GMS and CMC ratios in Ice Cream I was exploring a variety of online sources and I stumbled into the emulsifier Glycerol Monostearate (GMS). According to Wikipedia it is commonly used in ice cream to make its texture creamier.  I also noticed that it's commonly used with Carboxylmethyl Cellulose (CMC).

I have a Kitchen Aid ice cream maker accessory and one of common problems I have is that I feel like the overrun is very high and the ice cream is crunchy.  I wanted to try to address these issues with these additives.  Unfortunately, they're not mentioned in the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book. ;)  Information on the internet is relatively sparse as well.

Does anyone know the appropriate proportions for these ingredients in a French-style ice cream (with eggs)?

After some more research, I stumbled onto this post. The "standard ice cream" recipe linked from there uses 0.4% of a "stabilizer blend" (8g out of 1950g of ingredients).
GMS and CMC would fall into the stabilizers and emulsifiers category.  I used 7g of GMS and 1g of CMC, which seems to be a fairly common ratio in recipes using these ingredients.
The post itself says "standard" ice cream has 0 to 1% stabilizers and emulsifiers, which at least provides an upper bound:

One can very generally place ice cream formulas and their constituent components within the following ranges:
Milk Fat: 10–16%
Egg Yolk Solids: 0–2%
Nonfat Milk Solids: 9–12%
Sweeteners: 12–16%
Stabilizers and Emulsifiers: 0–1%
Water: 55–64%

The challenge is calculating the amounts of various components in the ingredients that are added.  I can say that I made delicious French Vanilla Ice Cream (with GMS and CMC) using that basic recipe  and the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream accessory.


Is it possible to make guacamole without acid? All guacamole recipes call for lime juice, some tomato variant, even hot sauce. I want to make a low-acid guacamole.

Is the acid necessary? How do I go about making low-acid guacamole? If it plays a role in the finished product, is there something I can substitute?

At its simplest, guacamole is just mashed avocado. Avocado is not particularly acidic on its own, so add whatever non-acidic ingredients you like.

Consider cilantro, sour cream or whatever low or non-acid flavorings suit you.

See: Browning Avocados - What Helps? for more on acid and avocados.


How long do I pre-heat a whole chicken for on the stove before placing it in the oven to roast? I am attempting to recreate the roast chicken by Chef Giuliano Sperandino:
Roasted Chicken in a 2 Michelin star french restaurant with Giuliano Sperandio - "Le Clarence" (turn on cc)
I can follow most of the recipe just fine; however, at 2:05 the chef places the chicken on the stove, laying on its leg so that "the temperature can penetrate". Any idea how long the chicken should be on the stove top for? I can put a probe in the middle/thigh to measure temp, but I'm not sure what he's going for here.

It is doubtful that the "temperature is penetrating"...whatever that even means in this case.  The temperature ultimately has to be at least 165 F (74C) in the breast.  Placing the chicken, on top of its wings, on its side, in a pan on the stove top is not going to speed that up all that much. Especially for the upside facing part.  I could see making a use of a browning step (particularly if you are going to cover (and steam) the bird in the oven), but he doesn't evenly brown the bird. He turns the bird partway through the cooking, however, to brown the other side.  I am suspicious of his process, but I would say, if you want to re-create it, I doubt it is on the stove top for more than a few minutes.  Brown the skin, then place in oven.


How to obtain the soft and pillowy texture in bread? Here's a bread recipe (probably a type of Turkish bread):

1 cup of warm milk (200 ml)
1 tea cup of warm water (150 ml)
1 tea cup of oil
1 tea spoon of salt
1.5  tablespoons of sugar,
half a
pack of fresh yeast (21 grams)
1 egg white
5 cups flour
50 grams butter
(glaze: 1 egg yolk + milk)

Preparation: Warm water in a bowl, warm milk, salt, granulated sugar, liquid oil, egg white and fresh yeast, and mix them together.  Then knead the dough by incorporating flour gradually. let the dough rest until doubled in bulk, then make 12 equal portions from the dough. put about 5 gr butter on each portion, pat the dough and then roll it and form a spiral out of it. cover and let rest for 20 minutes, then egg wash and bake until golden brown.
The only change I made was using instant yeast instead of fresh, and oat milk instead of regular milk.
This is how it is supposed to turn out like and this is how it actually turned out.
I tried the recipe twice, and it never came out as soft and pillowy as they look in the original recipe. The recipe poster advised that if the final soft texture is desired, cover the tray with a damp towel right when it is done baking and out of the oven for about 5 minutes. I did the same, but alas!

Milk is used as a kind of "tenderizer" in breads. Milk makes a softer crust and otherwise improves the texture of bread, so in this case, I think its your substitution that's giving you a problem. Oat milk may be a reasonable substitute for the liquid required in the recipe, but it just won't have the same effect on the finished product.
If you're not vegan, I would recommend using the regular milk next time. If you are, it may be possible to add a tiny bit more sugar and fat (in addition to the oat milk) to the recipe to compensate for the missing milk sugars and fats, but I'm unsure if that will produce the desired result. You may need to do more research into vegan breads to come up with a substitute for the milk in that case.


How are wasabi nuts made? Background

Trying to replicate wasabi almonds using Penzeys wasabi powder. Cannot retain the kick from the wasabi no matter what. Tried half a dozen things. Even with zero heat exposure wasabi loses its bite after drying.

Found this answer and got excited, but apparently it's wrong. Wasabi is not activated by oil, at least not the stuff I have. To clarify, I have explored all answers to that question, none of them solve my problem, and I am asking a different question in an attempt to understand how the process works.

Question

What do the commercial guys do to lock in the kick?

What I found so far

I can't find anything about the manufacturing process online. Closest I found was one stray comment on a wasabi pea recipe mentioning that the wasabi itself is not exposed to heat, but obviously that alone isn't enough.

I've used wasabi powder before and it always gets activated with water, not oil.

Searching about the industrial process, the closest I got was a comment in this cooking blog (emphasis mine):

  In the commercial world they add rice flour into the mix to make it all stick together, but before that they cook the peas and dry roast them or just dehydrate them. Once that is done then they use a "coating" machine which looks a bit like a cement mixer and slowly rotate the machine which contains the rice flour/wasabi mix.

So I think the key is: roast the nuts, use oil or arabic gum to make the surface of the nut sticky, cool it down to below 32ºC then add the wasabi powder mix. As long as it stays dry the wasabi powder won't get activated, which will happen only when you put them in your mouth.

I suppose the rice flour is to thin out the mix a bit, since pure wasabi powder might be too strong, to help coat the nuts uniformly and to keep moisture away which would kill the wasabi flavor.


Chewy Bechamel while making Moussaka After making my moussaka from a recipe online I couldn't help but notice that the bechamel didn't bubble when it was in the oven and when it was done the bechamel became chewy. What could be the reason for this?

Recipe for bechamel:
335ml milk (although I used this initially I found the bechamel to be VERY thick when making roux so I added a tea cup of milk while making the roux)

1 small onion

salt and pepper, to taste

35g butter

35g flour

50g mozzarella cheese, for topping

It may have been the mozzarella. When traditional Greek moussaka is topped with grated cheese, it is usually a harder, aged variety, such as Kefalotyri or Parmigiano-Reggiano. To thin the bechamel with additional milk, after the roux is complete, is fine. The roux should be very thick, as it's only flour and butter. It thins when the liquid is added, then thickens again as it simmers. However, if your bechamel was too thin and the cheese melted into it, that may account for the chewy result.


Parchment paper and crumb crusts? I have fallen in love with America's Test Kitchen's recipe for lemon cheesecake. Animal crackers in a crumb crust...who knew? It's really good. I just made it for the second time as a birthday gift for a friend. I didn't want to part with my springform pan, so I cut up her cheesecake and packed it in a plastic lined pizza box. When I was done, half the crust remained stuck to the base of the pan. What a shame as that is a really good crust. It was like each cut sliced through the base leaving a thin layer of crust behind and a thin layer attached to the cheesecake. It occurred to me that it would have been a whole lot better if I had used parchment cut to fit the base of the pan and then transferred the whole cheesecake at once. That splitting of the crust happened the first time I made I made the recipe too. I've never seen a crumb crust recipe that used parchment, but now it seems like a no-brainer - so much so that I wonder if I'm missing a key point. Is there a reason this generally isn't done? Do you know or can you think of any reason that it wouldn't work?

there! I just came across your post and wanted to share the secret to getting the crust off of your springform pan in one perfect piece, with all of it intact. Ready for it?!

...The base of the pan is upside down when it's packaged! I'm not sure why they do that, but I have bought many springform pans and they all come that way. I don't know why, but it really is rather ridiculous. Especially because, as you have learned, you end up leaving half of your crust behind. So, if you flip the base over, it's a bit raised and your entire crust will come off very easily, especially if you have a cake lifter. I never line the bottom crust with parchment paper because it's not necessary when the base is turned the correct way.

Good luck!  :-)


How long does it take to cool 5 lb of deep fried chicken from 350 degree to 75 degree I need help: we had a problem with health dept. We put 5-10 lbs deep fried chicken in the walk-in cooler directly removed from oil. Around 350 to 400 degree then.  After 1 and 1/2 hours in the cooler (cooler temperature was about 40 degree), it stated 77 degree. We got violation notice. To me it is the violation one way of the other. You left outside cooling is violation, inside cooling is violation. Is there any one please help me to give me the answer that how long it will take to cool down?

What size pieces of chicken? How are they arranged?

In order to cool quickly, you need to spread the food out in as thin a layer as possible, preferable with space between pieces. You may also require a more active cooler for the chilling process with a larger cooling unit and a more powerful fan - chilling hot food is a far more difficult task than holding cold food.

But the most fundamental step is spreading the food out on trays so it is only one piece deep - that will cool much faster than a basket or tub of the same meat at the same starting temperature. If the tray is metal and is stored in the freezer before use, it would add just a bit more cooling.

Another approach would be to place the meat in a sealed bag (still in one layer), and plunge it into ice-water for rapid cooling.


Why are my hazelnuts/filberts bitter? I live in the Mid-Atlantic area and have terrible luck buying raw hazelnuts/filberts in the store. They are often bitter and/or old-tasting, very expensive, and you'd never want to eat them raw.

