Is it feasible to freeze a whole pig? How long can I freeze a pig whole? How can I keep it from getting freezer burned?

We are having a wedding in September and it's June but the pig is already currently at the size we need it to be. I was told that the pig will get freezer burned by then.

I agree with the comment by Richard ten Brink: you can't really do this in a home freezer and expect good results.  Even with a large home chest freezer, it will take way too long for a whole carcass to freeze all the way through.  Freezing requires a lot more energy than maintaining something that's already frozen, and the process for a pig carcass would probably take several days (depending on the size of the pig).  You'd likely get significant quality degradation during the freezing process itself: slower freezing means more damage to cells, which affects meat quality when defrosted, not to mention that it could take many days for the interior to freeze solid (which could also impact quality).

And "freezer burn," by the way, isn't necessarily caused by long storage: it's the result of poor packing, usually combined with temperature cycling in a freezer, which allows air near the surface of food to lead to oxidation and dehydration.  Yes, a poorly packaged food will get worse over time, but a properly packaged food will last years in the freezer with no freezer burn.  (For a whole hog, you'll need a large chest freezer at home, preferably one without an auto-defrost cycle.)

Anyhow, my personal recommendation would be to seek out a local meat packer or meat processor with access to a commercial freezer.  (Perhaps there's someone who people take game meat to for processing or something?)  Ask them if they'd be willing to freeze the carcass after slaughter and vacuum seal it for you.  The vacuum sealing will significantly help to prevent freezer burn.  I don't know whether vacuum packing is feasible depending on how large the pig is (many processors only do it with small whole pigs), but that would be your best bet.

They'd also be able to advise you on the feasibility of freezing a larger pig for that long if they can't vacuum seal it.  But my guess is that it should be fine for a few months if you can keep it consistently below 0F and away from temperature cycling.


Is cat food safe for human consumption? Completely genuine question
Background
I was just feeding my cat, I was giving her some cat food that had 'duck' on the front and I remembered that I had some of that duck meat when I went to a restaurant and thought it was nice. The cat food looked really tasty so I decided to get out a tablespoon.
My cat was obviously quite disappointed that I had put a spoonful of her cat food into my mouth. I only took one spoonful. I didn't think it was that bad.
Question
Am I going to get really ill?
Can I eat cat food again?
Please don't judge me...

It's perfectly safe.

Pet food has to go through the same sort of preservation methods as human food in order to give it a good shelf life so it's not going to have nasty foodborne illnesses. Cat and human metabolisms aren't too far off, and cats don't require nutrients which are harmful to humans so it won't hurt you one bit.

As for whether it would be healthy to eat long term that's a different story and not for this site.


Is there a reason to peel onions for storage or sale? I typically try to buy organic onions.  Recently the only organic onions that are available are already peeled (i.e., have the outer papery skin removed).

Why is this being done?

Presumably there is a cost to peeling the onions for the consumer so there must be a benefit either for the consumer (although none comes to mind) or during the processing of the onions.

Combination new technology and an excuse to charge more.

It seems to be a 'value added' feature driven by new technology in processing harvested onions and the 'convenience' of not having to peel the Onion.

According to fruit today this is a growing market.  As others have noted sometimes Organic means an excuse to charge more.  Peeled onion aids that front.


Homemade Gluten-Free Udon Noodles I have celiac disease and would like to make gluten free Udon Noodles. I have been unable to find a recipe and have never made homemade noodles. Does anybody know how to make these delicious, chewy noodles using brown rice flour?

Or have any advice as to what ingredients i should use in my attempts to develop a recipe for making them?

To be exact, what other ingredients could I use to substitute the wheat flour traditionally used in this noodle.
What should I add to brown rice flour, salt and water to obtain a chewy texture in a gluten free noodle.

I hate to say it, but I'd be willing to bet that gluten-free udon is about as practical as gluten-free seitan - the gluten is precisely what gives udon noodles the texture that makes them so special.

Having said that, I've bought frozen udon noodles that had tapioca starch as an ingredient in addition to wheat flour, and those were some of the best udon noodles I've eaten.

The other catch is that making udon noodles at home is hard - traditional recipes call for putting the very tough, springy dough in a plastic bag and stomping on it for a few minutes, as the only practical way of kneading it.

This site describes how to make udon noodles with tapioca - you could try replacing its flour with the gluten-free blend described here. I would also consider adding xanthan gum. If you're feeling adventurous, This e-book (not free, but looks pretty solid) discusses a wide variety of gluten-free flours and their properties, and might help you choose flours to use with the properties you want.

If gluten-free udon turns out to be impractical, I recommend soba noodles as an alternative. Those can much more easily be made gluten-free (although most commercially made ones available in the US do have wheat simply because it's cheap and bland) and can usually be used in the same dishes as udon. They have their own distinct texture, very different from udon, and a deliciously hearty flavor.


Pressure cooking gadget that is heated with a torch (looks like a Afghan Kazan Pressure Cooker) I have no idea what the thing is called but I found these videos via TikTok but cannot find the name of the device. I unfortunately also did not save any screenshots of this thing...

But, it is a metal contraption that has a pressure gauge on it and is somewhat teardrop shaped. This is then stuffed with ice and the item you want to cook. The whole device is pretty small, maybe, 6-8 inches?

It is then heated while sitting on a stand and being rotated.

When it is completely cooked, they open it in an explosive manner, into a metal bowl.

The description sounds like a "popcorn hammer" sometimes also called a "popcorn cannon":
popcorn hammer

The US TV show Mythbusters did an episode on this gadget a few years back.

Essentially, it is a cast metal pressure vessel that is used to make popcorn/puffed grains. It can be used over an open flame, allowing street vendors to use them to create both an attention getting show and a salable snack (when caught into a bag).

With a popcorn hammer, pressure is built up inside the vessel during heating. When it is released, the explosive decompression causes all of the kernels to pop simultaneously. The popping plus the vessel decompression sends them flying.

High pressure devices that rely on explosive decompression can be dangerous. Pressure cooked popcorn / puffed grains do have a unique texture, but safety is the main reason you don't see home versions of these devices on sale at your local department store.

With most seemingly impossible videos from the internet, it's either fake or best left to professionals. This one is real, but not something anyone should try at home.


my black garlic cooking in a rice cooker went brown and hard before black any ideas? I have my garlic in the skins in a rice cooker on the warming setting after 7 days the garlic was brown dried out and hard, is it over cooked and not slowly caramelized?  what is the purpose of putting it on a steaming tray? there is a vent hole in the lid of my cooker should I cover it up with plastic wrap not allowing steam to escape? Any ideas?  I'm starting a new batch and I will cover that vent hole to see what happens.

To make black garlic, you're trying to break down the sugars in the garlic. It sounds like you're dehydrating it, rather than giving it time for the enzymes in there to do their work. You need to somehow prevent the moisture from escaping. Covering the vent hole may be sufficient, but I'd suggest putting the garlic is in an airtight container to be sure - perhaps wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to keep the moisture in there. Once the sugars have converted, you could then unwrap it for a little while to dry out the skin further if you liked.

There's an interesting article that talks a bit about what's going on inside black garlic here


What is the difference (practically) between different types of rennet? I recently started cheesemaking and I purchased some vegetarian rennet from an online retailer. I believe it's microbial (it's a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water).

When a recipe calls for X amount of calves' rennet (liquid or tabs), I've looked online to try to figure out how this translates into the kind of rennet I have. Online recipes for different cheeses differ - for 2L of milk, a "standard dose" can vary from 1.5mL to 5mL.

Is it possible to add too much (diluted) rennet? Is it better to add too much than too little?

From what I've found it's pretty much a one to one ratio, if you are subbing vegetarian rennet for anmial rennet.  They act simmilarry in equal doses, so you should be fine just following the instructions for calf's rennet.

I do perfer using calf's rennet over vegetarian, but that may be just be me being anti-vegetarian.


Should I refrigerate vegetables in sealed bag or not? Supermarkets sell vegetables in sealed bags. Best to refrigerate bags with vegetables inside, or take vegetables out of bags before putting them in refrigerator?
 Here are more pics of vegetables sold in sealed bags.

I can't make up my mind. If I take them out of bag, then cold refrigerator air will dry them. If I keep them in bag, they can't intake carbon dioxide, and the oxygen they keep exhaling will kill them!

