the form of butter).  I quite strongly dislike using margarine in any of my recipes so I would prefer not to make that replacement if I can avoid it.

Are there any (other) methods or tricks I can use while cooking my rhubarb which will reduce the gritty teeth effect?

Peel the rhubarb before cooking - you can strip off the outer skin from the stalks quite easily.  That helps.

EDIT: My wife told me to explain why.

In Yorkshire, the rhubarb capital of the world, you can buy "forced rhubarb", which has a tender pink skin because it is forced to grow up through dark tubes towards the light. Because "garden Rhubarb" is not forced, the "gritty teeth sensation" components accumulate in the skin, and an authority on the subject (my mother) told me many (>50) years ago that it was a good idea to peel it. She also taught me that it was a good way to divert children - show them how to pick a tender stem and dip it in sugar, then eat it raw -and that the sugar sticks to the stem easier if you peel the skin off first.

My grandmother had a lot of mysterious ways with rhubarb, including using it in ginger beer instead of the usual lemon. These are lost in time, but she always peeled it, whatever it was being used for, to avoid that sensation.


Is Hobgoblin a good substitute for Newcastle Brown in a beef stew recipe? I've bought some beer called Hobgoblin. I was going to buy Newcastle Brown as the ingredients in my recipe say brown ale. However, someone in the supermarket said Hobgoblin was not a brown ale. So what I want to know is, is this Hobgoblin any good in the stew or should I buy another type? If so which?

Hobgoblin is a dark brown ale and would work just fine as a replacement for Newcastle Nut Brown Ale for cooking purposes. Newcastle is more widely available than Hobgoblin, so is often used in recipes, but at the end of the day, any decent brown ale will do.


Old family recipe has cryptic measurement for flour My husband's grandmother's recipe card for bread calls for "one half canister of flour".

Does anyone have any ideas on what that might equate to? My brother-in-law has been playing with measurements and all attempts have been undesirable.

Has anyone located Grandma's canister and looked to see if she marked it?  It might be that simple.  Otherwise... this is a shot in the dark, but without any other clues to go on, I'm going to guess it means 2 1/2 pounds, or 9 to 9 1/2 cups.  Typically, flour canisters will hold 5 pounds of flour (a standard bag), with a little headroom.  I don't know what kind of bread recipe you're looking at, but if the amount of liquid is in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 to 3 cups, it's probably around 2 1/2 pounds of flour.

I know "around 2 1/2 pounds" and "1/2 canister" sound terribly imprecise, but an experienced baker knows that imprecise measurements are a way of life when it comes to baking bread.  Ambient humidity -- as well as the moisture content of flour -- are in a constant state of change.  I'm guessing Grandma baked a wonderful loaf of bread, which is why you're trying to duplicate it.  She, like any good baker, would have started with slightly less flour than she knew she would need, then gradually added more as she mixed and kneaded it until the dough reached the desired consistency.

You have tried this a few times already, right?  I suggest that you simply take what you've learned so far and guess a little low for the volume or weight of flour, mix it thoroughly, then add a bit at a time until you arrive at a workable dough.

Oh -- one more thing: many of us are not perfectly consistent in recording our recipes (especially when using scant, rounded, or heaping measurements).  Some improvements we simply remember and don't take the trouble to jot down.  Grandma might have left out a detail or two, so don't beat yourself up if your best efforts to follow a recipe don't yield the expected results.  With experience, you'll figure out how to make results more to your liking.

Good luck -- and happy baking!


What are the differences between types of soy sauce? I recently started using Tamari over whatever the standard US form of soy sauce is. The difference was something of a revelation. The depth and complexity of flavor is an order of magnitude more interesting than what I had been throwing around in the kitchen. Marinating some shrimp in it for 20 minutes was incredible. I'm wondering if there's more that I'm missing.

Wikipedia has a load of info on Soy Sauce varieties, but it doesn't really answer the question of what they taste like or if there are certain uses they lend themselves to.

I have 8+ types of vinegar in my kitchen. Is soy sauce a similar exploration? What are the common types of soy sauce? What is the difference in flavor profile? Is the usage different? Have I discovered a new kitchen addiction to drive my wife nuts?

This is a complex question, because there are several different ways to categorize soy sauces:

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (Chinese and Japanese are the ones most commonly contrasted --but as you saw in Wikipedia, there are many more),
COLOR (light, dark, white),
VISCOSITY (thin, thick, jam), and
MANUFACTURING PROCESS (This has the most name variation, but there are just two options: fermented or chemical.  Fermented is the "real thing" and also is called naturally brewed, or slow-aged.  Chemical is the quick and, as usual, inferior-tasting alternative that abbreviates a months-long process into several short, chemically-laden days.  Additional names for this unfortunate approach are non-brewed, non-fermented, and artificial. To avoid this type, study the label and avoid anything containing those non-savory corrective ingredients like corn syrup and caramel coloring.)

To muddy the waters further, add into the mix the fact that flavor is most deeply influenced by the proportion of soybeans to grains -- yet this crucial factor is not typically used directly as a categorization tool.

To focus my research, I tried to find a site that felt as though the writer was speaking directly to you: one that would encourage, and not overwhelm or confuse, as you decide whether to become a soy sauce affectionado.  Specifically, I wanted a resource that clearly addressed FLAVOR PROFILE and USAGE.  Surprisingly, a blogger named Barbara came to rest as my #1 recommendation:  Tigers and Strawberries. I like the simplicity and clarity of her writing style, as well as her experiential platform (complete with honest explanation of her biases).  The endless comments after her post provide additional insights that might be helpful, as well.

Of course, Harold McGee always provides wonderful more scientifically-based, yet still somehow understandable, explanations.  He takes 5 full pages (496-500) in his book On Food and Cooking to discuss soy sauce in all its layered glory.


How do you make cheap asian instant noodles without noodles? So, I have been falling in loving with the yum yum instant noodles. And the reason might seem a little odd. I usually add a lot of extra water when making them, because I enjoy them as "a soup". that is I like the flavour and taste the seasings add to the boiling water, and I easily would eat them without the noodles.

Now the thing is, I don't wanna buy a package of them just for the seasonings and throw the noodles away.

To clarify, I am not necessarily  interested in "recreating" the yum yum seasonings, but I was wondering how I could make such a soup myself in larger quantity without having to buy the noodles.

Trying not to interpret this as a recipe request, but a question about how to approach recipe mimicry.

Look at the ingredient list of flavourings you like. Try and sort them by function: six basic tastes (umami/sweet/sour/bitter/salty/fat), aromatics (spices, alliums of any kind, and other vegetables and vegetable extracts), textural modifiers (eg starches, emulsifiers), and stuff you do not need in a fresh recipe (preservatives etc.). Develop a recipe from there. Pay attention to oil vs water vs alcohol solubility of aromatic compounds.

or/and/also

Look at what dishes the seasoning is based on (eg japanese ramen broth+tare combinations, thai curry, chinese soups) - then look at recipes for these dishes, optionally cook some of them from scratch (you will be working with about a half to three dozen flavour defining ingredients, and get to know all shelves at your asian grocer's), to get an understand for the seasoning profiles.