Last fall, my dad shared some hazelnuts a West Virginia woman gave him straight from her trees as a thank you. It was like eating a completely different nut: chewy, sweet, no aftertaste. These weren't the wild variety, sometimes called "beaked"; they looked exactly like what I buy in the store, just a little smaller. I've read that commercial "raw" hazelnuts may have to be pasteurized before sale. Could this be affecting the flavor of the store-bought nuts? Anyone got a better source than roaming the West Virginia hills (as lovely as that sounds)? My chocolate hazelnut biscotti and I thank you :)

CLARIFICATION (based on the kind and thorough replies to date): The store-bought hazelnuts are often bitter even after I remove the skins, and I'd like to avoid roasting and/or peeling. (I want to make some raw hazelnut flour for a pastry crust, for example.) I will look for the DuChilly variety, however, and welcome thoughts on other varietals. Thank you!

Diarylheptanoids were recently identified as responsible for bitter off-flavor in hazelnuts. This correlates with

infection with bugs (of the bush, not in storage) and
starting germination

according to:
Singldinger: Molecular-sensory studies on the development of a bitter off-taste in hazelnuts, PhD thesis, 2019, Munich Technical University.

Here's also a paper: Singldinger et al.: The Cyclic Diarylheptanoid Asadanin as the Main Contributor to the Bitter Off-Taste in Hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.), J Agric Food Chem. 2017


Is it possible to turn old tomatoes into flour? I saw a recipe that employed Tomato Flour - how do you turn tomatoes into flour?

The recipe was most likely referring to Tomato Powder which is available from the Spice House in Milwaukee, WI.

I don't think you'd be able to produce the same result at home.  Even if the tomatoes could be dehydrated to the point where they are crisp enough to be ground, I don't think you could pulverize them fine enough very easily.  Even if it is possible, the trouble wouldn't outweigh simply purchasing the commercial product.


Why does my cheese sauce solidify I am using this recipie to make cheese sauce for my maize crackers.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/nacho-cheese-sauce/detail.aspx

However, my sauce starts solidifying as it cools down. I am using a slice of provola instead of american cheese. could that be a problem?

Next time I tried doubling the milk andadding a little more flour, it fared a little better, but suffered the same fate. I need it to stay liquid for at least 90 minutes after removing from heat

Yes substituting provolone makes the difference.  Since American is a processed cheese, when it melts it doesn't become stringy but just goop.  I imagine that the recipe is specifc to American, maybe something like cheddar would fair well too.  But something like provolone which is close to mozzarella will become cohesive with itself as it cools.


When is is necessary to par bake a pie crust? I am making small pies (in muffin tins!) for a party.  I plan on pre-cooking the filling (ground beef and veggies), then finishing the pies at the location.  Would it be helpful (either for transport or for shortening the on-location cooking time) to par-bake the pie crusts in the tins?

The reason to par-bake your pie shell is because it would not cook through in the same time that the filling does.

So it depends on what type of filling you are going to use.  For example, if you are using a traditional short crust with a cream (custard) filling, the custard will probably cook faster than the crust would, so you would want to par-bake the shell.

On the other hand, for an apple pie with a deep layer of fruit, by the time the fruit is cooked through, the crust usually is too, so par baking is not required.

In your specific example, you have not said what the filling is, that you are precooking.  However, if it is essentially fully cooked, you could blind-bake your shells then just put them together to heat through for service.  You would need to share more details to get more specific advise.


Why is corn nixtamalized? I am somewhat confused about the difference between masa harina flour vs. cornmeal. Wikipedia says the process of nixtamalization needs to be done in order for the corn to be nutritional, kill toxins and make it more palatable. Basically they use burnt ash or lye to break up the hull of the corn when they are making masa. I always use cornmeal and I don't die from toxins and I assume it is just as nutritional as eating tortillas.

Nixtamalization is a culinary process that begins with dried corn kernels (maize), and uses alkalinity to alter the chemistry of the corn. The process is thousands of years old, first recorded by the the Aztecs, but probably older and more wide spread.
This guide is very informative. Here the author describes the result of the nixtimalization process:

This practice accomplishes several things: soaking dried maize kernels in an alkaline solution makes it easier to remove the thin outer seed coat, or pericarp, that encases the kernel, either through grinding or by rubbing. Next, both alkalinity and heat treatment help to not only soften the kernel, but also chemically alter the endosperm and germ of cooked maize [...] (Bressani et al. 1958; Bressani and Scrimshaw 1958). Finally, nixtamalization flavors maize, altering the taste profile of the kernels, giving them a slightly bitter and earthy flavor (Briggs 2015).

...and of course, the added bonus is that it makes corn (masa) delicious!


Induction interface disk Most of my cookware is aluminum. I've seen induction interface disks, but they are quite expensive. Would it work to use a small cast iron griddle as an interface disk for my aluminum pots and pans?

Yes, it will work. The induction interface disks are practically the same thing as a griddle.

Of course, both disks and griddles mean that the induction stove will behave like a resistive stove (slow heating, etc.) If you want to get your money's worth from the induction stove, replace your cookware. The combination with cast iron is great, as it gives you all the advantages of cast iron without the major disadvantage of glacially slow heating of thick pans. All other induction-capable materials will work better than alu on a griddle/disk too.


What savory flavors would pair well with chocolate pasta? I want to experiment with making savory homemade pasta with cocoa powder. I think the earthy flavor and dark color will be striking.

I have been thinking about what kinds of flavors could be used for the sauce.

I considered how to get chili powder in there as I love those flavors together.

What flavors (or sauces) would pair well with chocolate in a savory pasta dish?

I did see this question: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/4786/what-common-or-uncommon-flavors-pair-well-with-chocolate
It is more broad and does not answer my question.

Hmmm, I would turn to cultures that use cocoa as a savory ingredient. There is quite a bit of Mexican cooking that does this and you did mention wanting to incorporate chili powder. How about looking at the ingredients in Mole sauce for an inspiration. Not sure I can provide specifics but just trying to give you some ideas. Mole is pretty intense so maybe temper it with a cream?

Just some idea suggestions for a starting point.


How can I make NON-fluffy pancakes? Every recipe I can find is for "fluffy" pancakes.  I prefer thinner, slightly crispy, (very) slightly chewy, non-fluffy pancakes.  Basically, the less "cake-like" the better.

Apparently I'm the only one, and these are all non-desirable qualities in a pancake, so it is hard to find recipes.

How can I make non-fluffy pancakes?  I will be using a cast-iron pan.

Have you tried making Swedish Pancakes? They are between a "regular" fluffy pancake and a crepe. To make a proper crepe, you need either a crepe pan or a crepe griddle. With Swedish Pancakes, you can use a regular pan. You will find that Swedish Pancakes have a higher amount of eggs and milk. For example:

4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp melted butter


Reheat only a few pieces of meat pie My meat pie has already been cut and there are only a few pieces left.

How can I reheat these pieces so the sides don’t dry out?

Easy-peasy:

Wet your hand
Rub moisture all over the pieces
Wrap them all cosily together in:

Aluminium foil if a normal oven
Microwave-safe kitchen foil if a microwave oven

Bake as per original instructions


Baby lamb leg - possible to slow roast? I'm thinking about slow roasting a couple of baby lamb legs (by baby lamb legs I mean of a size where one leg feeds one person, with the bone still in). My plan was to brown them on the top of the stove, then roast them at 120C (that's about 250F) for 90 minutes or so. I want them to come out meltingly tender, and am vaguely trying to recreate something I had in Seville.

The other option would be to roast at 180C (that's about 350F) for 30 minutes or so I guess (if that helps you judge size).

Will this work? Should I wrap them in foil to keep the moisture in? They have very little fat looking at them.

Google seems to know very little about baby lamb recipes, and even less about about slow cooking baby lamb.

Welcome! I think you are pretty much on track with your ideas. However, I would choose to braise with stock rather than "roast".

I would recommend seasoning to your liking and then brush with a light olive oil. Sear on the stove top in the same pan you are going to put in the oven.
(Enameled cast iron works well for this, if you have it.)

When browned, add stock to come up 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the legs. (I use veal or beef.) Cover and place in pre-heated oven. I think the time and temp you planned on using (250°F for approx 90 mins) should work okay, although I usually go a little higher, around 300°F.

I would recommend checking the legs after an hour in the oven. Then check every 20 minutes or so until they reach your desired doneness. This method should give you falling-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth-tender baby lamb.


Is it okay to put baking powder in Yorkshire Pudding batter? It's just that, the first time I tried, they didn't rise as much as I thought they would. would baking powder help?

Yorkshire puddings rise because of the eggs in them. This means that the mixture for you Yorkshire puddings needs heat to rise So if your oven is not hot enough, they won't rise as much as you want. So here are some tips:

-make sure your oven is hot before putting your puddings in

-Don't open the oven while cooking your puddings

-I always pre heat the muffin trays before I use them.

So you put your mixture in a hot muffin tray (or something els you use), put the hot muffin tray in a hot oven, and don't open the oven anymore before the cooking time is over. So I won't use baking powder, I first try it by making sure the heat is there.

Note that of course every oven is different and so you might need a couple of time before have the right temperature. Also I recommend this site for more information about Yorkshire puds: http://www.hub-uk.com/tallyrecip03/recipe0124.htm


How do I eliminate a lingering smell of fried food? Some great friends of ours cooked us an amazing meal in our home three nights ago. The meal included gourmet french fries cooked in a home use deep fryer. While the fries were outstanding the lingering smell three days later is not. The trash is long gone as is the deep fryer, but the smell still remains. We have throughly cleaned the countertop and surrounding area. Additionally, we have been lighting scented candles in and around the kitchen since the morning after the meal to no avail. The smell is definitely less, but upon leaving and returning home the scent hits you when you walk in the door.

How do I eliminate the lingering smell of fried food? My wife and I have never used an indoor deep fryer is this just part of the deal of home frying?

Was the deep fryer below anything?  Cabinet, Vent Hood?  Those areas could be probably be cleaned to help.

This happens to me in my house when I fry up bacon.  The only solution is fresh air and ventilation.  I open a couple of windows, get a nice cross-breeze and it should dissipate over a couple of hours.