It depends. Some fridges have a special area to store vegetables where they control the air flow and temperature in order to control moisture and humidity.

If your fridge is one of these, then removing them from the sealed bags is not a bad idea.

However, if you don't have such an area the vegetables are likely to dry or to get cold burns depending on your fridge settings, so keeping them packaged can help avoid that.

It is also important to notice that keeping things tidy and in separate containers in a fridge helps with higiene and keeps harmful bacteria from damaged products to latch onto newer ones.

Hope it helps.


What kind of mortar and pestle will be strong enough for grinding date pits? So, I need to crush date pits, I have a marble mortar and pestle, but I don't think it is strong enough for this job. Has anyone any suggestion?

If your seeds have been dried a marble mortar and pestle works quite well. I would suggest making a disk the circumference of the mortar out of cardboard to surround the neck of the pestle. It will limit the amount of dust that goes in the air.


Making a goats cheese tart more substantial Last night I made a goats cheese tart using pesto, puff pastry, finely chopped onions, peppers and courgettes.  (Spread pastry with pesto, put veg on, break up goats cheese and bake in a 200 degree oven for about 30 mins).

It was very nice but not filling enough for a main course.

What can be added to bulk up the tart but that does not need (significant) cooking before hand  and doesnt alter the cooking of the tart too much.

Ideas include - small cubes of potato (not sure if it would cook enough), and eggs (creates more a quiche rather than a tart).

Anyone else have any ideas?

Eggs -- not enough to make it a quiche or custard, but enough to bind it together a bit, and give it a richer mouth-feel. I'd suggest either a single egg, or one egg + one egg yolk.

If you do decide on the potato, I'd cook it first -- cubed, tossed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and garlic, and roasted in a hot oven till brown. I'd use either Yukon gold or small waxy potatoes -- no russets; they're too mealy.


What can I cook for Indian guests without trying to mimic Indian cuisine? I am raised in Belgium, with the Belgian cuisine related to the French and (to a much lesser extent) the German. I'm having Indian friends over for dinner and I don't know what to cook for them.

Last time I had an Indian friend, I tried to cook something authentic, the way my grandma would have prepared it: lots of veggies, with very little spices and not too salty. It was not a hit. Indian people are used to very spicy food (compared to Europeans).

I don't want to try to mimic the Indian cuisine in front of Indian people. That won't work. But I still want to prepare something that they will like, based on our local culture. Can you give me any suggestions?

If Belgian food is anything like the Dutch food my Oma made, your best bet is to limit it to the dessert course and strike out in a different direction.  Even there, throwing in an extra pinch of salt and a little fresh ginger or cardamom powder may help liven it up for your friends.

One area where you'll both be happy: Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern fare.  If you pick a recipe with plenty of aromatic herbs and spices, and maybe yogurt, it'll have the rich flavors your friends are used to. However, they won't be the same dishes they have at home, so they can't compare unfavorably to their mom or auntie's cooking.  Flatbreads, kebabs, braised lamb, goat, yogurt sauces... these will be familiar elements, but by using Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern versions, you'll give them a taste of the exotic too.

Using South or Central American cuisine will have similar results; dishes rich in pungent chilis, cumin,  and coriander will combine elements of comfort food with something new.  Indian chapatis and naan (flatbreads) are very similar to homemade tortillas.  It goes without saying that beef is to be avoided.  Depending on what part of India your guests are from, coconut milk and tamarind paste may be other familiar elements to play with.

Portugal also has a fine tradition of spicy foods, including the Vin d'alho which Indian adapted into the now-familiar vindaloo.

If you don't feel comfortable with these cuisines, you might do Indian, but with a fusion twist.  I found that Saag Paneer with blocks of feta instead of paneer is absolutely divine.  Halloumi cheese might work well too.  In fact, I'd say it's better than the original dish.

A word on dietary restrictions:
Presumably you know your friends' dietary needs, but if they're bringing new acquaintances it is wise to give some thought to dietary restrictions.  Many Indians are Hindus, who do not eat beef, and another major fraction are Muslim.  Muslims follow a dietary law called halal, which is very similar to kosher law, and likewise excludes pork and animal blood.  It also excludes alcohol... which means a spicy tamarind-port pork marinade isn't viable.
A sizable part of the Indian population is also vegetarian, so any meal should include a vegetarian entree.


Lightly salted water? I often see a recipe that require something to be boiled in "lightly salted water" e.g. Semmelknödel, but I'm always in doubt on how much salt that actually is.

Can anyone tell the "correct" ratio of salt and water for lightly salted water?

There is no such correct ratio. Just go with whatever feels lightly salted to your personal taste. The point is simply to differentiate from recipes in which people go for lots of salt, such as some noodle cooking techniques which require the water to be "as salty as seawater" or similar.

In the end, every cook has their own subjective scale of what is their "typical" amount of salt, and it is impossible to meet the recipe author's without further information. And even if you happen to meet it, if your personal preferred level is ckose, you won't notice much difference. On the other hand, if your preference is very different, the food won't taste right to you if you use the same absolute ratio of salt to water. So, the only practical thing is to use your own taste as a reference.


How do I wash farm-fresh eggs? My aunt recently gifted us a carton of eggs fresh from her chickens.
I've been rinsing them off thoroughly with each use, but I'm not really sure if this is enough to make sure they're sanitary for consumption.
What's the appropriate way to wash eggs when they come directly from a chicken, instead of being store-bought?
Note, I'm talking about just before using an egg, not washing all of my eggs at once.

(from what I can see on the internets)
Just continue what you are doing.
Just before using:
Softly brush off dirt and debris and rinse for a couple of seconds under running water.


Ground beef at home and food safety Is there any benefits to grinding meat at home regarding safety? From my understanding, the reason a cut of meat can be cooked rare is that the outside ,which may be contaminated, gets cooked fully. Whereas with ground meat, there is no "outside", so it is always recommended to cook to 160. I could pick the cut of meat to grind. Are certain beef cuts (maybe away from internal organs) considered lower risk with regards to E.Coli and other contamination?

I will disagree with the other answer for one simple reason -- the fewer steps taken en masse, the lower the risk.

Now of course, this assumes that you're correctly cleaning your grinder, but because you're only grinding one chunk, or maybe a few chunks of meat, you only have to worry if those chunks of meat had contamination.

For a larger operation, every piece of meat that came before it since the grinder was last thoroughly cleaned could possibly contaminate the ground meat that you've purchased.

This of course assumes that the large cut of meat hasn't already been infected because of the butchering or some other earlier processing step.  (such as if many butchers are then feeding into a single grinder).

Now, is the change in risk enough to worry about?  Probably not, but it exists, however slightly.  If you want to be really paranoid, sear the outside of a roast, then trim them off, then grind what's left.  But of course, if your grinder isn't sterile, you're just shooting yourself in the foot.


Can I make meatloaf with soy burger meat? I bought beef burgers only to find out they're not actually beef, they're soy burgers. I don't like them, so I want to try and spice them up and give them flavor. Can I defrost the burgers and make meat loaf with the soy meat? I have a good meat loaf recipe, but I am wondering if I can substitute the meat with the soy meat.

If you hate the soy burgers, you will probably hate meatloaf made from them. Your best bet might be to defrost 1 or 2 burgers and mix them with ground beef (or whatever meat you use for meatloaf) with no more than 25% of the mix being the soy burgers. If you like your first meatloaf, you can always try a little bit higher percentage of the soy burgers next time. Since they're frozen, you have a bit of the luxury of time to use them up.


Sealed Philadelphia cream cheese left out overnight, is it still safe to eat? Bought it a the groceries store, and forgot it in the groceries bag.

So it was left at room temperature, in the original sealed container for around 12 hours.

Given that cheese should usually be refrigerated, is this product still safe to eat?

Probably, but depends on brand. More precisely, on manufacturing and packaging processes. If it was subject to some equivalent of pasteurization and is still sealed, probability it spoiled is minimal. If it contains preservatives, it helps. Some brands also have citric acid, and low pH helps to make them a bit shelf stable.

If seal is broken, or if it wasn't pasteurized (or something like that) and does not contain any preservatives, discard it. Otherwise, if it looks good, smells good and tastes good, I'd guess it to be all right, but there is a high chance what I ate was different from your cheese, so no promises. And don't give it to eldry, pregnant or children. You know, better safe than sorry.