Also learn about stock making - bone broths etc. if you want it meat based. If vegetarian, experiment with shiitake/kombu dashi, and fermented ingredients like all the varieties of soy sauce (hint: you want some thai/chinese light
 and/or gukganjang), gochujang, douchi, sufu, chinese pickles, kimchi....

BTW, you will arrive at a point where you make broths that are just too intense without noodles...


Is it safe to bake in an oven with melted plastic residue left? For space reasons, my apartment leaves some of our casserole dishes and baking trays in the oven. When my roommate went to preheat the oven one night, he failed to realize that some of them had plastic lids. As thus, it resulted in a mess of melted plastic in our oven and our whole apartment smelling awful for an hour or two.

We cleaned it up and got it off the oven racks, and managed to scrub most of it off of the bottom. Problem is that some of it dripped down into the vent. Even upon removing the cover, I believe there's some that we just won't be able to get...and who knows how much plastic is actually dripped down there.

No one's used the oven since, but I like to bake and the holidays are coming up. Is our oven still safe to use at all? I do think it smells a little plastic-y when heated up, but it's no longer smoking...I think.

My suggestion would be to let it run at its highest temperature setting for a while (if it has a pyrolysis/heat-cleaning setting, you can also use that). Best open some windows to let the fumes escape.

When it doesn't smell and smoke any more, I would personally consider it safe to use again, especially at lower temperatures than the one you used to make it usable again.


How can I improve the baking of frozen cod and rice with carrots,? This is a dish that I'm trying to figure out. Out of laziness I want to cook a whole meal that includes some veggies, protein and carbs in a single baking.
I don't thaw the cod before because it's usually a dish that I make with no preparation.

I mix diced carrots and rice with oil, salt, pepper, and some spices like rosemary, sage and thyme. Then put the mixture in an over tray add the frozen cod and enough stock for the rice to cook in.
Finally it goes in the oven at ~180*C (~370*F) until the rice is done.

The result is reasonably good, with flavors from the fish and the carrots blending into the rice, but overall a bit underwhelming.

Any suggestions on what could be improved? Is there some other all-in-one-tray baking recipe I could use?

I'd like to stay away from garlic or onions, but maybe there are other herbs or spices that would work better with the stock and rice rather than the ones I'm using?
I guess I'm wondering which spices are at their best when cooked in lots of water and go well with fish.

The carrots cook well, but they don't really brown, some on top just dry up and others are close to boiled, would lowering the cooking temperature help?

Other vegetables that would work better here instead?

You're not going to get any browning on the vegetables.  By cooking everything together, you're steaming everything, preventing anything from browning.

If the carrots were on the top layer, you could put it under the broiler (top heat)for a minute or two, after everything's cooked through ... but for that, I would put the rice on the bottom, the carrots above them, then the cod.  Cook to your normal doneness, remove the cod and broil until you get some brown on the top.

You might still get away with it if the rice and carrots are mixed together -- there's a special name for the layer of crunchy rice that you get when cooking paella which adds flavor and a contrasting texture.

As for flavorings -- garlic and onion would have been my go-to in this sort of thing ... but I'd also add bell peppers, possibly roasted in advance.  For spices, I'd serve it with za'atar blend -- the citrusy quality of the sumac helps to brighten up dishes.

If you don't have za'atar (most people don't), you could squeeze over a bit of lemon juice, or sprinkle some vinegar over it (but something that tastes good on its own -- apple, wine, etc ... not white).  Tomatoes can also help -- but if it's out of season or you only have grocery store tomatoes available, go with canned tomatoes.  (canned diced are the easiest for this sort of thing)

Another option is to finish the dish with some fresh herbs -- flat leaf parsley, basil, oregano, thyme or culantro might go well with those flavors.

As for recipes -- I'd look at paella recipes -- although it's often cooked with only bottom heat (on a grill or other burner), if you have a suitable shallow pan, you can start it on the stovetop (to brown the carrots a bit before adding liquid), finish assembling, then put it in the oven to finish.


Chocolate hazelnut: efficacy of mixing crushed&roasted hazelnuts to sauce I would like to know of roasting and crushing hazelnuts, then mixing them with chocolate sauce, is enough to create a nice choco-hazelnut syrup?

(I recently asked if blending roasted hazelnuts will yield oil, but I was told I needed an oilpress.)

End product is mixing the sauce as a sort of "nutella" latte. (I run a cafe).

Thanks!

The only way to really know for sure is to give it a try, but I suspect that for a liquid application it will be difficult to get the sauce both thin enough to dissolve easily, and smooth enough to avoid a grainy or chunky texture.

You'll have to blend the hazelnuts very well at minimum - I'd pulverize them first in a blender or food processor, add the chocolate sauce, and then blend for several minutes' more time.  You may have to thin the result with a little water (warmed so as not to seize the mixture).  A run through a sieve or cheesecloth to strain out remaining pieces would be a good idea.

With all that blending and filtering, your yields will probably be pretty low.  One alternative you could try would be a hazelnut flavoring of some kind.  A natural extract should lend a distinct hazelnut flavor to any other sauce or mixture (I'd avoid cheaper extracts labelled "artificial" though).  From a practical perspective it will be easier to mix without texture issues, and if purchased in quantity probably won't be much more expensive than preparing hazelnuts from scratch.


Constructions of Lego Bricks Made of Cake My friends and I had this idea while drunk one night, to create a big batch of small cakes shaped like LEGO bricks and interlock them into a larger, round cake. Morning came, and we grew daunted by the task we had set, so promptly gave up. My question then, is this: were we right to give up, or is this actually a possibility?

My primary concern is that cake seems a fairly fragile material. The hollowing process for creating the bricks may spell an end for it right from the start, and even if it can survive that, how well will it be able to stack without collapsing on itself?

Secondary is a concern over the interlocking, how difficult would it be to allow modular construction and destruction? The original idea was only for a bigger cake, but if it works well that won't be where it stops.

Are there any techniques that could make this task more tractable? Cake recipes that might withstand the stresses better?

You never said what size the cake had to be, or how well it had to actually hold together.

If you make too large of a cake, it's not going to work -- cake is heavy enough that as you get larger, you need to add additional supports.  Most multi-tier cakes have some sort of rods (plastic or wood) placed in them to help support the upper levels.  If you make it too small, you won't have sufficiently sized knobs for it to actually be able to hold anything.

Most professional cakes are more dense than your home-baked cakes, to help get around this issue, and you can chill them to help firm them up before stacking.  If you're going for a recipe from scratch, look for a pound cake recipe.  If you're using a box mix, you can add in a packet of instant vanilla pudding mix and reduce the temperature by 25°F / 15°C but increase the time.

Size will be an issue as the larger that you get in a single cake, the weaker it's going to be; the bit of crust that you get from the pan is more significant the smaller the cake is.  It'll also be stronger when the dimensions are all close (ie, more cube-like), as you don't have issues with things breaking off due to slenderness.