Reaheating 2 Spiral hams at same time I'm reheating 2 9.8# spiral hams in 1 oven. Do I need to change the cooking times and if I do how much time do I add?

If your oven can maintain the set temperature, and there's adequate spacing between the two hams, you shouldn't change the time.

Note that I'm assuming that they're both going next to each other on the same rack of the oven -- if this were casseroles, you'd have to increase the time slightly and swap the two part way through, as they'd end up shielding each other from the elements.


Is it normal to see flames inside my self-cleaning oven? I spilled some sauce, cheese, and pepperoni in the oven last night while trying to transfer some homemade pizza from the pizza peel onto the pizza stone, so I decided to clean it today.

I wiped the bottom and glass door, but the rest of the stuff was crusty and stuck to the bottom of the oven.  I started the cycle and went about my business.

About 15 minutes later I hear a loud POP and I run over to find little flames dancing at the bottom of the oven.  I freak out, turn off the self-cleaning feature, grab the fire extinguisher and try to open the door, which wouldn't open (which I later found out was a safety feature because the temperature inside was close to 900 degrees, whew!)

Anyway, now my kitchen and living room are filled with light smoke that I'm trying to ventilate, and I am terrified to run the self-clean again for fear of my house bursting into flames unless I watch it (which I don't particularly want to, since the smoke is nasty).

So, were these little dancing flames and the resulting smoke safe and normal in the operation of the self-clean cycle?  If not, what can I do before running the cycle again to minimize flames and smoke?

Smoke is normal in an electric oven, but flames are definitely not.

In order to start a fire, you either need a spark, or you need to heat something beyond its autoignition temperature (AKA kindling point).  You might have had a short - or you might actually be using a gas oven with spark ignition - but I'm guessing your issue was the latter.

Cooking oil or grease being heated beyond its autoignition point is one of the most common causes of kitchen fires (grease fires).  Supposedly, some oils have autoignition points as low as 550° F (or 288° C), though I'm not sure which oils those are.  Olive oil would be my guess as the lowest, but pepperoni grease could very well have ignited at self-cleaning temperatures (which, as you noticed, go up to nearly 1000° F).

Fortunately for you, all modern ovens have a mechanical interlock which prevents them from being opened during a self-cleaning cycle.  If you'd opened it, you would have made the problem a lot worse by (a) supplying the fire with abundant oxygen, and (b) drawing all the hot air and flames out of the oven and into your kitchen, quite possibly setting your whole home on fire.  Heat wants to move to where it's cold; that's why you keep your doors and windows closed in the winter.

There are a multitude of oven cleaners available for self-cleaning ovens - you are supposed to use these before you run a self-cleaning cycle.  Yes, I know it's odd, but "self-cleaning" doesn't really actually mean that it cleans itself, it just gives you a little extra help.  You need to try to clear out all the grease and big chunks of food first using one of these cleaners, then run the self-cleaning cycle to deal with anything you might have missed.


How does "Brownulated" light brown sugar compare with regular light brown sugar? I'm assuming that the granulated sugar in the bag is easier to work with and won't turn into a hard block. It's also more expensive than the boxed kind. Are there any other differences, e.g. in the taste or texture after baking?

Your question seems to be conflating the question of bag vs boxed brown sugar with the question of "Brownulated" light brown sugar vs. regular light brown sugar.

Brownulated pours like white sugar, but turns into a paste when it gets damp or wet. I think it tastes funny.

Boxed vs Bag sugar is just a matter of storage and convenience. It's the same sugar.


How do I get breading to stick to pre-cooked chicken for pan frying? I tried pan fried chicken and pre-cooked the chicken sous vide. This meant that the chicken just needed to be crisped once it went in the pan. I dredged in flour then egg and then panko (Japanese bread crumbs). The chicken was cooked perfectly and the crust was really nice, but the two didn't stay together when cut. The breading would shear right off.

I did not dry the chicken after removing from the sous vide, so it was a little damp.

How can I get the breading to adhere better to the chicken? Flour, egg, Panko works great for raw chicken. How can I get it to stick to the pre-cooked stuff?

The three step method should work for this.

This being dredge the cooked chicken in flour, then egg wash and finally the bread crumbs(ideally Panko bread crumbs).

The other way is to do a tempura batter.  But to make sure the tempura batter is effective, make sure to dredge the chicken in flour first.

Good Luck,

I will be doing this soon and I can give the results.  The three step method is the best method I have found for breading and frying meats in general.


What different uses do we assign to salted butter vs. unsalted butter? What different uses do we assign to salted butter versus unsalted butter?

Salted butter is good only for spreading on toast. In all other cooking applications, without exception, you want to use unsalted butter. For one, the addition of salt in some contexts (particularly baking) will affect chemical reactions, so you want to control how much salt is being used. For another, and more importantly in most applications, using salted butter means you will have less control over actual seasoning.

We keep both salted and unsalted butter at home. Salted, as I noted, is for toast only really.


French (?) pastry on the cover of a book Georges Lefebvre's "The French Revolution" has this lovely pastry on its cover (see below).Does anyone know what this is and how to make it?

To me it looks like a minimal tartelette au fraise (little strawberry tart).  These usually have a custard layer and are normally completely covered in strawberries, but I have seen them with far fewer strawberries.  Mixed fruit (tartelette au fruit) or raspberry (tartelette au framboise) tarts are also common.

Here's a youtube recipe video (not my favourite recipe format!) of tartelette au fraise with lots of custard and a single strawberry. The crème diplomate used here is similar to crème patissiere but with whipped cream and gelatine added.  I've found a few similar pictures, and the versions with more custard and less strawberry seem to be more popular these days among North-African French chefs than in the bits of France I'm familiar with.  My French is passable but my Arabic is sadly lacking so I can't get as much history from the recipes as I would like.

The pâte brisée/shortcrust pastry case may be sweet or plain (even slightly salted).

As the book in question is an 1960s English translation I suspect tracking down the source image will be tricky, but 1950s/60s French books on patisserie would be an interesting place to look - though I wouldn't expect them to have many colour photos.


Kitchen aid pasta roller getting oil on my pasta I have to avoid letting the pasta get wide enough to touch one of the sides of the roller because if it does, the grease inside gets on the edge of the pasta.  The other side doesn't do it at all.  I've tried feeding pasta through a bunch to see if it could just pick it all up and eventually stop, but it doesn't.  I started to take it apart but I wasn't able to remove the dial, and without that I can't get the plate off on that side.

It would be nice to be able to roll out the pasta to the point where the edge makes it all square.  No big deal I guess, but it does make it tough to deal with anything but minimal amounts of dough at a time.

Any ideas for getting it to stop?

I've almost never seen a pasta roller that doesn't do this at least a little. My 30-year-old hand-cranked one does it, same as my Kitchen Aid. I have always figured it was a side-effect of the plain bearings (essentially one piece of lubricated metal rubbing flat against another), which eventually blackens any oil intended to lubricate them.

I've been left trying to avoid the pasta reaching the edge as this is when it happens (as you've seen). When it does get discolored, my solution has always been to just trim off or discard the edge wherever it gets the black stuff on it.

I don't think you should be using the edge of the pasta roller to square up your dough in any case. If you want to make it more square, run the dough ball through, then fold the resulting sheet in thirds or whatever will make it narrow enough to feed through perpendicular to your first feeding and then run it through again. If you fold it carefully and feed it squarely, your edges will be quite square to each other. I think there may even be an illustration of this in the instructions for the Kitchen Aid pasta roller. It takes practice but it works well.


Fridge life of sauce/condiments Right so, for many sauces i buy, they have a use within 3 days / 4 weeks after opening in the instructions on the back.

For most.. they have an expiry date on the actual bottle and "Refrigerate after opening" on the instructions, with no info on how long i can use it after opening, does this mean, if constantly refrigerated they will last until the expiry date (Which can be well over a year ahead) Despite having opened them a while ago?

Examples : Teriyaki sauce, Honey/Mint sauce, Apple Sauce, Ketchup, Barbecue sauce, sweet/sour sauce, and the list goes on..

For starters, it is not the expriy date. For anything perishable, it is only relevant for the sealed bottle (and that not only for condiments) and does not have a meaning after you open it. If it is nonperishable, it is simply a best before date and irrelevant for safety.

So there is no single answer to your question. Some will be highly perishable and fall under the 3-5 days rule for cooked foods, others will keep forever, and some will be in the middle. You have to look everything up in a shelf life database like StillTasty.


Does anyone know what this dark red colored discharge is from this grilled chicken? I'm grilling marinated chicken (I'm following a Tandoori chicken recipe which involved marinating the chicken in lemon, curd, Ginger, garlic and some other spices for 3 hours in the refrigerator).

While grilling them I see a dark red color discharge coming out. I'm not sure what that is and whether it is a normal thing. Here's a photo of what that looks like:

And here's another image before I turned it over and zoomed in.

Since, I'm a complete beginner in cooking chicken I'm not sure whether this is a normal thing or not. Can someone please help me out with this?

@pb2q is right, it's blood. This happens during processing. When the meat isn't allowed to bleed (i.e.; drain blood) long enough, then some of the blood remains in the muscle structure and cooks along with the chicken. It might look odd, but it's not a concern as far as eating it is concerned. It won't "hurt you".
If it bothers you (as it might for some people), just remind yourself not to buy that brand of chicken again. If one bird from this company was rushed during processing, there's a reasonable chance that they always "rush the process". Easiest solution might be to just switch brands... but please, don't thrown out the Tandori Chicken. I bet it's... delish!


Why does my bread smell like vinegar? I have some bread that should still be good for few days that now smells like vinegar.  There is no mold, ect. on it that makes it look bad.  It is store bought whole grain bread with some oatmeal, if that matters.

Personally, I've never known bread to smell like vinegar, even when it has gone bad.  So what would cause it?

I also emailed KAF my question. They think ferment time is culprit. I will have to give it a try.

  Could it also maybe be combo of time + yeast? Bread is still tasty; I
  am still experimenting.

  stephen

Here is reply from KAF:

  Hello Stephen,

  Thank you for contacting us here at King Arthur Flour.

  The vinegar-ish smell you describe is from the acids of your fermented
  dough. If it bothers you, you might try fermenting your dough in a
  slightly cooler room, or for a shorter time. This should help.