Unpleasant crust on bread I'm baking ~67% hydration bread, following this recipe Kvali food dutch oven bread.
The bread is baked using a covered cast iron casserole dish heated to 250'c, and following the cooking times suggested in the recipe.

However, the bread is developing a crust that is "sucky" rather than either chewy or crunchy.  It pulls moisture from the mouth and ends up unpleasant to eat - despite having blisters.

This effect gets worse the longer wait to eat the bread - it's bearable straight out of the oven but after an hour or so is a major detractor from the bread experience.

The recipe specifies a two hour proof after the twelve hour fermentation. Depending on the activity of the yeast and the ambient temperature this might be too long. In overproofed bread the gluten network is fragile and unable to support the loaf through baking. The result is a soggy or dense loaf and crust, consistent with your observation that the crust isn't chewy or crunchy.

Also there are no instructions to slash the loaf before baking. Slashing helps the loaf expand and gives more variety to the crust since some parts are more exposed to the heat of the oven then others.

Finally you mention that the crust is best straight out of the oven. After baking the loaf is still slightly moist: cutting into it immediately will prevent it from drying fully. Again I suspect this leads to a soggy crust.


How to add paprika flavor to mayonnaise without paprika color My homemade mayonnaise is always a little "flat" tasting compared to commercial. Most commercial mayo includes paprika, which I do not. How does one add paprika flavor to homemade mayo without imparting an unappetizing red/orange color to the finished product?

The ingredients used in my mayonnaise are as follows:

2 large egg yolks
1.25 cup soybean oil
1.66 tbsp white vinegar
1.5 tsp yellow mustard
0.25 tsp powdered sugar
0.5 tsp table salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

My personal method for adding flavor to homemade mayonnaise is to include some flavored oil in addition to the vegetable oil. I like just a touch of chili oil (a teaspoon or so -- too much, and it gets too spicy and/or weirdly red).

Paprika-infused oil can be purchased or made at home (Google search) -- this may meet your needs, or inspire you to try other flavors. (You can also try infused vinegars!)


how to make indian chilly chicken how to prepare Chilly Chicken. Its basically an indian recepie. Its my favourite dishes too. Please help me to make chilly chicken.

I ever prefer home based food. So please tell the masala preparation too. Thanks in advance.

chicken 500gram(prefer boneless chicken)
Gram flour 100 gram
corn flour 50gram
garlic ginger paste 1 tbsp
salt
water
curd 1/2cup
lemon 1 tbsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tbsp

combine altogether as above mentioned and make paste apply in the chicken. Make wet for half an hour. Heat the oil in tawa and make a deep fry then chilly chicken is ready serve with sliced onion.


What does"relax on the way forward" mean in relation to knife sharpening? When the person says: "you relax on the way forward", when sharpening a knife, what does he mean?

Here's a video where I heard that term https://youtu.be/0TPDgdo7jfM?t=2m54s

This will generally mean to not apply pressure (press the blade to the stone by either leaning/twisting the edge firmly into the stone, or keeping your fingers close to the edge) while you are in any edge leading phase of the sharpening motion. Edge leading and edge trailing abrasion have slightly different effects (regarding speed, burr formation, fineness of the edge), and so does sharpening at various levels of pressure (highly dependent on the stone used.).


Do Liquor Based Extracts Require Sugar? I have made my own vanilla extract, without sweetener and I am interested in making others like hazelnut, almond, lemon, mint, etc. The recipes I have found call for vodka and sugar, honey, simple syrup, sweetener, etc.

Is sugar a required ingredient for effective extraction? I assume the sweetener and its amount should be the responsibility of the recipe calling for said extract. Then again, I do not know, maybe the sweetener is added to the extract to off set known bitters?

This Question and Answer leads me to believe that with liquor based extract adding sugar may be a bit of folklore?

It's been a while since I did the research before writing the answer you quote, but based on my recollection (and what I know about the science) is that sugar is not required.

Sugar is mostly used to maximize flavor extraction in some cases where a sugary final product is desired, as in traditional production of some liqueurs.  But since extracts are not generally "sweetened," there's no sugar requirement.

However, it may serve various functions when present, perhaps including:

speeding up the extraction
balancing flavor of the extract (as you suggest)
slightly changing which flavor components get extracted or their proportions, due to varying solubility in a sugar solution (though I imagine this effect is quite minor except where there is a large amount of sugar involved)
increasing the amount of extracted flavor overall (this is particularly useful in situations where the ingredients have a high water content, such as fruits; in other cases, the effect is likely small)

A quick web search brings up a number of recipes for the kind of extracts you mention which involve no sugar.  So it's definitely feasible.

On a related note, most commercial liqueurs are generally manufactured by steeping the other ingredients in alcohol first, then adding sugar after steeping and straining.  (There are various processing and convenience reasons why this is done, and the minor flavor extraction loss is generally not considered significant enough to require sugar to be used in the steep.)  So it's definitely possible and common to extract significant flavor without sugar, even if you planned to add sugar later.

Will there be some flavor differences in the resulting extract?  Possibly, but the extract should still be fine.


Dangerous pathogens capable of growing in acidic environments Imagine this scenario:  You've cooked up a batch of chili peppers (or cucumbers, or anything, really), put them in a clean container, filled it with vinegar, and refrigerated it.  As with most things of this sort, someone occasionally reaches into the jar with their fingers or a less-than-spotlessly clean utensil to grab one.

Are there any known pathogens that can grow to levels in such an environment after many months that would create a danger to a healthy adult?

If so, what are those pathogens?  How long is "too long" for such an item?

Most bacteria in homes grow in biofilms. Like the whitish stuff that accumulates on your teeth during the day or slimy dirt on plugholes. A biofilm is a three-dimentional structure, usually made of polysaccharides, which protects the bacteria that are inside. It can even form quasi-differentiated structures, similar to fungi organs. Biofilms are extremely resistant (a nice picture), even if you boil, dip in chlorine or any other way sterilise a slimy plug, you will not kill all the bacteria. On the other hand, deep inside the biofilm bacteria have little oxygen and die or form spores, which, inside the biofilm, are even more difficult to neutralize. Additionally, even if the bacteria themselves are hamless, the chemicals released after their death might be bad for humans.

Bacterial biofilms always grow on the border between two substances - solid and liquid, solid and gas (air), liquid and gas. Maybe you have seen a film on top of an old broth? This is exactly a biofilm. Look closely, and you will see, that the broth is still clear, not murky, but on the bottom of the container is a layer of dead bacteria. Biofilms don't care about the acidity of the medium below, because the polysaccharide cover shields the bacteria from direct contact. Biofilms may form on any surface, that gives them some water and nutrients.

Not every kind of bacteria can form a biofilm, but certainly any bacteria that can form a biofilm can make it on your refrigerated veggies. Pathogenic bacteria that form biofilms include (but are not limited to): Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and subtilis, E. Coli. Any liquid or solid under a biofilm should be considered piosonous.

A friend of mine who studies bacterial biofilms needs about a week to grow a thick biofilm on a petri dish or in a test tube, but eating that biofilm will be bad for one's health much sooner. On the other hand, we don't inoculate food on purpose, it just happens. Also, people's resistance to such bacteria may vary even between otherwise healthy humans. There is no single answer when your veggies pose a health hazard, so you need to go with tips from good receipes - leaving veggies submerged in vinegar is usually safe for a month, but if you see some film forming on the surface earlier than that, just throw it away.


How to make frosting very white, fluffy, and shiny? Given a typical recipe for frosting (preferably cream cheese), what can be done to make it fluffy and shiny -- even in a chilled state?

I've noticed that my cream cheese frosting tends to do this if I put it in the refrigerator. I'm wondering if there is a technique (e.g. beat in a lot of air in it) or ingredient (e.g. corn syrup/glucose???) that would help.

Also, how can I make mine super white? The frosting I make is a bit yellowish -- probably due to the cream cheese already having some color. The vanilla also probably adds to the color.

Here are some suggestions:

To make the frosting whiter:

If you use butter, eliminate it. Use all of the other standard ingredients but substitute heavy whipping cream for the butter. Add until you have the consistency you want.
While I can't say I would do this, a viable option would be to substitute a good brand of vegetable shortening for the butter.
Rather than pure vanilla you may consider imitation clear vanilla.
Try adding white food coloring. Regarding food coloring I would recommend a good gel or soft gel/paste formula.