Your next issue is the connections.  As we're not dealing with plastic, we can attempt to take advantage of two things -- friction, and compression.  To get friction, we need the surface to be rough and fairly strong ... and this means that carving it down is right out, it'd have to be cast directly if it's going to have any strength.  You'll likely have to play with the sizing of the holes vs. the knobs, but you'll want the knobs to be large enough that it's a press-fit, and takes a little effort to seat them (compressing the knob in the process), but not so much force is applied to the cake that it causes a failure at the wall around the hole.  If it were me, I'd try to make the knob between 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the cake, and the knob stick up 1/4 of the depth.

And now you're wondering of course how both the top and bottom could be cast -- by making two molds, and gluing the top and bottom together using icing.  Depending on the strength required, you might have to add some rods to pin it together ... but one vertically through the knob will only help you in compression and sheer, not tension.  For that, you'd need three or more diagonally through the knob in a radial pattern.  I'd personally avoid the supports, with the argument that it's no longer fully edible, and might not be a cake anymore.  (and those who enter gingerbread cake competitions would instead just use something edible as the rod, like an un-bent candy cane).

So, to summarize:

You'll need two molds, one for the upper, one for the lower, bake, level, then join them together.
The knobby bits in theory should be 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the side, and about 1/4 of the total height
The knobby bits should be slightly wider than the hole they're fitting into.
Avoid slender pieces (ie, no 1x4 pieces; 1x1 or maybe 1x2)
Stiffen the cake with gelatin, refrigeration, and bake at a lower temp (but you need to cook it longer to get a bit of crust to form)

And now, for the reason it just won't work :

If they're lego shaped, they're rectangular ... and you can't make a smooth circle out of a bunch of rectangles, at least not until the diameter of the circle is significantly larger than the width of the rectangles ... but we have the slenderness issues, so you'd be making a whole bunch of 1x2 pieces to stick together and it'd be quite tedious.

Depending on what you're willing to qualify as 'cake', this could be possible to make out of gingerbread (as used for cookies and houses, not cake), but you'd have to dry it so far that it'd not cut like a conventional cake.  (make it from layers, then laminate them to make individual pieces, you might have to use hole saws after they're dried to get the proper sized knobs and holes, and then sand to get 'em perfect)


Best Office Coffee Solution What is the best coffee solution for a small office (about 10 people)?  We are looking for something that is:

Tasty
Fast
Easy

We have fairly discriminating taste, although it doesn't have to be barista quality.  Any recommendations on what might be a good combination of machine, grounds, process, etc. would be much appreciated.

a Keurig or other single-cup coffee maker might be a good idea, everyone could have their own favorites. The coffee isn't amazing but it's surprisingly decent.


Is it ok to use plastic containers to bake in an electric oven? Can I use a microwave safe plastic container to bake in an electric oven?

Here is a list of common plastics found in kitchen containers. You will find this information on the bottom of the container, in a triangle with a number inside.

While some plastics used in microwavable applications appear to have a high melting point, PET for instance melts at 510ºF, please remember that the material will soften, weaken and otherwise degrade long before actually melting into liquid. Other plastics labeled microwave safe, like HDPE, melts at a mere 265ºF! While microwave safe plastics may have a relatively high short term temperature resistance, sustained temperature tolerance, as in leaving it in an oven for baking, is much lower.

Silicone bakeware, by contrast, has a melting point of 935ºF, but is only rated for use at sustained temperatures no greater than 675ºF. Above that point, and the material will soften, warp and degrade. Thermoplastics have a much lower melting point, and it can be expected that their sustained temperature resistance is likewise much lower, to the point where using them as bakeware is unadvisable.


Irish soda bread kneading process I do understand how soda reacts with buttermilk but I do not know when. Does this happens during the baking process or does the reactions starts soon as they are mixed together?
The question i want to ask, if the time for mixing should be minimized to get higher rise during bake? Like do a quick dough with hands. Or its safe to leave it mixing in food processor?
or maybe its better to add soda later in mixing process?

You don't knead soda bread for long, some methods call for no kneading at all. One reason is texture, soda bread should be a bit crumbly, stretchy isn't what you are aiming for. The other reason is to get the most out of your leavening agent. Baking soda and buttermilk (or any other acid) will start to react immediately on contact, although the reaction is much slower at room temperature than oven temperature, so the longer your wait the less rise you'll get.
I like to knead my soda bread for about 60 seconds, just for a bit more structure as I like it that way, but that's as far as I go. I do it all by hand, a mixer is overkill in my opinion as you'll spend more time cleaning up than you will actually mixing anything. Others may have a different view on that, there's no right or wrong answer to that one.
You can't add the soda later in the process because you won't get an even distribution, it needs to be mixed in the flour at the beginning.


Storing knives: wood block or magnetic stripe? What's better for storing your knives? Wood block or magnetic stripe? And why?

I prefer the block. I've used the strip before, but if it was knocked accidentally when bustling about the kitchen, it caused a rain of sharp metal death. It was also possible to get the blade of the knife being pulled off under another and cause an extra knife to come shooting off the strip.

These could probably be overcome by being less of a clutz or getting a better magnetic strip rack, but I've transitioned to something like this, which you can make at home for about $10. Works great. No need to worry about sizes of knives to holes, and doesn't let the blades rub against anything metal.


Why is baking soda included in sourdough cracker recipe? I'm following a recipe for crackers made with unfed sourdough starter (other ingredients are flour, oil, and salt). It also calls for 1/4 tsp baking soda and I'm wondering why since the dough sits on the counter several hours before baking, and can also be stored in the fridge for days. I would think the baking soda would no longer be active to work as a raising agent. Is it possible it is there for some other reason?

Am I correct that the baking soda is no longer active in the dough after so many hours before baking? If so, how can it work as a leavening agent?

I've added a photo of a cracker from the batch with baking soda. Not sure if the photo shows it well, but there's a big raised bubble in the middle, although hard to say if it's due to the baking soda or the sourdough starter. I'd say 80% of the crackers have a bubble of some sort. I read somewhere that baking soda might be used to make a more tender cracker and this batch is in fact not crispy (big disappointment). My next batch will be identical but without baking soda, so I'll see!

In addition to leavening, baking soda increases the PH of the dough. Since your recipe uses sourdough starter, it may be fairly acidic. Adding baking soda will make the dough less acidic. The PH level, in turn, is important for browning: a high PH level facilitates the Maillard reaction, giving you brown and toasty crackers.


Turn leftover icing into buttercream icing? I made up some basic icing for biscuits: icing sugar + water.

I have a lot leftover and was wondering whether there was a way to turn it into a buttercream icing? I wondered whether by adding more icing sugar to thicken it, and then adding butter that would work?

I'm hoping someone else has tried it and knows!

Thanks!

It will if you add more icing sugar but you may end up with a lot of buttercream depending on how much of the icing you have left. A basic ratio is 4 cups icing sugar to 1 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of liquid which makes 3 cups of icing. You may have to add more icing sugar, then more butter to compensate for the water if there's more than 1/4 cup in your original biscuit icing.


Caramel Apple cocktail garnish I am a bartender who has little experience using caramel.  I want to use caramel as a garnish by dipping dehydrated apple slices in it.  How do I create a "dripping effect" on the dehydrated apple slice?  I need it to look "drippy", but also need it to be hardened.  Also, is it possible to prepare the apples in advance, or do I need to do each one when making the drink?  This is for a cocktail competition, so the garnish has to be on point.  Any help is appreciated!