  Please let us know if we can be of further assistance or if you have
  additional questions. If you need immediate assistance, feel free to
  contact us directly at 800-827-6836.

  Thank you again and have a great day!

  Sincerely,

  Jaydl

  King Arthur Flour  800-827-6836


Help wanted to identify this food item (oriental) I found this item at a Chinese supermarket.

Hints:

It was in a fridge
It was humid (almost wet) and fresh
The "slices" were 2-3 mmm thick

I googled for "Chopin", "Chopin food", "Chopin Chinese", etc. to no avail. Too many music related hits returned!

"高麗" is the ancient name of Korea. However, "高麗菜" (where "菜" means vegetable) has nothing to do with Korea, but just how people call cabbage in Taiwan and Fujian. (It's unclear why people use this phrase.) The making process involve drying the cabbage leaves in the sun, so it's called "乾" (in simplified Chinese "干"), which is the name of the Sky in the Bagua, so the category name of any dried things.

According to this blog from Taiwan (it was written in traditional Chinese, but you can see the photos to have some rough impression about how the blogger made the 高麗菜乾 for her/his own family using:), people hang up the cabbages on shelves and dry them in the sun untill the cabbages become dry and soft, then salt it and rub it gently, then wait until it become soft (I guess also more pliable), then put a heavy stone on them to push the remaining moisture out of the leaves, then again hang them and dry in the sun, this time, untill completely dried. Now you can seal them in containers and keep them in fridges.

So for conclusion, I believe it's a kind of cured cabbage maybe produced in Taiwan, and if you like cured food it should be delicious! :)


Air Fryer effect on Vegetables? Does the Philips Air-fryer work as well as a standard deep-fryer?

Most of what I've been reading about Air Fryers is centered on:

Potatoes/ Fries
Some of fish/ chicken/ meat dish

Being a veggie, I am curious how Vegetables turn out inside an Air Fryer; let's say at a variety/ range of settings from start/ low to high?

Would it any stage be able to an alternative to Stir Frying?

Having experimented with an air fryer I think it's an alternative to stir frying, but not a particularly good one. An air fryer is basically a device that blows hot air on food as it slowly stirs it around. It seems to work ok as long as the vegetables are hard, if they get a bit soft and sloppy (think cooked zucchini, eggplant) they do not stir effectively as they rely on ingredients tumbling over each other to bring bottom ones to the top.

Air fryers don't cook as quickly as stir frying, you can cook food much faster on a nice hot wok or pan than an air frier on its hottest setting.

You don't use less oil in an air frier than stir frying, you use the same as if you stir fry on a non-stick pan. Dry frying didn't work well for me in an air frier but a bit of water kept things moving until the cooking process got moisture out of the ingredients.

You can leave an air frier unattended, but you have to be willing to get overcooked results unless you check on it frequently towards the end of the cooking process. Also, the stirring is not perfect so you can occasionally get ingredients bunched up and need to clear it. So as long as you check on it occasionally it will probably work fine. Call it semi-unattended cooking.

Essentially, if you want to do semi-unattended vegetable cooking as a use case, or you can't have a stove/hotplate then it makes sense to go with an air frier, but if it's good results that count to you then stir frying the old fashioned way is your best choice.


What is the fuzz on my homemade granola? I made a double batch of my homemade granola and this morning I notice that the top of the granola was all fuzzy. I keep it in an airtight container. Does any one know what would cause it?

Did you put the granola away while it was still warm? The inside of the container may have collected moisture while the granola cooled to room temperature, causing mold to form.


Celery Soup extremely bland I have made some celery soup following a recipe, however it is extremely bland can anybody help with suggestions of what I could add to it

1 potato (about 300 grams)
1 head of Celery
2 vegetable stock pots
600 ml water
125 ml of milk
1/2 tsp salt

It was a slow cooker recipe cooked on Auto for 5 hours

Alliums

It doesn't matter if they are garlic, onions, leeks or shallots, but every online recipe I can see for croc-pot celery soup has at least one of them.

If you are trying to rescue a batch you have already made, I would suggest experimenting with adding onion power and/or garlic powder or puree, be sure to get powders, not salts though. Add a little at a time and give them time to  become integrated in the soup to adjust the flavour, the result won't be instant, the powder needs to rehydrate before it fully releases its flavour.

The other element that I belatedly note is largely absent is fat. Fat carries flavours and adds satisfying mouth-feel to dishes. Again, most recipes I'm seeing online have more fat than the modest amount you will be getting from the milk. A couple of glugs of olive oil or a couple of table-spoons of butter will help bring out a richer flavour. https://www.thespruceeats.com/functions-of-fat-in-food-1328452


Does using a heavy based cook pot stop things from burning on the bottom? I cook things in a pan on the hob, sometimes for an hour or two, and end up with a thick black layer on the bottom. If I used a cast iron pot, would that still happen?

A heavy based pot will not prevent burning, but it help a great deal as more mass retains and distributes heat evenly, allowing more flexibility with temperature.  Depending on what you are cooking, stirring will also help.

There is also the issue of cooking technique.  It would be beneficial to know what you are preparing.  If, for example, you begin a stew by browning meat and aromatics, the fond that forms at the bottom of the pot needs to be released to help form/flavor the sauce. Normally this is done with the addition of a small amount of liquid and scraping the fond free with a wooden spoon.  If you don't do this, you will be both losing a lot of flavor, and creating conditions for the fond to burn at the bottom of your pot later during the rest of the cooking process. A heavy bottom pan has advantages in the creation of this fond.

I would suggest enameled cast iron rather than non-enameled.  Maintenance is a bit easier and you can usually avoid a black colored surface, which will help you more easily see browning. Even a stainless pot with a copper layer, or a heavy aluminum pot can work.  Mass of the cooking vessel does make a difference in your ability to produce consistent results.


Crunchy onions in soup? I go to a food cart regularly and I've had this red lentil soup before but today I noticed that the minced onions were really crunchy but didn't taste strong as if they were raw. The lentils were soft so I'm sure that the soup was cooked long enough to make the added vegetables tender. I'm assuming this is because they weren't sauteed before they were added to the soup? Could there be some other reason?

Onions that have been blanched (briefly dipped in boiling water) will taste less sharp than raw onions - so it is possible that the onions were merely added at the end, and the soup may have been hot enough to mellow the taste even if the onions remain firm.

It may also be possible that the onions in the soup that day were dehydrated - if they had run out of onions and were substituting, or had dehydrated on hand because they are much more shelf stable, or they were just experimenting.  Dried onions rehydrated in soup might have a crunchy or crisp texture like raw onion, without the sharp flavor raw onion have.  Also, a dried and rehydrated onion might be crunchy even after being sauteed, and may not soften even when simmered, which could account for your soup.


Incorporate oreo bits in cookie recipe What's the best way to incorporate prepacked oreo bits into a tested chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Mix with dry ingredients or wet ingredients?

Consider weight of oreo bits equivalent to flour, or equivalent to chocolate chips?

Am I mistaking my oreo fantasy and should just incorporate some sweetened cream cheese instead?

Or are oreo bits never meant to bake with cookies, at all? Right now, I substituted 50% of my weight in chocolate chips to oreo bits. The result: not as delectable as I imagined. It's getting done a bit faster than my normal recipe as well.

I know this is a long post -- thank you.

Usually the best way to incorporate any bits into cookie dough is to first mix the dough completely and then mix in the bits - whether it be chocolate chips, nuts, oreo bits etc. This way the bits are not smashed and stay as undisturbed as possible and retain their shape as a whole.

So mix the dry and wet ingredients together to form the dough, then lightly mix in bits by hand (literally use your hands. I find it's the most gentle way) or with the paddle attachment on the lowest setting in a standing mixer.

As for the substituting... Go by volume (Catja's suggestion). I wouldn't sub more than half the chocolate chips with oreo bits, simply because it will make the end result too sweet (because of the oreo filling) and not chocolatey enough. Maybe use dark/bitter chocolate chips as well that aren't as sweet so that you are compensating for the sweetness of the oreo cream filling.


How to make Instant Hot Chocolate Taste Less Watery How can I make hot chocolate drinks made from using instant hot chocolate sachets taste less watery?

I work in an office with limited kitchen appliances, we only have access to a tap that dispenses boiling hot or ice cold water and a microwave.

I have tried adding milk but that just takes away a lot of the chocolate taste.

I can think of four possible fixes.  One is simply, use less water - a smaller amount of a richer drink may well be preferable to a larger amount of a watery drink.  Another is the reverse, use more mix, which uses two packets (if not all of the second is necessary, you might share with someone else who wants extra, save it for next time, or simply discard).

Third option would be to add a pinch of salt.  It can help balance the flavors (a pinch isn't enough to make it not-sweet), and it's commonly described that less salt can make something taste "watery", and adding a touch of salt makes things taste more balanced.  It will change the flavor a bit, but not necessarily badly.

Fourth option is to add stuff.  Sugar, creamer powder, spices (possibly brought from home), whatever pleases you - and some of which might already be present for doctoring coffee.  Any of these options should add some flavor, changing the taste but perhaps not badly.  I wouldn't recommend milk, since (as you mention) it has enough liquid it can dilute the flavors, but powdered flavorings might help (and not dilute).  Or you might even try keeping on hand a candy to dissolve in your drink (peppermint round, wrapped caramel) the heat and water should let it dissolve a burst of flavor into your drink.  Again, flavored, but not necessarily bad.


Should I microwave-defrost sandwiches? I freeze sandwiches made from homemade bread rolls at the weekend, paired in plastic bags, and get a set out at 6 am to take to work in a rucksack. They stay there until I eat them at noon, when they're still pretty cold and wet, possibly because they stay in the rucksack's dark inside. I could make them a bit closer to room temperature by defrosting them in my home's microwave before I leave, or by warming them slightly in a microwave at work, but I'm not sure how much I should use either method or on which setting. Alternatively (if it would be enough, but I think it would be socially suboptimal), I could take the bag out at work so the rolls get some light. Is there an optimum approach?