To make the frosting shinier:

If you use butter in your frosting you can try adding more butter.
While I have never cooked cream cheese frosting, there are recipes available online that use corn syrup or glucose syrup and are supposed to produce excellent results in regard to gloss.
After you finish frosting your cake, take a butter knife (non-serrated) or metal frosting spatula and dip in hot water and dry. Go over the frosting again dipping the knife as needed. This should melt the very outside of the frosting only creating the gloss you want.


Sauerbraten with a 1.1 pound beef rump roast The recipe I'm using says to roast a 3.5-4 pound sauerbraten roast at 325F for approximately 4 hours. I'm making the recipe quite a bit smaller with a 1.1 pound roast.

Should I change the cooking time/temperature? I'm new to roasts, so I really appreciate any insight!

Sauerbraten is meant to be cooked low and slow (schmoren), not like an American roast which has to be removed from the oven as soon as it reaches a target internal temperature. Keep both the oven temperature and the 4 hour time, do not remove it after it reaches the target temperature.

For some background, read SAJ14SAJ's answer to How can you tell when a roast is done?. It is the section on low and slow roasting that applies to Sauerbraten.


What supermarket fish is good for frying, besides tilapia? I've been frying tilapia fillets in flour for a while and I like it, easy and tasty, just getting a bit tired of the same fish. Is there any other fish available in most supermarkets that is just as good for frying (I know some fish can't be fried easily)? I'm not looking for any exotic dishes, just some basic fried fish fillets to mix things up a bit.

Farm-raised fried catfish is very popular in the US South, and not much more expensive than Tillapia.


Cookbook says to store dough in fridge overnight, why can't I just bake it already? I've been reading "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" and all the sourdough bread recipes call for overnight storage in the fridge. Is this really necessary? Can I just leave it out at room temperature and bake it that night? What is the purpose of storing it in the fridge for a night?

You can, in theory, leave it out on the counter for longer to develop the same amount of fermentation.  What you won't have is a very cold fermentation, which helps to develop the big holes in rustic breads that many people love.  Temperature and fermentation are a tricky balance, and you should listen to an expert like the author.  Also the overnight fermentation keeps you from needing to do something like a full 9 hours in one sitting.

Bikeboy389 made an excellent point in the comments.  BBA has absolutely everything you want to know to make its recipes successful in the first part of the book, which Reinhart strongly advises you not to skip.  If you want to make excellent bread, you will want to know all that information.  Plus, as a amateur or professional baker, you should find it fascinating.


Which method of preparation would produce a more tender and juicier steak, grilling or broiling? I do not have an outdoor grill but would like to make steak. I just bought a grill pan, and I have an electric oven with a broiler setting. Between these two methods which would produce the more tender and juicier steak if I have an already tender steak like Filet Mignon?

If by 'grill pan' you mean something heavy (cast iron) like:
 OR

then it would be your choice as to whether you want to heat them
on top of your stove or under your broiler. If your 'grill pan' is less heavy duty (say aluminum) then it is unlikely to be capable of with standing the heat required to 'best' cook a steak. When the weather here does not favor outdoor grilling I get great results out of placing my cast iron griddle/grill (similar to the second picture) inside of a half-sheet pan and under the broiler to preheat. Once the iron reaches 500F I will add the steak for about 3 minutes per side (for a med-rare) I would also suggest wiping the iron with a little oil first.


Mold or dry sourdough starter? (pic included) I fed my starter and left it out for two days.  See attached pic.  It smells like beer (which as I understand it is good), the top is dried out a bit with a rubbery surface, underneath it seems nice and active with no signs of mold.  I can't tell if the white spots are surface mold or if its just the dried out flour.

it looks like it's just dried out on top and a little overfermented. pour off as much liquid as you can and feed it using a small portion of this starter and a lot of flour and water, i would recommend a 1-10-10 ratio.


Collecting & using cooking profiles on foods like coffee roasters do With precise devices like sous vide, which have sensors like thermometers that you can download readings from, I am curious if people have started collecting 'cooking profiles' much like coffee roasters do when they measure temperature, moisture, etc while roasting beans?

An example profile, showing environment and bean temperature versus time:

see also: some forum discussion of profiles, and a video of someone using one

These are used in coffee roasting to help produce the best roast you can.  Different beans usually have different profiles and even different roasting equipment.  The profiles can be used to experiment with different settings like temperature and air flow.  They can even be used to control those settings.

I'm curious if people are experimenting in this way with other foods?  For example I could imagine eggs being very interesting with their three different layers.

I found this question particularly challenging to provide a complete and concrete answer to your question.  Although through strenuous research I was finally able to locate a text book that describes all sorts of new-age food processes and systems used in measuring such methods such as 'roasting profiles' which is also included in this text book, although most methods appear to be utilized in a scientific setting with expensive equipment.

The text book is also rather expensive, although looks very interesting, its called: Emerging Technologies for Food Processing the website provided allows you to purchase individual chapters of the book in PDF form.

The text book is edited by: Da-Wen Sun. who is the Professor of Food and Bio-systems Engineering (Personal Chair),  at the National University of Ireland - Dublin (University College Dublin)
also the Director, Food Refrigeration & Computerised Food Technology (FRCFT), National University of Ireland - Dublin

I hope this is helpful


What's the difference between chutney and relish? I was out last night at a friend's house, they served what I would call chutney. I said, "This chutney is amazing". To which they replied, "Do you mean the relish?"

Awkward!

What is the difference between a chutney and a relish?

It depends on what cuisine it is, though all chutneys and relishes are used as condiments/sides. In European cuisine, chutneys tend to be jammier and involve fruit of some kind. Relishes, like Elendil mentions, are usually made from pickled vegetables. As far as I have experienced, the chutney moniker is used when non traditional ingredients are involved Mango chutney, ginger mint chutney) whereas a relish is used when it is made from slightly more familiar ingredients like dill, cucumber etc (This is with regard to non Indian cuisine).

In Indian cuisine (which is where the chutney moniker originated from), chutneys are thinner and are almost always  savory, even when they involve a fruit(eg., mango chutney will have chillies and salt in it). Indian chutneys involve herbs and chillies and sometimes even nuts/lentils. The texture difference comes from the fact that it is usually blended/pureed and usually water based. But then again, you would not have landed in this situation if the meal was Indian, as there is no concept of a relish there.


Why use onions in cooking? Onions are an ingredient in almost every recipe. I hate the taste(flavour) of them (I know I might be the only one). I always try to avoid eating them and try to pick them out of the food. Seeing that I am the only one in the house that doesn’t like the taste of onions not using them in a recipe would be selfish.

I was just wondering (a) if there would be a good substitute or (b) do I really need to have them in a recipe? And (c) what purpose do they add to food?

Their primary purpose is flavor, although (as mentioned by @David Richerby) they can also be used for thickening in some cases. If you don't like them, but other members of your household do, then it becomes a cost-benefit analysis of every dish.

If your hatred of onions is visceral, yet other family members would just kind of rather have them than not, not including them is easy. It becomes trickier if everyone else loves them.

Consider prepping onions by quickly soaking the chopped onions in cold water or giving them a quick pickle in vinegar and salt. That may remove flavors that you find offensive while still keeping those qualities that other members of your household may like.

Garlic provides much of the same flavor profile as onions. Can you add a bit more garlic when you eliminate onions?

You might find some types of onions less offensive than others. Consider supersweet onions like Vidalia, green onions (AKA scallions), and red onions that have been tamed a bit by soaking or pickling.

Consider asafoetida as a substitute, along with other substitutions found here: What can I substitute for onions?


How can I tell if this is baking soda or powder? Sure it'd be easier and cheap to just buy new soda and powder but I'm curious.

I had a jar of either baking soda or powder. The marker with which I'd labeled it rubbed off during a house move and I do not recall which one it was.

Is there an easy way to test if I have a jar of baking powder or soda?

Baking powder contains starch, which is insoluble.

Baking soda is completely soluble

Take a small bowl, and put 1/8 tsp of the substance in the bottom.

Add water.

If the substance is bicarbonate of soda, the solution will be completely clear.

If it is baking powder, a cloudy/powdery residue will remain.

(You can also use excess vinegar which gives the same result, and fizzes in a pleasingly sciencey fashion...)


Do I need to grease, grease-proof paper? This feels like a very silly question, but I'm about to bake some american style cookies, and I wanted to know if I had to grease the grease-proof paper first, or if the idea was that 'grease' would come out of the stuff being baked?