Leave the caramel to cool further, as the thickness should increase as it cools.  Once it is at the required thickness, you can drip ropes of caramel on to the apple to make a drip effect.  Alternatively have a separate thicker caramel to make the drip effect.

This is can be seen as a sugar work/pulled sugar technique.  Also it woudl be recommended to do this in advance to allow the caramel to fully harden.  Note: temperature and humidity can affect the caramel.


vacuum sealed kielbasa in a hot car for 18 hours - is it still good? I bought vacuum sealed kielbasa yesterday about 6:30 pm. It must have fallen out of the bag in my very hot car and I didn't notice until about 11:45 the next day...Is it still good?

Sounds like you're going to need some new kielbasa.

Kielbasa isn't fermented, and needs to be refrigerated to stay good. Vacuum sealing reduces the oxygen in the package, slowing down oxidation and inhibiting the growth of some types of bacteria when combined with refrigeration, but that kielbasa won't stand a chance in a hot car.


Can zucchini be increased in zucchini bread recipes? I would like to increase the amount of zucchini in my zucchini bread recipe. Can I? How much? Does increasing the amount of zucchini make other changes necessary?

Zucchini bread is a quick bread. It is chemically leavened and bound together mostly with egg but some gluten.

Adding more zucchini will add liquid and fiber which will interfere a little more with gluten development. Both of these changes will result in a bread that is more moist and tender- to the extreme of not holding together enough.

You can increase the zucchini- how much is difficult to answer because the bread will be different and how much is ok will be a matter of taste. I have found that for the quick breads I make, such as banana and zucchini, I can up to double the titular ingredient.

The resulting bread is always very moist and dense. Sometimes it is too tender to slice. The flavor is more pronounced and sometimes that's what I'm in the mood for.

Interestingly, bread made in this way has a much shorter shelf life because of the extra moisture.

I've tried adding another egg to hold it together but that quickly becomes too "eggy". Of course adding more flour means you are just making a bigger batch of your original recipe.


What are proper methods of cooking stovetop lentils? I've had lentils that are cooked through but retain their form, as well as lentils that are cooked down into an almost blended substance.

What's the origin of each type of preparation, and when is it best used? Are certain kinds of seasoning better for either method?

There are many different kinds of lentils, each of which have unique properties when cooked. Some lentils, like French lentils, will hold their shape very well when cooked. Most whole lentils will actually hold up fairly well unless severely overcooked. Frequently for the dishes with a more homogenous texture, split lentils (frequently masoor dal) are used. In addition to being split, the seed coat of the lentils has been removed, so if they are cooked thoroughly there isn't really anything holding them together.

Usually they are just simmered in a liquid until tender. The seasonings are up to your personal taste, or the recipe you are using. The one advice that I would give is to taste as you go. If you want the lentils to remain whole, be sure to avoid overcooking them. Conversely, if you want a smooth texture, cook them until completely tender.

Also, a lot of the dishes that you refer to as having a blended texture may in fact be blended.


What does 6% acidity taste like? A friend and I have been doing research on a recipe and he encountered a statement to the effect that the result should be around "6% acidity." I am not familiar with what this would mean in the context of food, and need help parsing what this phrase means and how to tell when a resource is using the taste sensation, as opposed to the pH, sense of the word.

To my understanding, acidity in coffee (as an example) is not actual acidity; "acidity" refers to [the] flavor note, not to the actual acid content; coffee is relatively low in acid. Its pH averages around 5.0 - 5.1(src).

That said, pH:dilution of vinegar is directly regulated based on it's percent acidity.

If a cooking resource refers to a percent of acidity, is this a measure somehow related to the pH of the food? Or is it possible the resource is making the same "flavor note" comparison (i.e. where coffee turns between having a bright tongue, or not)
Either way, how would I go about trying to prepare some solution that would replicate the taste/sensation of "6% acidity"?

I am roughly imagining some quantity x of [consumable acid, e.g. vinegar] and y of water; would that approximate the taste/sensation?

In wine-making, at least, acidity is a function of three different types of acid.  Because those types of acid matter to the final product, wine making supply stores and websites provide several inexpensive ways of determining acidity.  Two described here are an acid titration kit and a pH meter.  When making wine last year I used an acid titration kit and it couldn't have been simpler.  You take a sample of your liquid, the indicator solution, and a reactor solution.  Based on how much of the reactor you have to add to change the color of the original sample you can get your acidity in a percent.
In my experience with the wine we noticed the acidity in our grape juice (that was on its way to becoming wine) more by the burning sensation on our hands where we touched the grapes as we crushed them or in our mouths when we drank - our solution started out seriously acidic.  It was hard to taste a difference between too acidic and just right.
If you have a liquid recipe and want to get the acidity exactly right, consider using acid titration.


When heating up a pizza, edges burn while middle still liquid (Please excuse the fact that I don't make my own pizza...)

I have a thawed (originally frozen-bought) pizza of about 25.5cm diameter, a microwave, and a convection toaster-oven, whose internal space' dimensions are  38cm x 30cm x 23cm  WxDxH. The pizza is neither super-thick nor super-thin.

When I heat my pizza in the convection oven, I can't get the different parts of it to be done simultaneously: Either the surrounding crust has its brown color slightly deepening, so it's a bit toastier than originally but not totally dry - but then the middle is still barely warm and very much liquid-laden; or the surrounding crust has blackened, charred, and is inedible, while the middle is just about properly done.

You might be wondering what temperature I'm using. Well, it's 180 degrees celsius or so, but actually I have no idea what to set it to. I was wondering perhaps playing with this setting would help, but I don't even know whether to increase or decrease it.

The key here is that you said you’ve thawed the pizza. Frozen pizzas are designed to be baked from frozen. The instructions on the box should reflect this.


Tips for Removing Silk from Corn? Does anyone have any tips for how to easily and quickly remove silk from ears of corn? I find that it takes a long time to pick it all out.

If you're cooking it on the cob, remove the silk after you've cooked it. I typically microwave  my corn in the inner husk, when you pull it out the silk just slides right off.


How to prevent burning when frying bread? I have the following recipe:

1 teaspoon of milk
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
1 fresh egg
2 slices of bread

I cut the bread into some squares and throw it inside the mixture (milk + sugar + egg). Later, I put them in a wok and fry them.

However, I always get 25% to 30% of them burned, another 10% to 20% of them quite wet.

So, how do I prevent the 25% to 30% of them from getting burned? (I tried reducing the heat and using less oil but could not prevent them from either getting burned or soggy.)

Given that the frying of a cube of bread is a test for oil temperature, I suspect one or both of two things are happening here -

1 The oil is not at the correct temperature when the cubes of bread are dropped in it; and
2 The oil temperature drops when you add too many cubes in at the same time so some get burnt and some end up soggy for the single time duration you're cooking them for.

Suggested solutions -

1 Ensure the oil is at the correct temperature for the level of browness you want the cubes of bread to be fried to.
2 Don't over-crowd the pan. Fry them in batches, ensuring the oil temperature rises back to the correct one before the next batch is fried.