No matter what you do in this situation, you are likely to end up with soggy sandwiches.  This has nothing to do with light.  Firstly, the bread of pre-made sandwiches will naturally pick up moisture from the filling and condiments.  Often, even freshly made sandwiches will become a bit soggy by lunchtime.  You've also created a further disadvantage by freezing.  Freezing and thawing disrupts the cell structure of foods.  When this happens, moisture is often lost. Of course, the bread will absorb this moisture.  A microwave will thaw and warm, but will not remove much of this moisture. You would have better luck with an oven, but that would be more time consuming.  Really, your optimal approach is to prepare the ingredients in advance, then take 2-3 minutes before you leave for work, and make a sandwich.


Chocolate mint ganache - too runny I am making moulded chocolates and I followed a recipe to make a mint ganache filling.

I used 175g chocolate, 125ml cream, 10ml mint essence and 100g glucose.

I melted the chocolate slowly and heated the cream and then added the two together and whisked until smooth. Then I added the glucose and mint essence.

My problem is that when the mixture reached room temperature, it was still very runny and I need it to hold its shape so that I can pipe it into the chocolate moulds. Could it maybe be because I didn't use couverture chocolate for the ganache but ordinary shop-bought chocolate?

So I have two questions:

What did I do wrong?
Is there a way to salvage the mixture and thicken it?

I think you've got too much liquid in your ganache, either because the chocolate or the glucose syrup (assuming its syrup). Milk chocolate can be used in a ganache but as it has a lower proportion of cocoa you would want to use less cream in your recipe when using it.

You could try whipping it as the inclusion of air should thicken it, however that will change the consistency so it won't be smooth and glossy. I would suggest you reheat it and melt in another 30 grams of good quality dark chocolate or so. That amount is not exact or based on any sort of science on my part, more instinct from previous ganache making experience. You might need to add more depending on your circumstances.


How far in advance can I prepare vegetables without it detracting from their flavour/ texture etc? I've seen there is a related thread about restaurant practices and how long to retain food, but I don't think food safety comes into this as I'm only talking about cut vegetables kept for maybe 3 to 4 hours? It's more the issue of the effect on flavour I'm concerned with.

I'm a keen beginner, so my knife skills aren't yet good enough to prep veg quickly. As such, if I'm cooking for others, I try and prepare as much as possible in advance to serve food up in a reasonable time. I'd be very grateful if anyone can tell me:

How far in advance can I slice/ dice things like onions, celery, carrots etc without it having a detrimental effect on the flavours and textures?

Once they are sliced/ diced is it better to refrigerate them or might that make them wet/slimy?

If preparing the veg in advance does have a detrimental effect on the flavours and textures, are we talking a small difference that hardly anyone will notice or does it have a dramatic effect?

Thanks in advance.

The easy answer is that almost all things will start to deteriorate at soon as cut, but noticeable is the key.  John points out, this will vary by item.  Most fruits and softer items will be far less forgiving.  Potatoes, a relatively hard item tends to oxidize badly, but water dunking tends to fix that with them as well.  Items as you mention though, carrots, celery, lettuce, cabbage, any item that is pickled, these type of items tend to be more forgiving.  An hour, maybe two, you likely will not notice any loss of quality.  Plastic wrap to prevent drying will help and maybe extend this time.  Wrapping and then ice or refrigerate, even better for dry items, but for wet items like cucumbers the weeping can be detrimental.  With things like onions, garlic and herbs, well I would classify these as aromatics and part of their flavor is being lost anytime you can smell them so I would tend to save them for prep closer to use if possible.  If you do need to prep them ahead, I have minced garlic a hour ahead for instance, then tossed it with olive oil that I was going to use in the dish.  Please do this short term only though, as raw garlic stored is olive oil is classified by USDA as a salmonella risk.  Hour should be fine, days not so much.


With stovetop cooking, is there a way to retain heat but let moisture escape? Example: I made mulled wine and want to keep it warm on the stovetop. If I put the lid on, it will get too hot; if I take the lid off, the alcohol and flavors might evaporate. So, I want to keep the moisture in, but let the heat escape.

Opposite example: I am cooking onions on the slow cooker. If I put the lid on, the onions will get mushy/soggy. If I take the lid off, it takes too long to reach cooking temperature. So, I want to let the moisture out, but keep the heat in.

How can I control heat and moisture separately? Does opening the lid partway accomplish anything?

(Note: maybe these are not the best examples but just want to illustrate.)

You don't really have much control, at least not very directly like turning a knob. You can control it a bit by your choice of cookware - a thin-walled pot which is relatively high in comparison to its width will dissipate heat more than a squat, thick-walled one of some non-conductive material like cast iron or ceramics. If you want more moisture escaping, go for wide vessels and don't heap your food in them, place it in a single layer.

Another option is to cook food in an oven, which allows it to be heated slowly, but the moisture is not as trapped as it would be in a closed pot, so the food doesn't become soggy.

Your examples here are not generally tackled by separate moisture/heat control, though. For the mulled wine, anything that escapes with the lid off will also escape with the lid on. People usually simply reduce the temperature and keep the lid on, to save energy, but keeping it with the lid off doesn't make a difference. For the onions, if you want them done quickly, you shouldn't be making them in the slow cooker at all, but shallow frying them in a pan. I know you said these are examples for illustration, but I suppose that for any other examples you might come up with, there are already established ways to do them and your problem might be arising from not following those.


How to fry Rösti so that it stays together? I have been trying to prepare rösti a number of times these last few weeks with meager results. I have tried both making fresh rösti from grated potatoes and using vacuumed ready-to-fry rösti from the supermarkert.

Grating potatoes myself took a lot of time and yielded the worst results, so I will describe my issue based on the slightly better experience I had with processed mixes (according to the package those only contain potatoes and vegetable oil).

The rösti tends to stay too fluffy, and when pressed with a spatula (tried metal, plastic, and wood) constantly sticks to it - so that I cannot compact the mixture well.
The lower layer of the rösti became somewhat robust a couple of times, but trying to lift it from the pan to turn it around always broke the rösti into bits.
I can't seem to find an optimal ammount of pressing the rösti together: press too much and the rösti sticks to my spatula as well as to the bottom of the pan, press it too little and it doesn't clunk together well.

I am sure at least my "sticking" problems could be diminished by more advanced kitchen utensils (not that mine are bad, but they are definitely not chef-grade ^^), still, seeing as this is a traditional dish which peasants likely prepared in iron pans, I would expect it to be comparably easy to omelettes. What am I missing? And no, oiling the pan better doesn't help, the oil just gets absorbed by the rösti and makes them fattier.

Get rid of the water. That's probably why you have had better luck with the prepared rosti. After shredding, salt the potatoes and wring the heck out of them using a clean towel. America's Test Kitchen has a fun little trick in their recipe for latkes. They wring the salted and shredded potatoes over a measuring cup. After a few minutes, the starch from the potato settles in the bottom of the cup. Carefully pour off the water and add the starch back into the potato. As Bridget says, "You know the amount of starch is right, because it came out of the same potato."

Also, par-cook the potato after wringing, before frying. A microwave works well for this, you can also use an oven at a moderate (350F, 175C) temperature, covered with aluminum foil.

For French fries you want to remove the starch (that's why a water soak is recommended) but of course with French fries you're not trying to keep them stuck together. You want rosti to stick to itself, but not the pan. Keeping the starch but eliminating the water will help.


What is the absolute maximum salt-to-water ratio of a brine for Lacto-Fermentation There are various lacto-fermentated sauce or pickle recipes making use of a salty brine. And depending on the food item that's going to be fermented and also depending on the sense of taste of the recipe developer, the salt-to-water ratio (salinity) in such recipes varies quite a lot.
What I'm wondering is, what is the maximum amount of salt you can have in a brine; so that you can still have the lactic acid bacteria develop. Where's the cut-off point (in terms of salinity) that stops the fermentation?

Fermented Fruits and Vegetables: A Global Perspective appears to be a good document. This chapter contains some information that will be helpful for you.  In section 5.6.3, it states:

At the highest concentrations of salt (about 60o salometer) the lactic fermentation ceases to function and if any acid is detected during brine storage it is acetic acid, presumably produced by acid-forming yeasts which are still active at this concentration of salt (Vaughn, 1985).

So, 60 degree salinity halts lactic fermentation. That's about 16% salt.


What is the definition of a cup of coffee My wife and I had a discussion in regards of my consumption of coffee during office hours. Health gurus always talk about a maximum amount of coffee during a day - measured in cups!

But what is the definition of 1 cup of coffee, and how much coffee is one cup?

We have several types of cups etc. at the office and at home, so its hard to know how many "cups" I drank over the day!

The most common global standard for recipe and marketing purposes** is 150 ml (5 oz), with a caffeine content around 100 mg. This commonly refers to instant, filter, or drip coffee, or a mixed espresso coffee like a latte

Coffee is traditionally served in a smaller cup than other hot beverages, mainly due to strength and expense. For example, an Italian espresso cup is around 30 to 60 ml (1 to 2 oz) in size, with a caffeine content a little more then 100 mg

Some references

http://www.ico.org/caffeine.asp
http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=cupping-standards

** e.g. marketing description of a "6 cup coffee maker" refers to 6 x 150 ml cups


Can I salvage undercooked flan I nearly doubled a flan recipe and didn't cook it enough, and so now it's not set. It's been in my fridge for about 18 hours.

Do you think I can put it back in the oven for 20-30 minutes or so?

Original recipe was 45 minutes, I did 55, which I now realize was too short.

I guess it's edible now as a kind of gloopy pudding. If I can't recook, any ideas on what I could do with it?

I haven't tried that, but in theory, a standard custard should be capable of rebaking. However, it will be a tricky matter, much trickier than the first baking.

For example, the temperature at which certain proteins in the egg coagulate depends on the speed at which the egg is heated. As a side effect, it is much harder to get a good custard starting with fridge-cold eggs than with room-warm eggs. Bringing the flan to room temperature first would not be safe (and no, reheating won't make it safe again). Second, they undergo changes not only during heating, but also during the subsequent cooling, and this may interfere a bit (I am conjecturing here - maybe it won't cause problems, but it is possible that it will). As a result, you will have a much narrower window between not-yet-ready and curdled. If the recipe contains acid, it will be even more problematic. High sugar levels will alleviate the problem a bit. What is even worse is that we are talking oven custard here, where you have much less control than on stovetop.