You don't need to grease the paper. However, if you really want to, you can grease it, but beware that the bottom of your cookies can bake quicker due to the extra fat that transfers heat.

In most cookies, there is already a lot of fat which prevents them from sticking on their own.


Washing Griddle before first use I recently purchased a cuisine art 5 in 1 griddle machine and cooked with it before noticing the instruction to wash it before the first time use.

Does this really make a difference? And is there any harm from not washing it the first time?

Whatever harm there was is done, so not much to do about it now, other than finally wash the thing before the next use.

New products often have either traces of materials from the manufacturing process, or a preservative coating for the time they spend between being made and being purchased; which is not generally something you'd want to consume.

Whatever you cooked might have had some non-food grade oils, factory dust, or the like added by the time it was done cooking.


How to know if my walnuts are fresh enough to be good to eat? I have some walnuts which were picked up from under a local tree, left to dry for a while, and shelled. They look moderately old, but haven't become shriveled or gone moldy. Some have a kind of bitter after taste when eaten raw (unpeeled). Does this mean they are too old, or is it normal?

Will they have the same flavour when cooked?

I'm not sure whether I should cook something with them, or whether I should discard them.

Your best methods are to use the tools nature gave you:

Visually inspect the nutmeats; you should not see signs of mold or discoloration
Smell the nuts; they should not have that rancid odor, nor (according to Eat by Date) smell like paint
Feel their weight; they should not feel light or dried out, nor slimy or wet (although the latter is very unlikely unless they have been stored in wet or very humid conditions)

None of these are absolute, but together they give you the best indication that you can probably get at home.
I found several anecdotal accounts that the float test, also described by MaxS (the nuts should float in water) will help separate bad nuts, but I could not find credible documentation.
See also:

University of Minnesota Extension article on harvesting and curing walnuts
Do nuts ever go bad?
Can cashews go bad? If so, how do you tell?


How can I control ice crystal size in home made pure juice lollies With the recent hot weather we've been getting through so many Ice lollies (popsicles) that we have started making our own.

We are primarily using freshly squeezed orange juice (with bits *8') and freezing them in a frost free freezer regulated to -18°C.

Comparing them to the '100% juice' lollies we have been buying, they taste better but don't have quite the same texture when you bite into them.

In the commercial lollies, the ice crystals run in lines which radiate out from the central axis of each lolly. With our home frozen lollies, the ice crystals are randomly arranged in every orientation.

Answers to What stops commercial ice lollies from being rockhard? suggest changing the amount of sugar, or adding glycerin, pectin or gelatin.

I'm not sure whether adding more pectin would help, given that it's freshly squeezed orange juice that we're freezing, and the other suggestions aren't acceptable as we don't want to add any more sweeteners, and we want our lollies to be vegetarian, so no steak dipping† here.

So, how do commercial freezers get this nice smooth, radiative arrangement of ice crystals without additives, and can I replicate this at home?

I presume that this is, in large part, a process control issue, with specific cooling profiles needed to get the ice crystals to form in a consistent way.

† Steak Dipping: What my partner calls the act of needlessly making something non-vegetarian by adding something for which there is a vegetarian alternative.

I have been experimenting with vegan frozen desserts lately and I've found that using invert sugar and 0.5% to 1% locust bean gum really helps in slowing down the crystal formation.

I would hydrate LBG by combining with water and then bringing it to a boil while mixing; then mix it into the actual liquid you'd want to freeze.

Making invert sugar is also fairly easy, you can mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with 1kg water and 480ml water. And bring it to 114C under medium-high heat. Here's a recipe using citric acid instead


How much juice is in a lemon? A lot of recipes call for the "juice of a lemon". I keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge as this is easier, cheaper and more convenient than buying lemons all the time but my problem is I never know how much juice should come out of a lemon. Surely it depends how thoroughly you squeeze it?

Does anyone know approximately what volume of liquid is meant when a recipe says "juice of a lemon"?

It can range on the size of the lemon and the time of year.  A medium lemon will give 2-3 Tablespoons of juice, where a larger lemon can give 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons).   Just have to decide on much lemon flavor you want in your recipe as to which number you pick.


Does Turkish Delight have to be this difficult? At the weekend I made some Turkish Delight based on the recipe featured in a recent BBC series called "Sweets Made Simple". Simple maybe, but highly effortful. The recipe is here, but the brief summary is: make a sugar syrup, take it to the required temperature. Make a thick cornstarch paste. Add syrup to paste and stir and simmer for an hour until it's smooth and not lumpy.

Now maybe it's just me, but pouring a load of liquid into a cornstarch paste has always been the thing you're supposed to avoid if you don't want lumps. Maybe it's different with sugar syrup at this temperature and with a cornstarch paste this thick, but it seems to me that surely there must be an easier way to make it.

The end results here are good enough that I'm intending to do some experiments, but I wanted to consult the wisdom of this community beforehand in case there is already an easier way known. I've seen other recipes which say you only need to stir it every 8-10 minutes for an hour, but that to my mind isn't going to be enough at all, judging by how my mixture reacted to stirring. Of course, maybe there was some subtle difference earlier in the recipe which I haven't noticed.

I've just had a go today. I only stirred until all the lumps of cornstarch lumps had gone, about 20 mins. It was getting very thick then! Note that the lemon juice with the sugar and the cream of tartar in the cornflour mix will convert some of the sugar to invert sugar, which is supposed to help reduce the growth and size of sugar crystals (I learnt about this whilst making fudge, which starts with the same sugar heated to softball stage, and marshmallows, which are like the Turkish delight mixture if made with gelatine, just whipped to incorporate a lot of air.) Overall the process is quite simple, as you say, it is time consuming. Good luck with future trials. Chris


What technique is used to remove the bubbles and big hole from swiss rolls? I would like to make a Swiss roll without big holes. The skin has to be smooth and beautiful - no bubble and holes. Do you have any technique or suggestion on this?

Pouring your icing over the roll is the easiest method, but only covers the top and sides, but not under the curve.  This is a common and traditional treatment.

Place the roll (seam side down) on a wire rack over a sheet tray, and pour the coating over.  The sheet tray catches the run off so that you can reuse it.

This can be done with ganache, tempered chocolate, or a sugar-chocolate based glaze.  No matter which glaze you use, you want it thick enough to adhere to the roll quickly.   Let chocolate or ganache cool until they are fairly thick and coat a spoon well.

After you pour, pop any bubbles which may appear with a toothpick or the tip of a pointed paring knife.

This video from Zoe Bakes shows the basic technique using ganache, although it is on a standard round layer cake rather than a Swiss roll.

Getting coating over the entire surface of the roll (including the bottom side) is much more challenging.  It is best done by dipping, if the Swiss roll is not too large.  You will need a coating that will set up hard, either tempered chocolate or sugar-based glaze.  This will also require a great deal of surplus glaze, although it can be reused.

If the roll is too large to feasibly dip, you can still do the pouring method.  Start with the roll bottom side up, pour the coating and let it set, then turn it top side up and do a second pour.   This will leave a seam, which is hard to avoid if you cannot dip.

You will get better results by freezing the roll first with either technique.

See related:
Ganache coating on a roulade


Is pouring hot stock into a blender safe? I have a "ThermoResist Glass Blender" attached to a mixer. It is supposed to be safe for blending hot liquids. I'm rather new at this and I'm not sure about how is it supposed to be used and how hot can the liquids be.

Can I prepare stock for soup over a stove top, cook vegetables in it, then pour it directly into the blender's goblet and mix?

Yes. At the link you provided in the specifications section, it says "Capacity: 1.6 quarts cold liquids; 1.2 quarts hot liquids". The word "hot" is a bit arbitrary, but stock will be fine.

Also, it's called ThermoResist.


How do I make black rice turn out better in a rice cooker? There appears to be little to no info out there specifically regarding black rice and rice cookers. My rice cooker manual says nothing about it. The article on wikihow, "3 Ways to Prepare Black Rice", does mention that black rice "does not cook well in a rice cooker." But, I am simply not willing to cook rice the old fashioned way. I already spend too much time on eating and cooking (fast metabolism means I eat all the time, which is time consuming).