Keeping Food Hot & Delicious I'm having a large amount of guests over tomorrow and I wanted to know how can keep large portions of food hot and ready to serve without it getting cold or damp, while also keeping my deserts cool and refreshing. I'm serving Pasta, Sandwiches, Chicken, Fries & Cold Deserts.

I'm looking for a tech savvy and cheap way to keep my food hot and cold accordingly and any advice would be helpful.

Standard answer is hotel pans and chaffing dishes with alcohol burners for the hot items.

Double hotel pans with ice between them for the cold items.

Coolers work well for storing items before serve. Things that are fried though would do much better in an oven set to the lowest temp, coolers will trap moisture and they will lose their crispness.

Chafing dish

Hotel pans


Why is my chuck roast dry? Our chuck roast came out tender but dry. Why?

We used the Beef in Barolo recipe from Americas Test Kitchen:
 - 2 lbs chuck roast seasoned with salt and pepper
 - Cooked at 300*F for 3 hours in a full bottle of red wine and veggies
 - Pot was covered in foil and lid on top
 - Turned the meat every 45 minutes
 - Instructions were to cook until the meat fell apart easily with a fork

What did we do wrong?

Thanks!

The temp your meat reached was too high, and it forced the water out of the meat.

Further info here along with a handy chart of temps.

My suggestion would be to turn that oven down to 200-230 degrees if you've gotta cook for three hours, or start temping it earlier and get it out before it over cooks.


Are the eggs in semi-freddo cooked? In the recipe that I used for raspberry semi-freddo, one beats the eggs and castor sugar in a heat-proof dish over simmering water until it becomes thick.
Are the eggs actually cooked?
What is the purpose of beating it while it is being heated?

It is to create a custard or crème anglaise (I assume there is also cream/milk in the recipe).

If you do not beat the eggs, they will become scrambled eggs.

so the proper cooking term is "tempering" the eggs.

For example:

http://www.finecooking.com/article/how-to-temper-creme-anglaise


Can I / should I keep spices & dried herbs in the fridge? Common wisdom regarding spice storage (whether whole or ground) seems to tend towards cool, dark, dry places. However, I'm somewhat limited on kitchen cupboard space, and obviously the various spice rack options available don't do a great job on the "dark" front, and in my kitchen not on the "cool" front either.

Is it OK (both taste-wise and food safety-wise) for me to keep my spices in the fridge? I typically keep them either in the small glass jar I buy them in, or (when bought in a packet) in resealable tupperware-style containers, all in one of the crisper drawers (mainly because I don't typically fill both).

Whatever the answer, does it apply to dried herbs also?

To clarify: my kitchen doesn't get any natural light (sadly).

Most fresh herbs do quite well in the fridge, so long as they're prepared appropriately.

I would not put dried herbs and spices into the fridge, especially if they're in a hard-sided container.  (unless maybe if you were in a really arid area)

There problem is that if you're in a warm, humid environment, you'll be trapping a little bit of moist air in there each time you use some ... which will condense in the fridge, which could result in rot for the herbs ... and I'm not sure what for the spices.

If you really wanted to pack them in the fridge, I would put them in a bag (vacuum bagged, if you can), and leave them there, with another container outside the fridge with enough for a month or two.  In this way there's less moisture trapped in there, and you're not opening it frequently.


What kind of fuel do I use for a Hario TCA/50A coffee syphon? I just received a Hario Coffee Syphon TCA/50A as a birthday gift which makes use of an alcohol-fuel powered wick/lamp to heat the water.

However, I'm a bit confused which fuel I should be using exactly? The manual states:

  Use only fuel-type alcohol. Never use gasoline, benzene or kerosene. Purchase fuel-type alcohol from a pharmacy, etc.

However, what exactly should I be asking for? I live in Germany and none of the Apothek/Pharmacies said they had what I was looking for. I feel like there should be a more common name for the exact fuel I need to use! (eg: Should I be looking for Butane or Ethanol?)

Ask them for Brennspiritus. You can get it in bigger drugstores like DM or Rossmann, I don't know who else will have it, but maybe home maintenance (?) stores (Baumärkte).

You can't use butane, that's a different fuel and obviously not suitable for your case. You should be able to use pure ethanol, but due to alcohol import laws, medicinal ethanol without dilutants is extremely expensive, and medicinal ethanol with dilutants might have dilutants which create something bad when burned. Brennspiritus is ethanol with dilutants which can be burned safely, while still making it undrinkable.

If everything else fails, you can start burning high-percentage drinking alcohol, my grandpa uses it sometimes on Spiritus burners. The problem (besides being more expensive) is that you need both a high ABV (something around 70% will be good) and a pure alcohol (vodka or obstwasser); alcohol types which you are likely to find at these percentages (such as rum) can leave layers of badly combusted gunk inside the burner.


how to season a frozen steak I have some frozen steaks I want to cook rather quickly. I want to follow this method: this question but I am not sure how to season it. How do I apply seasoning to a steak without defrosting it?

I'm not sure how much it matters, other than the fact that it is difficult for seasoning to stick to a frozen steak.  I would season with salt and pepper (or whatever spice blend you prefer) after the sear and before the oven step...but you could also season at the end of the cook.  If it is a good steak, keep the seasoning simple.


What is the best way to turn soup into stew without using flour? I was hoping to make stew, but I made soup by forgetting to add thickener--my intended thickener was keto flour because, due to an autoimmune disease, I cannot have wheat or corn or potatoes.
I was just looking up how to turn soup into stew and found a recommendation of mixing flour with cold water, and adding that mixture to the soup.
Is there a way to thicken soup without use of flour?

Let's leave aside the question of what separates a soup from a stew (there's no real answer, only mostly arbitrary opinions - which seems to be a somewhat widely shared belief around here: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/20963/70120).  It sounds to me like you have a dish with some liquid in it and you want to thicken it.
There are a number of ways that soups/stews are traditionally thickened.  I'd break them into four or six categories depending on how you want to count:

Add starchy paste: this is the method you've already found, adding slurry made from flour and water.  If you have a problem with wheat in particular, you could use corn starch, potato starch, etc. instead.

Add a starchy ingredient and cook it: a similar idea, but rather than adding a slurry of flour/starch and water, you add some starchy food like noodles, bread, or potatoes.  If you cook these starchy foods in the liquid for long enough, the starch will leech out of the potato/noodle/bread and into the liquid, having much the same effect as the first method. You can speed up this process by adding smaller particles, for example, shredded potatoes, or bread crumbs.

Add gelatin: this is not much different than adding starch, except that you usually don't need to make a slurry, you can add the gelatin directly and it may have a lesser effect on the flavor.  I'm including in this category thickeners like xanthan gum, or pectin, or other vegan alternatives to gelatin.

Add a gelatin-containing ingredient and cook it: rather than adding gelatin directly, you can add an ingredient with gelatin in it.  The most obvious choice here is bones. There's collagen in animal bones, as well as in skin and connective tissue (like you'd find in a tough cut of meat) and when you boil them (especially in something acidic) you'll get gelatin.