If I were in your situation, I would consider the experiment worth doing. I would be extra careful (water bath and bake by temperature, probably aiming at 83 celsius, less if the custard is thick). If you are inexperienced with custards and don't have a thermometer, it may not be worth the risk for you, after all a semiliquid custard is tastier than a curdled custard. But if you do it, don't forget to tell us how it went, as I am curious.

The above assumes a pure custard (egg yolk, dairy, sugar, taste modifiers or fillers). If you also used starch or flour, then it is too late to save it. This type of custard needs to be heated to very high temperatures (above 96 celsius) before an enzyme in the egg yolk converts the starch to goo. No sense in rebaking, but it can be reused.

If you decide not to rebake, there are countless applications for a thick-but-not-firm custard. If you don't want to consume it pure (and this is a viable option - sometimes it is made on purpose, as in vla), use it as a substitute in any recipe calling for creme angalise. You can dilute it with small amounts of cream if the recipe needs a more pourable consistency. If you decide to dilute, do it in small steps. You can also use it instead of creme patisserie, but without dilution.


Langouste and Langoustine, what's the difference? In France, you often see both "langouste" and "langoustine" used to describe edible orange crustaceans. What is the difference between the two?

Both look the same to me, are they different species? Or perhaps different dialects describing the same thing?

Simply, langoustines are much smaller and a portion is several. A langouste is large; one would be big enough for 1--2 people.
Other names for langoustines include (from wikipedia):

Nephrops norvegicus, Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, or scampi

In French, a longer version of the name is Langoustine commune (again wikipedia):

Contrairement à ce que son nom peut suggérer, la langoustine n’est pas une petite langouste
Despite what its name may suggest, a langoustine is not a small langouste

While they can grow to 25 cm long they're normally served about half to 2/3 that size.  As typically presented, they're rather like large straight shell-on prawns, though a special long thin fork may be used to extract the meat.
Langouste (again from wikipedia) is known as:

Palinurus elephas, European spiny lobster, common spiny lobster, or Mediterranean lobster

In the parts of France I've most often visited, this is less common than the other major  lobster, which is called homard, homard européen, homard breton* or scientifically Homarus gammarus.
For those who can muddle through a bit of French, here's some further reading (the last paragraph is particularly relevant): Quelle différence entre un homard et une langouste ?.

* Breton as in Brittany, which is where I tend to go.


Grate positioning for charcoal grill? When cooking on a charcoal grill, does it matter how far the grate is positioned above the charcoal?  If so, how high should it be?

Distance from charcoal isn't really the issue (some steak recipes, in fact, call for the meat to be cooked directly on the coals).  It's the temperature at the grate you ought to consider.  Granted, distance is one factor in grate temperature.  The amount of lit coals you have is another.

As for proper temperature, it all depends on what you are cooking.  I like cooking my steaks on high heat, about 500-600F.  Burgers at around the 450 range.  Poultry closer to 400.  Look up the "Mississippi Test," often referenced by Steven Raichlen, as a good way to measure your fire temperature.


Is it safe to heat active dry yeast to make a substitute for nutritional yeast? Nutritional Yeast isn't available at my location so i'm looking for alternatives.

While searching Seasoned Advice i've found this question How can I make nutritional yeast?. But i don't want exactly to grow nutritional yeast. It's too difficult to it and i need something more practical and less risky in terms of sterelization.

So i've came across this page. Basically it says i can use active dry yeast and toast it to make something that tastes like nutritional yeast. In this The Fresh Loaf post this heating the yeast technique is also mentioned.

Well, i did tried it at home and the result was very very tasty! First time i made it i've dropped a little yeast in a cup with water and sugar and it didn't started fermenting, but the second time i've tried it was still alive.

There is any way to make sure that all the yeast is uniformly dead?
Even if manage to kill all the yeast, let's say, by heating in the oven, is it still safe to eat it? I've read a lot of disquieting stuff on the web about yeast and botulism. (but there might be other factors to consider)
(I must use Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the main ingredient because i want something similar in terms of protein content (about 45g on 100g of yeast)

Right, so, there are basically 2 ways of killing micro-organisms: chemistry and heat, and heat can be divided in moist heat and dry heat. Dry heat is more straightforward, although generally less efficient in killing things than moist heat (and also not appropriate for lots of surfaces, etc.)

Now onwards to your questions:

1 - Sterilization efficiency depends mainly on a few parameters: contact surface (meaning that the more your surface is in contact with the heat, the better), contact time x temperature (so, if you use lower temperatures, you need more time to kill everything). For practical applications you should
a) spread your yeast on the largest surface available with the thinnest layer possible to maximize your contact surface and b) be patient and let it toast well - I don't know the temperature, but it should stay for at least 5 minutes in order to have everything  killed

2 - Botulism is caused by Chlostridium botulinum which is a bacteria that sprouts in low-oxygen moist environments and when it sprouts, it releases the toxin that causes botulism. Dry active yeast is a fungus called Saccharomyces cerevisae and they need medium to high oxygen environment to grow and be viable, and they usually out-compete bacteria, to the point of being used to treat bacterial diarrhea so it is very very improbable that your package of active dry yeast will be contaminated with Chlostridium spp and that it will be able to sprout while you handle it. Bottomline: it is safe.

3 - Yes. And also it is the most viable option if you want to just buy it and kill it later (both for price and reliability).


What's the best container to ferment vegetables? I'm brand new to fermenting. Popular purchases are Ohio stoneware crocks and A German style air-lock ceramic crock for fermenting the harvest. (pictured in order below)

I'm interested in smaller batches. I don't mind scraping off surface mold as the ferment develops.
Tips and advice using glass jars to ferment? Are there other container options? Should I just stick to ceramic?

I've used the harsch crocks myself - for longer ferments (3-8 weeks).  However I've used the giant glass pickle jars for beets when making kvas for borscht.

The thing with the harsch is it takes the guessing out - once you seal it you don't really have to worry about anything except keeping the little water lip filled.

Fermenting in glass jars, to me, has been much more high maintenance:  you need to top off water, skim the gunk, make sure that it doesn't go bad - but I've used them successfully for shorter ferments (7 days versus 6 weeks).  One thing I'd say about the jar ferments is you need to make sure that you've got enough salt in there - this method to me is way less forgiving and goes bad easier.

Good luck - fermenting on your own is soooooo worth it.


Can you use yeast that is 2 years old if it has never been opened and has been in the freezer Is yeast that is two years old and has never been opened be used

If I were you, I'd do a simple test that determines, how active (= alive) your yeast is.

When you supply yeast with ideal living conditions, you can observe the activity - or lack of - as the yeast bubbles and foams.

For a test, you sprinkle yeast in lukewarm water and check for activity. A detailed description can be found here, for example.

This should give you the answer whether your yeast is still useable or not.


Tortilla de patatas: Flip and slide, or slide and flip? Most recipes I've found suggest flipping the half-done tortilla from the pan onto a plate, and then sliding it back onto the pan. However, that would leave egg residue on the plate. Why not slide it onto a plate, place the pan over the plate, and flip it back into the pan? I was wondering if there were any advantages of the flip and slide method that I might not have been aware of, because this does comprise a majority of the recipes out there.

The best tortilla de patatas should be juicy and thick, so it must be cooked in a deep pan. It is physically very difficult to slide it from a deep pan to a plate. Because the tortilla is just half cooked, its bottom will get stuck and its top jumbled and eventually slip to the plate. The most effective maneuver is first flip it to the plate and then slide it from plate to pan.

Other vegetable spanish omelettes (spinach, eggplant, artichoke, green garlic) are usually thinner so you can first slide and then flip... or can even be turned over on the air with just a stroke of the wrist.


Cheeses for pastas, off the beaten path I'm looking for some cheese recommendations to serve grated or shredded over pasta. However I'd like to get away from the obvious ones that everybody knows, such as parmesan, mozarella, ricotta, or even feta. What other delicious cheeses are there that go well with pastas?


Looking for the name of an orange crunchy snack The snack I'm talking about has an exterior similar to Chinese sweet and sour pork.

However, its shape is long and spindly. There is no meat in it. It is just the dough part. It is a bit sour and it is really sweet. It was sold in a box of the sweet. It is possibly Jewish or Arabic (I'm not certain about the letters I saw), I'm not sure. The texture is similar to the exterior of sweet and sour pork too, but it's only the outsider, doughy fried part.

The snack was encountered in Canada. It was long and looked kind of like a kebab without a stick and if all the pieces of meat were joined together. It definitely wasn't made of fruit though.

Jalebi (as mentioned in comments) just might be a possibilty. Whether or not it's really jalebi, it definitely looks similar to the food I'm thinking of. I will try it given the chance and update this.

Yes, it is indeed jalebi. Everyone, go out to your local Indian eatery and try it out!


Nut brittle -what went wrong? I'm preparing to make pumpkin seed brittle, and I notice the recipe is very similar to the peanut brittle recipe I used before. Unfortunately, it turned out awful! The sugar never quite turned "light amber" even after almost an hour, and eventually I noticed it start to crystallize. I tried pouring it anyway and ended up with basically a clear sheet of sugar that dissolved into crystals when broken (I left off the nuts because I was pretty sure it was ruined - the nuts tossed in spices made a lovely alternate snack instead). I notice several comments having similar issues, but also many more saying "It worked perfectly the first time!" What did I do wrong? Should I use a different recipe? Is there some way to make this more foolproof? One of my friends started babbling about "invert syrup" being the cure for my ills...

Recipe is at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/peanut-brittle-recipe/index.html . My attempt was done in spring in Manchester, UK, so while it may have been a bit damp, there wasn't likely to be a ton of humidity and no altitude problems.

You didn't heat it enough. "Turning light amber" means that you want caramel. What you did instead was to evaporate water from a sugar syrup, without reaching caramelization temperature. The crystals are not unusual (at some point you get a supersaturated syrup, after enough water has evaporated), but it is better if they don't happen, so don't give them occasion (use a clean pot, don't stir, etc. I suspect the oiling of the pan is meant to reduce nucleation sites).