Therefore, even if it does not work well in a rice cooker, I need to figure out how to make it better. I recently got a new rice cooker, an Aroma ARC-150SB. I made black rice for the first time with it, and it was terrible. It was really mushy, watery, and very sticky. It looked almost as wet as below:

(That's just an image from some pudding recipe on another site; it's NOT my own photo.)

Further details: I used 2 parts water to 1 part rice, as told to do on the rice packaging. Specifically, it was 2 cups rice, 4 of water. I briefly rinsed the rice via a strainer with cold water from the faucet. I used the "brown rice" setting on my rice cooker and left it overnight. (It switches to "keep warm" after it finishes cooking, of course.)

Now, what is the explanation for my result, and what can I try next?

My suspicion is that there was a lot of starch. The wikihow article suggests a very thorough rinsing, although the instructions on the rice packaging say nothing about rinsing. Is thorough rinsing really all it takes? Like I said, I did rinse it a little. There are other variables here that I can change. I could try playing with the water:rice ratio. I could try to not leave it overnight. I could try the white rice cook setting?? Although that one sounds counterintuitive. Maybe a thorough rinsing AND a different water:rice ratio is necessary?

The objective is to have it turn out more like this:

Perfect black rice in a rice cooker - I just cooked 2 cups of black rice, after a single quick rinse using a wire strainer in my Zojirushi rice cooker (fuzzy logic).  I used a standard American measuring cup. I added 3 and 3/4 cups of water (vs. the standard straight 2 waters for every one unit of rice - I do this for ALL rice types as I like a fully intact rice kernel with texture remaining - that fluffs and separates as you expect ).

I also added a crumbled organic vegetarian bullion cube (just one) it adds just a little seasoning (still neutral) but I think also provides a little coating on the finished rice that makes it fluff and separate better.

The rice came out perfectly - tender, with just the right kernel bite, fluffed and separated as expected.

One other note, I NEVER use the keep warm function and always pop open the cooker at the first bell signaling cooking is complete, unplug, and I fluff immediately - I leave the cooker open a minute or two to allow steam to escape, then I close it. The rice stays perfectly warm after that for a very long time, long enough for a leisurely meal and warm rice for second helpings.

I can't say enough great things about the Zojirushi rice cooker. It is worth every penny. In addition to rice it cooks wheat berry, rye berry, millet , barley, and many other grains ( including perfect oats) automatically ith zero fuss. I have owned two in 22 years and replaced the first only because the bowl was list and the model was discontinued so no replacement bowel was found.

Many blessings in your rice cooking journey!


storing homemade potato chips I am working on developing a new dish for our bar menu at work--pulled pork sandwich, with homemade potato chips. Frying chips to order seems like a silly idea, especially since chips (or crisps if you prefer) can have such a long shelf life.

Assuming a lack of preservative chemicals (we try to avoid that sort of thing), what is the best way to store chips/crisps to retain crunch?

Anything susceptible to moisture will go stale if exposed to air long enough. Storage will only get you so far, depending on the temperature and humidity in the storage area. In a restaurant kitchen, I don't have to tell you that both are rather high.

I'd suggest blanching them after cutting. You could basically cook them through then store them in a relatively air-tight container for a period of several days. When a customer orders chips you'd just drop the blanched chips in the deep fryer long enough to brown and crisp them. This is what essentially every restaurant outfit that serves chips and/or french fries does and it works well. Experiment with blanching temperatures and liquids to see what works best.


Bagged or Loose Leaf Tea What are the practical differences between using bagged vs. loose leaf tea?

Are there differences in quality, caffeine content, etc.?  Why?

The differences in quality between teas is usually down to the manufacturer and the product line. As far as I can tell, there is no discernible difference between Twining's English Breakfast tea (for instance) in bags or loose leaf. They are the same leaves, presented differently.

However, and this is the important part, there is a difference in how they infuse. Because of the limitations of the tea bag, and the flow of the water through the leaves, a loose-leaf tea is usually infused more quickly, and possibly better. That is, you get more essence of tea from the leaves into the water.
There are different bag designs (pyramid bags for example) which try to bridge some of this gap.

The advantage of the tea bags is that they are easier to work with, as you don't need to strain the leaves out of the water, you can just pick the bag up with your spoon.

There is a lovely essay by George Orwell about making "proper" tea. Some of it is a matter of taste, but his point about the infusion is spot on, in my opinion.


Small Hard White Thing In Whole Wheat Bread - Mold Or Grain? I just bought a loaf of bread yesterday, and went to use some to make a sandwich.  I found a tiny white spot on it that is about the size of a rice grain, but it doesn't look like normal mold.  And when I touch it, it is hard.
Is this some type of mold? Or is it just a bit of grain that got stuck in the bread?

I'd go with grain or more likely flour/unmixed dough
It's very unlikely to be mould in between slices like that, even if pre-sliced, and essentially impossible if you just cut it.
Bread is also generally made and shipped pretty quickly, so if it's got a few days left on its date (or was bought loose, meaning it should have been freshly baked) it shouldn't have had time for mould to form.
As you say, it doesn't look (or feel) like any of the mould found on bread, which is usually fluffy, hairy, or even scaly. It does look like inclusions I've sometimes seen on home made bread when barely cooled enough to cut - no chance for mould.
So I'd eat it without worrying.  It does look a little like a grain, but if I see that in my home made bread, it's flour that's got wet but not mixed in properly (often near the top as it was stuck to the pan while the loaf was rising).


What is the difference between light and dark soy sauce? I heard on a TV show dark is just for colour and light is just for flavour?

Light soy sauce: "is a thin (low viscosity), opaque, lighter brown soy sauce, brewed by first culturing steamed wheat and soybeans with Aspergillus, and then letting the mixture ferment in brine. It is the main soy sauce used for seasoning, since it is saltier, has less noticeable color, and also adds a distinct flavour."

Dark soy sauce: "a darker and slightly thicker soy sauce made from light soy sauce. This soy sauce is produced through prolonged aging and added caramel, and may contain added molasses to give it its distinctive appearance. This variety is mainly used during cooking, since its flavour develops during heating. It has a richer, slightly sweeter, and less salty flavour than light soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is partly used to add color and flavour to a dish after cooking, but, as stated above, is more often used during the cooking process, rather than after."

It's probably similar to the difference between run-of-the-mill balsamic and aged balsamic. In that case, the "light" or regular balsamic is an everyday condiment while the aged stuff is thicker and has much more concentrated flavor.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce)


How to reduce a sauce at the bottom of a baking dish? A recipe I'm interested in making asks to bake some vegetables in the oven in a baking dish, afterwards, to reduce any remaining liquid by putting the pan on a stove over medium heat.

I'm not sure whether it's safe to put a baking dish onto a stove, and since I have a glass-topped electric stove I'm worried that doing this will cause the dish to break due to uneven heating.

Is it safe to place the dish there? If not, how would I go about reducing any liquid left at the bottom of the dish?

Thanks!

WOW...this is a published recipe?? Are Pyrex casserole dishes safe for use on electric stovetops?  It is very dangerous to put most bakeware on most stoves. Your best option would be to either originally bake in a stove-safe implement, or to transfer from a casserole to a saucepan at that point.

Only, only use cookware labeled as safe for a stove (usually only metal) on a stove! Period! To do otherwise as asking for potentially deadly shrapnel. I am not kidding!


What is the difference between French-pressed and Turkish coffee? The taste and preparation of French-pressed and Turkish coffees are highly different, but I think they are both the same kind of coffee, named coffee Arabica.

Turkish coffee has smaller grains and is prepared by putting the
coffee powder within boiling water.
French-pressed coffee has larger grains and is prepared by placed in coffee
maker in which hot water washing over the coffee powder on top of a
paper filter.

These are my unprofessional experience with these two cases, but what are the actual difference? and is it possible to interchangeably use the preparation methods?

You list the main differences already (and yes they can be both made from the same bean or blend).

The name turkish coffee refers to the preparation method ... and the grind/granulation/coarseness is adjusted to the method.