Add cream: cream itself isn't much thicker than water, but the fat in the cream can make the soup/stew feel, well, creamier and less watery.  Other milky ingredients can be used, including thicker ones like sour cream or yogurt. Generally speaking, the thicker the milky ingredient, the thicker the soup/stew, but if you add sour cream and then cook for a long time, it probably won't seem much thicker than it would have with milk. When we add thick milk products like sour cream and yogurt, we typically add them right at the end.

Blend the soup: rather than adding a thick or thickening ingredient, you can add structure to the liquid by blending in whatever you were cooking in the liquid.  This is very common in French vegetable soups.  Often only a portion of the soup is blended, so that you end up with a thicker liquid and some large pieces of vegetables and meat.


Is a "typical" jam sweeter today than the typical jams of centuries ago? I have a new early morning snack this week - toast and jam, but after putting the (fridge temp) jam on the toast, I put the whole plate of toast and jam in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm the jam. It's delicious, but some of the jams in my fridge are just way too sweet for me this way. That got me thinking - hundreds of years ago, jams were eaten at room temperature. But now they are eaten cold from the fridge as often as not. I wonder if the sugar level has been increased as a result - either by adding more sugars or by reducing the fruit more than before which would also intensify the flavours.

Has anyone compared modern and very old jam recipes to see if this is a real trend? Or the sugar levels in supermarket jam compared to jam recipes in older books?

On the contrary, most of the older recipes that I've seen for jams use more sugar (60g per 100g or higher is common) than is popular in some of the newer products, because sugar has a preservative effect. But most likely pre-refrigeration and pre-iceboxes you simply wouldn't have kept multiple jars open at the same time; you'd use one at a time as quickly as practical, and keep your reserve stock seals unbroken.

Industrially refined pectin has actually reduced the amount of sugar necessary to make a good preserve. A number of companies also now make "all fruit" spreads, but they're controlling the sugar ratio with knowledge from food science, by analyzing how much sugar is in the non-primary fruits like grape and apple juice.

60 grams of fruit per 100g or more are available but by traditional standards are quite a luxury, even though I would agree that such products often taste better; they owe their existence to better food science, however, and a little to refrigeration.

A lot of widely-distributed brands still use sugar ratios that are pretty high, including Welch's and Smucker's, but you may find higher fruit ratios in boutique brands.


Cellulose from hemp seeds? Recently I came to the discovery of this new product.

Honestly I thought it were just hemp seeds, unfortunately my expectations were incorrect. Yes, it seems I really have to work on my Ukrainian...

Anyhow, now I'm stuck with this package (translation: cellulose from cannabis seeds) and I really wonder what I can do with it. I searched the webs for recipes but nothing popped up, neither when searching for recipes with just cellulose.

Anyone can here who can point me in the right direction?

Thus far I tried to make some salad with it, also I tried to dissolve it with milk which both didn't worked out that well.

You could regulate your bowels.

Cellulose is indigestible.  I suspect this is a fiber supplement like Metamucil or bran flakes.  If you suffer from irregularity you could use this.

I understand cellulose is used as filler for people who want to reduce carbs.  A more interesting idea than Metamucil would be to see if you can substitute it for sugar in cookies or muffins.  I am skeptical; it does not look very processed.


Energy efficiency of microwave and electric kettle for heating water Has anyone measured the watts used to heat a mug of water in a microwave instead of in electric kettle into cold mug?
I have always considered that an electric kettle wastes energy when heating enough water for a mug of coffee or tea. Enough water must be added to cover heating element and often surplus is left with hot element.Instead I have an old  tupperware mug with two finger handle for safe use. The correct amount of water is added. The heating is watched until it boils and then used immediately door opened.

According to the folks over at treehugger.com, they did a study to measure which of the stove, the microwave or the kettle was the more efficient in terms of use of electricity to heat a standard mug of water. This doesn't directly answer your question as you are unlikely to boil 350 ml (standard cup is 250 ml) of water in your kettle or on the stove, but it gets the point across.

A summary of their findings is that it took the electric stove 0.11 kWh, the microwave (900 W) 0.07 kWh, and the kettle 0.04 kWh. This indicates that in terms of energy usage the stove is 30.5% efficient, the microwave is 47% and the kettle is 81%.

The clear winner is the kettle!


Soup making - should I add extra water and boil off for flavour? When making soup, my husband likes to add a lot of water then boil off for 30-45 mins to make it more concentrated.

I prefer to add just enough water for consistentcy then gently simmer, thinking that adding the water will just dilute it anyway, defeating the purpose of then boiling it off. Plus then the contents get mushier..

Which approach is recommended - or will both end up with a similar result?

My experience and the recipes I read are to simmer.  Hard boil and simmer are the same temperature so cooking time should be the same.  A hard boil can break up contents.  Hard boil also dirties your stove top.  That said even with a simmer you can sometimes need to add liquid.

If your husband wants to hard boil there is not much harm.  He is cooking.


What is the proper way to cool sushi rice after cooking? I've heard a couple of suggestions for cooling the rice prior to making rolls and both seem to contradict each other. What works for you guys (and gals)?

What I do is just remove the liner from the steamer, add rice vinegar solution and fold the rice while fanning it for a few minutes, then just leave it alone for 30 minutes with a towel over the container to prevent drying. Seems to work for me, but I don't like waiting that long to start making the rolls.

It looks like your process is the accepted one around the web.

If you put a cool, damp (not wet), clean kitchen towel on your counter and fold the rice on top of it in front of a fan may help to cool it more quickly. Otherwise, cooling it to room temperature just seems to take a bit of time.


How can I clean this cooking pan? I have this non-stick tefal cooking pan which works great - nothing sticks to the telfon part.

The only problem is the silver metal rim to the pan - it just gets more and more brown the more often I use it. It requires more scrubbing with soap than I am able to manage if I want it to stay shiny silver. How can I clean the brown gunk off?

Don't clean it.

You have the same issue as in How to remove film from stainless steel pan. This is polymerised oil, the same stuff which is intentionally built on cast iron pans. The cleaning methods listed in the linked question will also work in your case.

But the catch is that they will also strip the teflon from your pan. So, unless you are completely sure that you can somehow clean the steel part only, without getting drops of abrasives and strong chemicals on the teflon, don't bother. It doesn't harm anything, and it surely isn't contaminating your food with anything. And if you do try something caustic on the strip, don't use it on the rim, because the strip is probably SS, but the pan's bowl is likely to be aluminium and will be corroded by many aggressive cleaning products.


How much cream can whip at once? I am making a large quantity of a recipe that calls for whipped cream. I can use A KitchenAid mixer with the standard 4.5 quart bowl and whisk.  For efficiency sake, I’d like to whip as much as possible at one time, and would appreciate advice on how much Cream I should whip at one time.

I have a 4.5l kitchen aid, the most cream I have ever whipped in it was 1l. The limitation is the wire whisk, you don't want so much that the level gets above the level at which the whisk can contact it, as then it won't whip effectively.

Too much also will get messy, getting all over the rotating parts.


No brown coloring: how to make macaron brown with only red and green coloring powders My local store only has red, green, yellow, blue coloring powders. No brown or anything that looks like chocolate.

How to make chocolate-brown from these basic colors?

I tried cocoa powder, but that changed the texture and the macarons failed.