The recipe is a bit strange anyway, using way too much water. Maybe you can try another one, if this has negative comments. The regular recipes will use some more conventional nut instead of pumpkin seeds, but this doesn't affect the physics of making the caramel. And do yourself a favor and use a candy thermometer. There are experienced cooks who can make sugar candy without one, but if you are not one of them, you'll save yourself lots of errors (and probably enough money in expensive ingredients for the thermometer to pay for itself).

Here is another recipe for brittle. While I haven't tried to make it, I strongly suspect that they know better what they are doing - not at least because they give you the exact temperatures you are aiming for. This is a site with lots of useful tips for candy making, and if you really want to try this without a thermometer, use their chart to learn about the different stages of sugar syrup and caramel.

And choose your recipes carefully. Candymaking (both sugar and chocolate) is even more exact than baking. Directions like "put back on medium for some time" are practically useless. In order to successfully cook a candy recipe, you have to know if not the exact temperature, then at least the desired sugar syrup stage. Maybe somebody who has made lots of brittles could work with a recipe like the foodnetwork one, noticing the problems on the fly and making the appropriate corrections towards the ideal brittle mass. If you don't know what the ideal brittle mass looks like before you start, it is better not to try it that way and go for an exact recipe.


How can I make an Überfood? Each day, you're supposed to get a certain number of servings of grains, vegetables, fats, etc. You know, the food pyramid.

However, instead of going to all the trouble to prepare three meals with several courses each and every day, I'd like to just have the same thing to eat, all the time. I'm hoping this isn't considered sacrilege for this site!

What I'm describing is an Überfood, as it has a near-perfect balance of all of the daily intake requirements. They make it for cats, dogs, and other mammals, so I'm sure it's possible for us primates. Like cats and dogs, I'd of course have the occasional treat, but it would always be above-and-beyond and not part of my daily nutrients.

What considerations should I put into making an Überfood?  Ideally, it would be shelf-stable and not need refridgeration. Texture and taste are less important.

Clearly, I don't know much about cooking or food preparation... But I think there's a better way than just buying an industrial blender, throwing a bunch of vitamins, vegetables, protien, etc., and seeing what turns up.

Sounds like you want Nutraloaf.  If you search google you will undoubtedly find recipes for this abomination.  It is designed to meet nutritional needs while minimizing the need for utensils.  You did say taste and texture weren't important.


In order to mix the cocoa powder in water/milk, is it a good idea to put the cocoa powder in the milk while heating it? The answers here Dissolving cocoa powder in milk tell us to manually dissolve the Cocoa powder in the liquid.

Will it not be a good idea to put the Cocoa powder in the liquid while heating it so that it gets dissolved automatically? Why?

No, it is not a good idea at all. It will be worse, not better. What you are missing here is that cocoa powder does not dissolve at all, never, it just disperses in water (or milk). So there is no reason why methods for dissolving stuff would work with cocoa powder. You will need to use a method created for colloid-producing powders like cocoa powder, which is mostly starch with fat.

This is why the answers to the other question recommend the slurry method. When you are dispersing an absorptive powder like starch, you always run a risk of clumping, and the slurry is designed to work around that problem. But starch also thickens much more under heat, so if you were to not just forego the slurry, but simply drop the cocoa powder into hot water, this would be the worst choice possible, leading to instant unbreakable clumps. The slurry method wouldn't work with hot water either, you'll get clumps before you have created the slurry.

So, the short answer is: if you try it, it won't "dissolve automatically", it will produce an ugly undrinkable mixture of clumps.


Homemade sauerkraut liquid level below cabbage. Should I add brine? Preamble:

Okay, so I know that this has been sort of answered before to some degree, but I'd really like to avoid throwing it out. After reading one of the links posted in that answer (specifically mistake 2), it leads me to believe I can salvage it but maybe shouldn't?

I'm looking for more experienced sauerkraut/fermentation makers to give advice. I make tomato sauce a lot, and my rule-of-thumb with that is "if the jarred lid hurts to pry off because of the seal, it's fine to eat" (with the reasoning that if the lid is that sealed down to the jar, then bacteria haven't been creating gasses to push the lid off, so there effectively aren't bacteria in the jar), but I have zero experience with fermentation and jarring sauce requires heat-treating the jar/sauce and cooling it to cause the seal, and this fermentation does not... so I'm a little out of my depth.

My situation:

Here is my sauerkraut, made using MasonTop's pickling kit:

As you can see, the lid is sunk in quite a bit. This picture was taken a little while ago, so the liquid is still quite high... but now the liquid is below the top cabbage level and the lid is still sunken in to the same degree. It hasn't been below the brine for too long, 5-7 days at the most (I forget the last time I checked it, exactly). My brother, also a first-time sauerkraut maker, said to just add brine but I questioned this as I know keeping it as oxygen-free as possible is better.

So here's my conundrum:

Given that information, which option is better:

Open the lid, releasing the air-proof seal, and adding brine to level it over the cabbage?
Leave it as it is to maintain the seal, but have the brine level beneath the top bit of cabbage?

Please, any information/advice is helpful! Thanks!

As you know, the salt in the brine keeps bad things from growing. The cabbage above the brine is at risk of mold or undesirable bacteria growing.

When your cabbage is actively fermenting it generates a good amount of CO2. Your lid is designed to bleed off the extra pressure without letting any O2 leak back in. Additionally, the CO2 is heavier than air and will displace residual oxygen in the jar.

You can open your lid and top off your brine. If it is fermenting as it is supposed to, the little oxygen in the jar will be consumed or displaced in short order and you will have your lovely anaerobic environment back. Just don't open it often.

In the future, I would recommend using a larger jar (or less cabbage) and give yourself a good inch or two of brine above the cabbage. Use a weight to keep the cabbage submerged. (I can't tell from your picture if your cabbage is weighted or not)


Tips for Creating a Creamy and Smooth Sorbet Recently I purchased and ice cream maker and have been making lots of sorbets with our surplus frozen fruit. Often I will follow a recipe however sometimes not: sometimes the sorbets are icy after just a few hours (even recipes) and sometimes incredibly smooth and creamy (even without recipes). I always churn the sorbet until a soft-serve consistency and always use a sugar syrup. What can I do to ensure a smoother sorbet and furthermore longer lasting?

The general things that can cause icy sorbet:

Too much water Compared to other ingredients. Since you probably aren't going to take water out of your fruit, you pretty much have to add sugar or alcohol to compensate for this. This is tricky if you're improvising, and if the water content of the fruit varies.
Bad churning/freezing: This is mostly determined by the ice cream maker you have. It sounds like you're probably okay, since you get good results sometimes, but if the churning isn't good, you can get big ice crystals as it freezes around the outside before getting mixed well. If you're using the common type with a pre-frozen vessel, make sure you've frozen it thoroughly, so that you can churn long enough to smooth things out.
Chunky fruit: Big chunks will be really obvious, but even tiny chunks can help provide little bits that make the result freeze hard. Make sure that you puree well.
Too cold a freezer: sorbet is going to be best if it's not frozen extremely cold, but your freezer probably is nice and cold. Be willing to let it sit out a little bit before eating, or and perhaps keep it in the door where it's slightly warmer.

David Lebovitz has a good blog post about making homemade ice cream softer; most of what I've mentioned is also there, along with more details and some things that apply only to ice cream - for example, fat softens things too.


Vibrancy of chocolate sauce dessert chefs,

I make chocolate sauce for my drinks. My recipe is, in order, 1x unsweetened bakers chocolate (whole bar, chopped), 3x water, heat, 2.5x brown sugar, dash of salt, vanilla, strain. Transfer to mason jar, and allow to heat seal.

I use it on the first day and the freshness is just bursting -- the flavor seems to impart up to the inner nostrils.

My problem is that on the second day, the vibrancy, the inner nostril sensations, seem to fade, though the chocolate flavor is still there of course.

Is chocolate really this delicate and fickle? Is there something wrong with my recipe, solvent used?

A barista in a popular cafe in Manhattan told me that their chocolate sauce is brought daily to the store. Pretty costly operation for chocolate, IMO.

There is nothing wrong with your recipe. This is not only typical, it can't be changed.

The human sense of smell is triggered by molecules floating in the air we breathe. When you make a chocolate sauce, some of its molecules are volatile - that is, not very attached to the sauce, ready to leave the surface and float off into the air like a helium balloon when a gust of wind tears its string - and others (most of them) are not, they stay put where they are.

The volatile molecules get into the air, we breathe them in and so we smell the chocolate. But after some time, all the ones which were volatile to begin with have floated away, and are not any longer there.

The other thing which is happening are probably some chemical reactions. I am not sure of the details, but with something as complex as chocolate, there has to be a bit of degradation going on. With chocolate being so stable over long periods of time, I'd say this contributes much less to the effect, but I am adding it here for thoroughness.

So there is nothing to be done. If you try to somehow "anchor" the smell molecules to the chocolate, they won't go away, but they won't be available for being smelled either. Either way, you cannot get the smell to linger. If you want sauce which smells fresh, you have to make it fresh.


Fastest or most efficient way to cook rice in a pot with a lid? Without using (read: buying) a rice cooker, what methods can I use to reduce active cooking time for brown rice? Does pre-soaking help? Should I add the rice before or after bringing the water to a boil? I'm interested in both fitting my cooking into a busy schedule and minimizing the amount of heat I add to my small un-air-conditioned apartment this summer.

I would like solutions that work for both weekend batch cooking and "need more rice mid-week" cooking.

Harrold McGee indicates in On Food and Cooking that soaking brown rice for 20-30 minutes can speed the cooking.  However, he doesn't give any specifics.

In looking to what I consider highly credible cooking web sites, I have not found any definitive answers.

Cook's Illustrated's recommended method for the fastest, best tasting brown rice (no link since it is probably on the pay site) is:

  Boiling the rice for our brown rice recipe until it is almost tender
  (about 30 minutes), draining it, then steaming it until done (another
  five to 10 minutes) is by far the best stovetop method for brown rice.

Martha Stewart's recommended technique (50 minutes steaming, 10 minutes resting) is quite similar.

Alton Brown recommends baking technique which may be delicious but is almost certainly the one that will heat your house the most:  putting rice in a casserole covered with boiling water, and baking at 375°F for 1 hour.

You have actually asked two different questions:

What is the fastest way to cook rice (duration)?
What is the most energy efficient way to cook rice (least heating of your house)?