Coarse ground coffee - Turkish preparation:

I come from a culture where Turkish coffee is brewed in almost every
home, so I always preferably go for it. And sometimes not having the
fine turkish-style coffee powder at hand (living abroad) I have made (read: tried to make)
"Turkish coffee" with a coarser ground coffee powder many times -
the taste is often quite alright, as you can compensate for the
surface (exchange area) with adding a bit more powder or letting it
sit a bit longer. However, as for this preparation you leave the
powder in the coffee (also while drinking) the coarser coffee does
not sink easily ... so you get it all between your teeth, if you
don't filter it out somehow (which is then not the traditional
Turkish coffee anymore).
Turkish-ground coffee - filter preparation / French press:

On the other hand using a French press, the fine Turkish-ground
coffee escapes through the mesh. This is not too bad, as the super fine coffee will sink and you will end up with coffee brewed in the carafe (like the "mud coffee" or kafe botz that they drink in Israel), with the unnecessary addition of making the French press dirty. Used to prepare filter (drip) coffee, the
finely ground coffee clogs the filter paper.  (being the adventurous
type I have experienced all this already, but wouldn't dare
recommending it)

In both cases you get coffee as a result after some hassle ... and even the desired taste might be reached ... but using the right coffee grind with the right method makes everything way easier.

The best is if you can grind your beans yourself (in Europe you can find public coffee grinders in many supermarkets and stores) ... then you can always achieve the desired coarseness for the right method of preparation (drip brew, french press, espresso, turkish,...).

Some additional notes:

You mention arabica - it is the most widely cultivated and
commercially used species of coffee (Coffea arabica) - so you will likely find it used in most preparation methods; the
other species that you sometimes get is called robusta (Coffea
canephora) and has a much stronger bitter flavor.
Not only the specieas, but also the roasting is very important for the flavor. So with the same bean you can get very different coffee (from a very strong dark roast to a very light roast). In some places I have seen turkish coffee prepared by quickly roasting the dry coffee powder in a cezve before boiling water was added, which gave it an extra toasty aroma.
In some places, turkish coffee will be made with the addition of spices (e.g. cardamom), which you can find also already in some ground Turkish/Middle Eastern/Iranian coffee blends. This will quite likely make a big difference in flavor when compared to "French" coffee (or to some drip-coffee blends that are sometimes made with the addition of hazelnut or vanilla flavors).


Why would I use Arrowroot instead of Cornstarch? I've heard that arrowroot can be used just like cornstarch as a thickening agent.  If I have both ingredients on hand, under what circumstances would I choose one over the other?

Compared to corn starch, arrowroot:

Results in a clearer, shinier texture;
Survives the freezing process much better; and
Works better in acidic liquids (certain sauces, soups, etc.)

Where it doesn't work so well is in many fruit pies and some other baked goods (because it tends to break down under high heat), and in dairy dishes (you'll end up with a "gooey" texture).

Use arrowroot in place of corn starch whenever your needs match the above.

P.S. Many people are also allergic to corn, and this is probably one of the most common reasons to use arrowroot.  If this applies to you, and you're making a dish that is not suited to arrowroot, tapioca flour/starch is another great thickener and actually thickens better than corn starch.


Are there ways in which you can overdo your thickening? In this recipe for mac and cheese that calls for a basic roux of 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup butter (60g from what I gathered it to be) I got a pretty thick sauce even after adding 3 cups of milk and before I added any type of cheese.

I wonder - can you do something in the roux-making that can cause the flour to over-thicken?

No, you can do something to underthicken it (make a darker roux than the recipe intended by accidentally heating for too long), and you can get lumps in it, but there is no common mistake(1) which can cause too thick a sauce.

From your description, it seems like you simply used way too much flour. 120 g to the cup is a pretty common conversion factor for flour (as always with volume-to-weight conversion, it's not perfect, but good enough). 1/4 cup of flour would be 30 gram, not 60.

Also, this recipe seems flawed in suggesting a 1:1 ratio for the roux to weight instead by volume. You probably needed 30 g flour and 30 g butter, not 30 flour and 60 butter. Sometimes it is common to overbutter roux, but not by such a margin, and the additional fat is more commonly added later, not during making. The 1:1 volume ratio suggests the recipe maker didn't know what they were doing, so I wouldn't be surprised at the recipe as a whole being suboptimal.

(1) Before people start correcting me: Technically, there are ways to overthicken. For example, you could cook out most of the liquid, but you'd need to forget it on the stove for an hour or two, and if that happened, you'd probably would be complaining of burnt sauce instead of thick sauce. Also, if you somehow managed to add another thickener without noticing, such as throwing in a pinch of xanthan insted of pinch of salt - you see we're dealing with extremely improbable scenarios here.


Looking to bake side dishes, having problems with dryness When I cook my meat, I usually bake or broil it, I basically use the oven.

I like using the oven to make the side dish while baking the meat. Usually the side dish consists of a combination of sweet potatoes / yams, broccoli and onions.

I slice the potatoes and make sure the broccoli pieces and onions are large enough so they will not overcook / burn.

However, usually this combination ends up being really dry, and everything sticks to the aluminum foil.

Now, I don't really like throwing oil on everything, I want my meals to be healthy, and covering everything with alot of oil is not appealing to me.

Do you know of any alternatives to prevent the dryness?

I might just have to revert to boiling the potatoes and broccoli, although I have never heard of boiling onions.

To prevent the sticking, you might want to use a spray oil, maybe even just on the foil before you put the vegetables and potatoes on. It's a tiny amount of oil, not enough to make things noticeably greasy, but will be pretty effective. Another spray over the top will make them brown a little more nicely and may even prevent a little drying out. Alternatively, you can just toss them all in a bowl with a small amount of oil; it really doesn't take much, and I'd hardly describe it as "covering with a lot of oil."

As for preventing things from drying out, first and foremost, don't overcook them. Broccoli and onions both roast very nicely, but you definitely want to pull it out before it starts browning/burning too much. If you slice the potatoes thinly enough, they'll cook in roughly the same amount of time as the broccoli and onions. So if things are getting overcooked, just don't leave them in the oven as long.

You can also always try covering them. Another sheet of foil over the top will trap a fair amount of moisture, letting them steam a bit and probably preventing some burning as well.

(I suppose it's also possible that it's all drying out because you're cooking them too slowly, so they have plenty of time for moisture to escape, but that seems less likely given the way you described things.)


Transforming shredded cheese into chunk cheese I am at an event where I need to serve cubed chunk cheese, but I only have shredded mozzarella.  Is there a simple way to melt mozzarella into chunks?  Any idea would help.

Normally when you have smaller cheeses you use a cheese press to mash them together. Make 1 round of cheese. Only thing I could think of would be to see Felx. Our local blacsmith & have one made. As a specialty item. Kind of like a long handled garlic press with out the holes in it. Think along those lines. Something cube shaped you can mash the cheese together in.


What nutrients are concentrated in citrus peels (not juice)? I just bought my first juicer today and I'm having a blast experimenting with the different favors.

I'm looking at all these juice recipes and they all say to peel the rind off of the citrus fruits when juicing as they leave a very sour flavor. I don't mind extra sour things, so my question is, what nutrients am I gaining if I keep the rind on when juicing the whole fruit (eg oranges, lemons, limes, etc)?

Is it still better to leave the rind off when juicing?

You can look up nutritional information at the USDA nutrient database. Their entry for orange peel says that 100g of orange peel contains: 97 Calories, various minerals, and a few vitamins. You can compare it raw oranges to see how it differs from the rest of the fruit. You can also look up orange juice, etc.

You can also get some of that information (plus comparison to USDA recommended daily amounts and to other foods) at Wolfram Alpha. You can even have it compare orange peel and orange.

As rumtscho mentions, the pith (white part of the peel) is bitter. The zest (outermost colored part) is very fragrant (and flavorful).

Oranges vary in sourness depending on variety, cultivar, growing conditions, etc.


Which types of bread are well suited for overnight proofing and what adjustments are needed? I bake simple white loaves quite often. Usually my recipe is a very basic one, like this Classic white loaf from BBC Good Food.

I have also experimented with increasing the hydration of the loaf.

Sometimes at the end of the day there isn't time to complete the recipe (something comes up, etc). I do know that certain bread recipes call for an overnight first proof in the fridge. Are there certain bread types that are suitable for adjusting for an overnight first proof, for example, my white bread one, or a high hydration one? What adjustments do I need to make/what must I be careful of?

I was thinking of some things, or wondering about problems like:

bringing up to temperature the next morning.
less initial kneading night before because the proof is so long.
too big holes in the bread if second proof too long.

When you consider overnight proofing in the fridge, the first and probably most important change is the amount of yeast. Your sample recipe is a very mainstream yeast-rich one (and even for non-fridge preparation I personally would use  less and proof a tad longer).