A French recipe suggests 1 green for 5 red, resulting in pink that supposedly becomes brown when cooking, but that is with liquid colorant so not sure it applies.

I wouldn't try to mix food coloring for something as sensitive as macarons and a color as difficult as brown. Color theory sounds easy enough, but practice is a different beast. The intensity of the pigments varies, there are unexpected interactions, etc. And then you need some solid theoretical and practical background in working with color.

That is not to say that you cannot be successful just trying any likely-looking ratio, but the chance that you get the color you were aiming for instead of some drab mud color is not so good.

Unless you are willing to invest the time and effort needed for several macaron batches doing the R&D (and we can't do it for you, or report to you based on previous experience, because we don't have the exact powders you have), you are better off going some other route.

Order brown food coloring online. There are some great colors available, with very wide palettes and high quality ingredients. There is a reason why professional chefs buy from these palettes and don't mix their own.
Find a recipe for a colored macaron. It can be a chocolate or a coffee macaron. The recipe will already take the added ingredient into consideration, so no tweaking will be needed to achieve the correct texture.

If you absolutely need to go with your powders, the usual process of discovering the correct ratio is following:

Start with a certain amount of red, maybe 1 gram
Prepare 11 mini pots for color mixing
Use pure red in one pot, 1:1 red with green in the middle pot, pure green in the other end. Vary the scale in the between-pots logarithmically: in pot nr. 5, use 1 part red to 0.5 parts green, in nr. 4, use 1 part red to 0.25 green, etc.
Now you have different amounts in each pot, but at least 1 gram. Prepare a sufficient amount of macaron batter, divide it into 11 batches of known size, and add the same amount of mixed color to each. Leave sufficient batter for 2-3 uncolored batches.
First bake the uncolored batches, so the oven will have reached a steady state of preheatedness before you start with the colored batches.
Bake the colored batches, using exact temperature and timing.
Photograph the results (you have to keep very good track of your batches all the while - label all coloring pots, mixing bowls and baking sheets).
Now you have the hue you like, but not the intensity. Repeat the process, but instead of mixing red and green in a logarithmic scale, add differing amounts of color to each batch in a logarithmic scale.

If everything went well, you now have the color you wanted. If not, you have to repeat until you get consistent results.

A shorter form may work for you, where you start with a random ratio (why not the 1:5 you found somewhere?) and use a Newton method for finding a color good enough for you. Don't forget that the steps will still need to accommodate a nonlinear relationship between pigment amount and perceived color, so if you are looking for a color halfway between the effect of 1:4 and 1:64, it's not 1:34, it's 1:16. You will still need to bake several batches in succession, so it may be more work then doing a lot of batches at once. Anyway, I think you see now why I suggested buying the premade color.

By the way, what I outlined is an already abbreviated method, giving you only one "line" of hues achievable with your colorants. The full method would require you to make a whole color triangle. It is entirely possible that the color you want is not on the straight line between your red and your green, but requires also some yellow or some blue. Or that it is completely outside of the color space of your pigments, so not achievable with that brand.


How to add flavor to potato soup (using minimally processed ingredients)? I've made my first potato soup and it has no taste.

Just to get an idea this is how I made it: chopped and onion and a carrot and place them with some oil to fry. After the onion got brown, I added the potatoes, water and salt and kept it cooking until the potatoes were done.

It tastes like ... just... boiled water.

How do I salvage the soup, preferably using minimally processed ingredients (for example, avoiding MSG)?

First, cook your potatoes in stock, not water.  I prefer chicken stock but you can use vegetable stock if you prefer.  Make sure you use only enough stock to barely cover the potatoes, and cook them with the lid off.  When the potatoes are done, add milk or cream until you achieve a nice, creamy consistency.  If necessary, you can thicken it by mashing some of the potatoes against the side of the pan.  You can also add some grated cheese.  I would use a hard cheese like Parmigiano or Romano.  Now just season to taste.  With a simple soup like potato, I would stick to salt and pepper only.  If you do use other spices, be careful because they will easily overwhelm the delicate flavor.


How can I prevent pork from becoming tough while being held at warm temperature? I work at a nice restaurant and bar. We sometimes make pork loin roasts and gravy for our banquets. The pork is cooked to 145 degrees internally and is very tender and delicious when sliced, but as it sits in the gravy in a warmer or on the banquet line, the meat toughens up.

What causes this? Is putting it in the warmer the cause of the problem?

I think this is normal. I have heard of other empirical observations, for example tough sous vide despite controlling the temperature tightly.

The problem is that temperature scales assume that you stop heating the meat at this temperature. But what toughens the meat is not temperature, it is energy. Each joule you put into that meat is beating up a piece of protein, breaking up weak bonds, destroying the tightly woven kinks. It is a stochastic process which speeds up with temperature.

So, what you want to happen is that almost all actin is denatured, and almost none of the myosin is denatured. At room temperature, the energy of the average molecule part moving with heat energy is so low that only one in a gazillion actin parts and one in a kilogazillion myosin parts are breaking free per minute (I don't have the actual numbers, sorry). If you heat that up to 145, at a rate of 10 F per minute, it spends a minute in transition from 75 to 85 F, at which time a gazillionth of your actin gets cooked. The next minute, it transitions from 85 to 95 F, and maybe a thousand times more myosin gets cooked than in the last minute, as well as a thousand times more actin. Repeat that until you reach 145, and in the last minute, you are adding sufficient energy per minute to cook 99% of the myosin and 0.0001% of the actin per minute.

If you were to keep the pan on the high heat and let it get up to 155 in the next minute, this will be a minute during which you are cooking the meat at a speed of 99.9999% of the myosin and 1% of the actin per minute, for example. This doesn't matter for your myosin, because it is cooked anyway, losing its ternary structure, but the energy is not yet high enough to make it lose its secondary structure. But you get a lot more actin converted. And if you let the temperature climb for another minute, the energy in this minute will be sufficient to convert another 99.99999999% of your myosin (if it were still raw, which it isn't) and almost 100% of your actin. Now you have a shoesole steak on your hands.

This is why you are told to remove the steak from the pan when it reaches a certain temperature. It is not the reaching of the temperature which turns it, but the total amount of temperature which has gone into it since the start of heating.

In scenario two, you know enough to remove it from the pan at 145. In the next minute, while it is resting, it goes down a few degrees, and maybe another percent of your myosin is converted, but certainly not enough to get it tough. Everything is great when you serve it after maybe 10 minutes of resting.

In scenario 3, you keep it hot for a day. The temperature is high enough to not worry about food safety. Which means that there is still a significant amount of heat energy pouring into your meat per minute. It may only be cooking 0.1% of your myosin per minute (as opposed to a 5 degrees higher temperature which would be cooking the myosin at a rate of 10% per minute) but if you keep it there for 1000 minutes, you get 100% of your myosin converted, so you get a shoesole again.

This is a simplified description of what I think is happening. Again, none of the numbers denoting denaturing speed are accurate; I use them to illustrate the logic behind the physical process here, but the actual speed can be orders of magnitude off. And besides, there is more complicated stuff happening in heating meat, and more of it is still being discovered. But I think this is sufficient as an explanation of why you are getting tough meat. The "cook it to 145 F" rule is a gross oversimplification which only delivers good results if you really stop heating it then.