These are not the same thing.

Something to consider:  of all liquid non-metals (and I don't think any of us are going to cook in molten iron), water has the the highest capacity to transfer heat.

It is going to be very difficult to find a way to cook rice that is faster (at least for actual time cooking the rice, when not counting bringing water to the boil) than the traditional pasta method, as often employed in some parts of India:  Bring water to a boil, add the rice, cook until done, and drain.  However, the energy required to bring all of the surplus water to the boil and the enthalpy of vaporization will make this fast, but not efficient.

Your most energy efficient rice production method (and this is by the very laws of physics which govern our universe is also the one that will add the least heat to your home) is almost certainly a rice cooker, which will heat only until it senses the rice is done.  (Of course, what the rice cookers are really measuring is the rise in temperature when the water is all absorbed or evaporated, and so the temperature can rise; therefore, starting with the correct ratio of rice to water is critical).

The bottom line:  brown rice takes time to cook.   Some rice cookers, however, let you set a timer so that the pot will have the rice ready when you come home.  This might be your best bet.


Do magnets dull knives? A friend of mine bought some new, very sharp knives. He has a magnetic strip that he uses to store knives, but he does not put these new knives there because he says magnets dull knives.

Is that true? I've never heard of this. If so, why do magnets dull knives?

The magnets themselves don't dull them; they're not nearly strong enough to deform a blade.

But it is possible to damage your knives on those racks. It's very easy to drag the blade along the rack a bit as you pull it off, and easy for the magnet to snap it against the rack as you put it on.

Both are avoidable, though. When removing the knife, you twist it so that the sharp side leaves the magnet first. When putting it on the rack, you let the blunt side touch first, so when it snaps the rest of the way on, it's only the flat side against the rack, never the blade.

It also helps to get a version that's not just bare metal; there are plenty with the magnet underneath wood. It might not be ideal if you let the blade drag along it a lot, just as you probably don't want to drag it along your cutting board, but it's a lot better than metal. Also, since the knife isn't directly against the magnet, the force doesn't increase as sharply as you get to the rack, so there's less snap.

So, if you're worried that you (or guests in your kitchen) may not always be too careful, a bare metal magnetic knife rack is definitely not a good idea. But unless you're really protective of your knives, the wooden kind is probably fine.

Folks have also pointed out that in principle, long-term use of a magnetic rack could magnetize the blade, causing it to pick up tiny bits of metal, especially during sharpening, which would then wear and dull the blade. As far as I know, this is not a big deal: I've seen knives stored long-term on magnetic blocks without noticeable magnetization. You could always keep an eye out and demagnetize the blade if necessary.


Please help identifying this herb I can’t figure out what herb this is. It tastes kind of bitter!

Where did you get it?  Looks like it could be epazote.


Why do cinnamon sticks taste sweet? I often nibble on a cinnamon stick because first of all I like the taste and the smell and secondly it seems to help in weight loss. How comes that cinnamon sticks seem to taste sweet, even though there is no added sugar involved?

The reason it tastes sweet is the presence of sugar, ie because it is sweet. Cinnamon is thin tree bark, and it is not uncommon for tree bark, or the layer near the bark to be sweet because of sap. Birch is another example of a tree that is sweet, you can suck on a peeled birch branch for the same reasons as stated in your question.


Kansui powder to Kansui liquid (Koon Chun) conversion? I was curious if you could help me figure out the proper conversion from Kansui powder to Kansui liquid (Koon Chun bottle).  Interestingly enough, I have a bottle of the liquid but almost any and all recipes anywhere on line are built under the consideration that one cannot find the liquid.  For instance, Ivan Ramen book recipe is 10g of Kansui powder.. what would that equate to when using the bottled liquid in a recipe?

Google gave me this - which I don't feel in any way qualified to elucidate upon…

From Omnivore's Cookbook - Kansui (lye water, alkaline solution, 枧水)

  Homemade kansui

  Making baked baking soda is easy.

  Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 C). Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
  Spread baking soda on the foil and bake for 1 hour. The baking soda will lose about one third of its weight and you’ll gain a stronger
  alkali. Do not touch it with your bare hands. It will cause irritation
  to sensitive skin.
  Transfer baked baking soda to an airtight jar to prevent it from absorbing moisture from the air.
  To make an alkaline solution for mooncakes, add 1 teaspoon baked baking soda to 4 teaspoons water; stir to mix well.

I'd guess that would give you the made up strength.


What causes the difference between Maine and Canadian lobsters? In a first-season episode of the US TV show Kitchen Nightmares, the well-known chef Gordon Ramsay states that there's a "big difference [in] taste and flavor" between Maine lobsters and Canadian lobsters.  He gets into an argument about it with a restaurant owner who claims that they're really no different.  (If you're in the US, there's free video of the argument in question here, from hulu; start at about 16:33.)

Admittedly, I don't know whether Maine lobstering waters and Canadian lobstering waters border each other, though Maine waters and Canadian waters certainly do.  And Gordon Ramsay owns more Michelin stars than I own plates, so he's clearly the expert.  But I also find it hard to dismiss the owner's points — if they're true — that both lobster types are the same species (Homarus americanus), and come from the same North Atlantic waters.

So, what is the cause of the difference in taste/flavor/quality between Maine lobsters and Canadian lobsters?

First of all, Ramsay was primarily concerned that they were advertising Maine Lobsters and selling Nova Scotia Lobsters.  He actually didn't comment on the flavour.

I've searched about 20 web pages (nothing authoritative) and the consensus is that the colder the water, the better the lobster.

But, the waters off of Maine are fed by the Labrador current, which is the same water that flows past New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia.

If there is a temperature difference, it is likely not very significant, and any effect it would have on flavour is minimal at best.


What to do if pan/pot is burning (with or without food) To minimize the damage to an over heated pan (be it with or without food), do I let it cool off? Run it under cool water? Or is there different approach I'm supposed to take?

Letting it cool slowly will minimize the chance of warping for thin or cheap cookware.

Quality cookware should stand up to being deglazed or quickly cooled under running water.

How you cool it is up to you.

Note:  the above is based on metal pots and pans.  Glass, ceramic, or earthenware pans should always be cooled slowly to prevent heat-stress breaking or crazing.


How do I tone down biryani that is too spicy? I am making biryani and unfortunately, the chili is too much and I don't know how to tone down the spiciness of biryani. I want to tone down the chili.

I found some solutions are given below to dilute the spiciness. Searching told me the easiest way to tone down a dish that's too spicy is to add more ingredients to lessen the proportion of the spicy element:

Add dairy.
Add acid.
Add a sweetener.
Add nut butter.

The best idea for my dish seems to be adding acid in a masala of 2kg rice, but I don't know which acid I should use.

You can add any kind of fat that will encapsulate the capsaicin from the chili. This can be:

Dairy (full-fat milk or cream)
Butter
Rendered fat (along with creme or butter)

You can also add a sweetener to offset the impact of the capsaicin, but that's not ideal for biryani. With the fat, what happens is, the 'hot' parts of the chili get coated and sort of disappear into the dish. An acid alone is likely to just make the dish too spicy and tart.

I would add a little more vegetable oil and some heavy cream with butter to tone it down. Add it a little at a time. Then use some citrus (lime, calamansi, etc) along with some additional ground cardamom to bring out the sharper notes again. You can add more chicken stock to thin it out. But here, the acid is just to put some flavor back, not really hide the chili.

Coconut cream/milk will also work, not quite as well as full dairy cream.

Note, make small adjustments then wait for 5 - 10 minutes to taste, or you'll easily take out too much flavor with the cream.

In closing:

Use a fat to absorb some of the capsaicin from the chili, but do it in a way that won't make your dish too oily.
This will alter the taste of your dish, it can also hide notes like cardamom and clove and cinnamon/anise / etc. You have to put that flavor back in, along with the fruity taste of the chili.
Since serving over rice, you can add a little more stock just before spooning it over to help tone it down some more (as a final resort)


Do garlic keeper jars have any tangible preservation benefit? This question got me thinking about "garlic keepers" or "garlic jars" which are a gift item in the US and probably elsewhere (see photo).  My question is:

Do garlic keepers actually provide any measurable benefit in garlic preservation, longevity, flavor while ageing, or other storage factors?

My belief has always been "no", but I'm willing to be persuaded based on evidence.  Ideally, this would take the form of an article citation or personal head-to-head test (pun intended).

(I've done some searching on this topic, and all of the accounts of the benefits I've found come from garlic keeper makers, which are therefore not trustworthy)

No citation, so not a 'real' answer; but common sense would say, "It's got air holes & it's dark" which makes it better than a sealed jar or glass jar.

Whether it's better than the cellar, outhouse or salad crisper in your average modern fridge… well, it looks pretty ;-)


Is there a frosting similar to whipped cream but without cream? Can I use butter or margarine for frosting instead of whipping cream in cakes?

I tried frosting cake with butter and icing sugar but I did not like the outcome.

Is there something else that'd come out similar to whipped cream without using cream?

There are dozens of different types of frosting.

Whipped cream frosting is one of them. It's made very simply by whipping heavy whipping cream until it reaches stiff peaks and then adding a tablespoon or two of sugar to help stabilize it. It is light, airy, and not particularly stable for long periods of time unless it is kept in the refrigerator.

Another very common type of icing is "buttercream" frosting. There are several different kinds of buttercream but the most simple kind is made out of butter whipped together with lots of powdered sugar and a small amount (a tablespoon or two) of liquid - either milk or even various types of alcohol if you want your icing to be boozy. It can be made with most solid fats including margarine or shortening.

Buttercream is pretty stable without being refrigerated but it will not have the same texture (it's more dense and "fatty"). It sounds like you're used to the former but you tried out the latter and you weren't happy with the results - which I understand - it is generally significantly sweeter because you're using cups of sugar instead of a few tablespoons as with whipped cream icing.

If you want to try something that's a bit in between these two products - that has the light, airy texture of whipped cream but is sweeter and doesn't use cream, you might consider trying a "seven-minute icing". It's a cooked, egg-white based icing that is similar to meringue. It's made with egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar (as a stabilizer). Done correctly, it makes lovely fluffy peaks with a shiny gloss.