Can I use diluted lemon juice in place of rice wine vinegar I'm making some Korean chicken and am out of rice wine vinegar. Would a diluted lemon juice work

The recipe only calls for a tablespoon of vinegar so it doesn't form a large part of the dish.

You are going to get similar results but not the same flavor.  I don't think you need to dilute the lemon juice although I would research the pH level of both, because this is the reason the recipe probably calls for the vinegar.


How to prevent pureed blueberries from gelling? I have a sparkling new ice cream machine. The first batch, Philadelphia-style plain vanilla ice cream, worked perfectly. I decided to try a sorbet, and made Lebovitz's Blueberry-banana sorbet, but used less blueberries than in the recipe, because I didn't have enough. I cooled the base in the fridge for 9 hours.

When I took it out to churn it, it was gelled, I assume due to the pectin in the blueberries. I whipped it a bit with a whisk, which broke it up into small lumps, but didn't really returned it to liquid. When I filled it in the ice cream maker, I discovered that it didn't have enough torque. The mass climbed up the dasher, and started rotating with it as one big lump. Eventually (after over an hour, although the instructions say that half a portion of well-chilled base should only take 20 min) it was ready. The texture was OK, not really crystalized, and definitely no lumps, but still I feel that it would have worked better if the mass had been liquid instead of semisolid from the beginning.

What can I do to prevent the blueberries from gelling during the chilling phase next time?

I used 1 banana (90 g peeled), 125 g fresh blueberries, 50 g sugar, 90 g water, and 7 g lemon juice. Everything thrown into a blender and pureed, no heating. Then chilled for 9 hours in the fridge before churning.

Blueberries, and especially underripe blueberries, have a lot of pectin. Blueberries have about .4g per 100g compared to apples which have .5g. As you suspected this is almost definitely causing the problem. Many blueberry jam recipes consist of just heating pureed blueberries with sugar and acid- no added pectin needed.

When you heated your pureed blueberries the pectins dissolved out of the cell walls and developed a negative charge that would keep them from gelling. The acid in your recipe, as well as the sugar, created perfect conditions for those pectins to re-tangle and gel.

Solutions to this problem would be:

Use riper blueberries- ripe blueberries are lower in pectin.
Use less sugar
Add less acid

Obviously the last two suggestions are easier but will change the flavor of the recipe somewhat.

You could also add less fruit but, as you noticed, a little pectin goes a long way. I fear you would have to drastically reduce the amount of fruit which would be sad.

An interesting paper about pectin says in reference to LM pectins: "The presence of acetyl groups prevents gel formation with calcium ions but gives the pectin emulsion stabilising properties."

Of HM pectins it says: "Acetyl groups prevent gelation and the DM within the group of high methoxyl pectins determines the setting temperature of a gel."

Other papers point out that the more acetic acid that can be extracted from a fruit the poorer the gelling properties of its pectin.

Wikipedia concurs that acetylation prevents gelling of pectin. Acetylation of salicylic acid to make aspirin is done with Acetic anhydride. If you could get your hands on this compound it seems likely it would drastically decrease the gelling ability of your pectins.

I included this last suggestion for the sake of the anonymous hordes on the internets because, as Acetic anhydride will react with water in the air to form acetic acid, it reeks of vinegar. And everyone knows that you hate that smell.


I would like to make homemade Ketchup, how do I prepare the tomato? I've got the rest of the recipe, sugar, vinegar and a few other spices that I was going to experiment with,but I wanted to know what do you need to do to the tomato in order to get it to look like ketchup, not a tomato sauce?

You will want to remove the skins. Make a small cut on the bottom of the tomato and then drop into a pot of boiling water for 30-60 seconds. When the small cut expands to a large split, remove from the pot and drop into ice water. The skins will slide right off.

You will also want to remove the seeds. You can do this by cutting the tomato and digging them out with your finger. Cook and process as usual. You can "cook the tar" out of the tomatoes until they completely break down into nothingness leaving a ketchup like substance,.

+OR+ you can cooked mixture with whole unpeeled/seeded tomatoes, THEN through a food mill or press through a fine mesh sieve. A food mill and sieve should also catch any seeds and skins.

Edited to clarify.


How much sugar and corn starch is in commercial icing sugar? If anyone knows about the percentages of sugar & corn starch to make icing sugar for commercial purposes, please let me know. How important is it for these percentages to be accurate?

Powdered sugar (as it is known in the US) is approximately 3% cornstarch by weight.

See, for example, United Sugar's website.  This is typical of all manufactuers, however.


Minimizing or Controlling the Flavor of Infused Butter When making a butter which will be infused hot, are there any ways to minimize or control the flavor compounds which will be extracted? I would like to make a cannabis butter, but to maximize it's culinary versatility, I'd like to extract as little flavor as possible, or at least be able to control the levels of specific flavors that are extracted (herbal, fruity, citrusy, etc).

(In case this is a touchy subject for anyone, this is legal where I live.)

Flavour infusion is mostly a chemical process and without some serious tools, chemistry, and knowledge you'll have tough time dictating what you want infused.  Sort of like sending a bunch of kids to a Smarties jar and hoping the blue ones are left behind.

As time progresses more and more compounds that can dissolve in butter do, and with more concentration.

The best suggestion I have is to experiment with different lengths of time at different temperatures (freezer even) in the hopes that the ones you'd like to keep away are bigger and take longer to dissolve.

Your other option is to do the opposite and dissolve the stuff you don't want in water or another butter batch and once you have a good base, infuse a fresh batch of butter with the remaining (good flavours).  Though given your base herb this may be undesired.


Do you have to use water to sous vide? I've been using the beer cooler hack instead of a sous vide machine and I was wondering if water is the only medium I can use to cook in it. I was thinking that I could fill it with oil for a high thermal mass that would use less energy since I'm using a plastic bag to prevent any contact with the food anyway.  Also, how important is that plastic bag? Could I use a broth to sous vide in with something pourous holding my meat and seasoning together?

You could use oil, but I don't think it's worth it; realize that you're going to be using additional energy for obtaining, cleaning, and disposal of it.

Regarding using a broth with a porous bag, well, that isn't sous vide. That's more akin to a slow-cooker. The whole point of sous vide is the airtight barrier between food and heat.

Update

Oil does not have a higher thermal mass than water. Ammonia does, but I'd suggest avoiding that. ;)

Source: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-fluids-d_151.html


whole vs ground spices I'm new to cooking and I just find some trouble understanding these two terms (probably because english is my second language ?).

I have tried google but I couldn't find something that would give a clear and concise definition.

Spices are vegetable products which add flavor to food. These are mostly fruits/seeds (mustard, cumin, poppy, coriander, fennel, pepper), roots (turmeric, ginger), tree bark (cinnamon) or flower buds (cloves).  If it is used to flavor food and it is leafy and green it is a herb, otherwise it's a spice.

Spices are often dried to preserve them and concentrate their flavor. They can be used whole or ground. Ground spices are simply the whole spice turned into a powder. Whole spices keep their flavor longer than ground, but ground spices are easier to cook with as they take less time for the flavor to go into the food.