For overnight proofing, the rule of thumb is 1-2% fresh or 0.4-0.7% dry yeast - so for your 500g flour you would be using between 2 and 3.5 grams of dry yeast, 2.5g would be my choice or "a bit less than 1/2 sachet".

Also, you want to use cool ingredients, not lukewarm like you are used to.

Kneading is in fact a matter of taste: the no-knead types will give you a more "hole-y" result (often also called "artisan"), but you can knead just as you are used to until your dough is smooth.

When you take the risen dough out of the fridge the next morning, you will probably notice that the dough is a bit less sticky and a bit more "stable" (lacking a better word here), so probably quite easy to work with. If you take it out of the fridge, shape it and set it aside for the second and final rise, the time difference shouldn't be too great, but as always with yeast dough, use visual clues and the "poke / spring back test" instead of a timer to determine the desired grade of proofing. For me, by the time my oven and baking stone are heated through, the dough is easily ready.

I have used the cold proofing process for a wide range of doughs, from Hefezopf over classic breakfast buns to high-hydration recipes. The most significant differences I found were that buttery recipes need a tad longer (I suspect the cool butter needs to soften up a bit before the dough can rise) and high-hydration recipes that were just a sticky mess turned into something that was manageable without loads of extra flour.

But one word of advice, speaking from experience: Starting out with a "warm and yeast-rich" dough, then looking at the watch and just moving everything to the fridge might give you a surprise the next morning when your dough has climbed out of the bowl and started to wander around a bit. Plus the yeast might be a bit too spent for a good second rise and you might have to "wing it" a bit.


Skimming foam from stock without removing floating spices When I make chicken stock from scratch, I like to include whole spices like mustard seed, coriander, star anise and black pepper. I put these in right at the start when the water is still cool, so they can slowly add flavor as the stock simmers for hours.

I only run into a problem when skimming foam. Many of the whole spices float to the top and I find it very tedious to skim the foam without taking out spices as well. I use a metal spoon or ladle for skimming.

How can I skim the foam without catching the floating spices as well? Is there a technique or tool specially suited to this task?

I tend to just stick the spices in a tea egg

I do this whenever I think the spices will get in the way during my process or when I want to remove them before serving, such as in case of a bouquet garni, cloves or juniper berries.

Should you be reluctant to use metal in your recipe you can of course use loose leaf tea bags.

Either way you can just lift the spices out whenever you want to skim the top of your broth.


Storage of Sweet Potato Pie I want to make Sweet Potato Pie for the first time for Monday yet I'm going to be busy on the weekend. This got me wondering what are proper storage ideas for Sweet Potato Pie. For instance if I make the pie tomorrow would it taste just as good for Monday if I freeze it after it cools and defrost it Sunday night? Or are there other methods I should utilize?

I've frozen custard pies and they keep well. Be a bit careful when defrosting: if you leave it out in a humid environment, condensation will soak into the crust and make it soggy. Some tips: wrap some foil around the crust on the edges, freeze in a bag,and defrost in the fridge (still in bag). After it is defrosted (at least mostly), keep the foil in place and put it into a hot oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up the crust and dry out any condensation that has formed.

I've kept pies for a week, and there were no issues. I imagine they will keep for something between 1 and 3 weeks if refrigerated, so there is no reason to freeze if you plan to eat them within a week.


How do I prevent salmon sticking to the BBQ grill? I love a good BBQ and cooking steaks & sausages etc are no problem.

However, whenever I put the salmon fillets on the BBQ (skin side down), no amount of oil seems to prevent them from sticking to the grill.

When I try to remove the fish from the BBQ, it just falls apart and the skin stays stuck to the grill.

What can I do to prevent this?

If you don't fancy cooking in aluminium foil (kind of takes the point away), you need to make sure you have a super clean, extremely hot grill.

Why?

Clean (No tasty burnt fat from the burgers), flesh sticks like #### to a blanket. You can get away with it when cooking steaks because they are just so much stronger. So get a wire brush and clean an area for fish cooking and keep it clean :).

Hot, as hot as you can pretty much. You want the second that Salmon (or other fish) hits the grill for it to blacken. It'll help make sure the flesh is no longer 'fleshy' and again less likely to stick. Don't try lifting it till' you know that underside is like a pink and black Zebra on it's underside (3-4 min).

When it does come to lifting you could really do with a nice sharp fish slice, not a blunt fat ended egg slice.

Good luck.


Garlic press with minimum force required What type of a grarlic press would require the minimum amout of force to operate? (for people with hand problems)

Would this one where the pressing part is pivoted require less force than one with a fixed pressing part?

Any other designs which requires less force?

(one could extend the handles attaching something to them to get more leverage obviously)

Not really an answer to your question, but a possible alternative - why not frozen garlic?

I use a lot of fresh, but there are 2 different sorts of frozen I use too - one is Indian in origin & comes as a bag of 'cubes' of frozen paste. It loses some of the punch of fresh, but you can simply add more if required.
UK pricing maybe £1.10 for 500g.

The other type is 'european' & is finely chopped & loose in a bag. This is more expensive but still retains the full flavour & aroma.
It doesn't cook down quite as well as the cubes. Even though the aroma is better for a short cook, if I'm doing a long cook where the garlic should 'vanish' I will use the cube-paste instead.
UK pricing closer to £1.50 for 100g.

Either is close enough that no-one could tell once it's cooked into a dish.
Effort required == zero in both cases.

I found a fairly random supermarket link with both alternatives - Tesco UK

Re comments on the question...
Both of these are significantly closer to fresh than anything you can buy in a jar.


What kind of wok do I have? Just  bought a cheap wok that has 2 little handles and the inside looks like a bad paint job (black in Color)that looks like swirls.

on the bottom it has Chinese lettering which I don't understand. It is  very lightweight. Any clues?

Types of woks:

Stainless Steel

Heavy, expensive and well, shiny like stainless steel. Unlikely that this is it.

Cast Iron

They're usually pretty heavy. It'll be black, but due to your weight, I'd guess that this isn't it either. Lightweight cast iron woks exist but they can be pretty brittle.

Carbon Steel

Lightweight and cheap. Will be black if it's seasoned/pre-seasoned. These are manufactured a number of ways (hammered, stamped or spun on a lathe). Depending on what you mean by "swirls", it could be a result of the manufacturing method, the "bad paint job", could be the some pre-seasoning (ie: bad seasoning job?)?
This would be my guess as you said it's lightweight and cheap. The Chinese lettering would also make it more likely as this is one of the more popular traditional types.

Teflon, Aluminum, other...

You can also find them in various other materials, but these should be pretty obvious, and you're unlikely to buy one randomly I would guess.

TLDR: I would guess it's machined/turned carbon steel.

See here for more info: Serious Eats


What kind of cookware is suitable for a glass ceramic stovetop? I have a glass ceramic stove surface. I need to buy some cookware, but I'm not sure what kind I need to buy.

The manual has the following opinions about what cookware I should use (paraphrased):

Aluminum: Care must be taken when using aluminum because it can break, fuse to, or mark the stove surface
Copper: May leave metal marks on stove surface.
Stainless Steel: Uneven cooking results.
Cast Iron: Not recommended.
Porcelain-Enamel on Metal: Heating characteristics vary based on core material. Coating must be smooth or it will scratch the stove surface.
Glass: Not recommended.

Based on that information, it seems stainless steel or porcelain-enamel on metal are the only two types that aren't going to ruin the stove surface, and that I'll get the best results while cooking if I choose porcelain-enamel.

However, I see mixed opinions all over the net about what is suitable for the glass ceramic stove surface. One article I found was here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4499460_buy-cookware-ceramic-glass-cooktop.html. Contrary to what my manual says, this person says I should include cast iron cookware in sets.

What kind of cookware can I buy that will not damage my glass ceramic stove surface?

I wouldn't pay much attention to this list. I would just get my cookware based on what functionality I need, not based on what my stove manufacturer says.

The idea of not using cast iron on glass to protect the glass from scratches is as perverse as keeping a sunhat in the closet and going to the beach bareheaded to protect the sunhat from color fading. Your stove's purpose isn't to gleam, it is to cook. The manufacturer probably tries to shield himself from customer complaints: "your stove got scratches" "nothing we can do, you treated it against our recommendation". This would explain the overly cautious list.

I have an induction stove with a glass plate myself. I don't have cast iron cookware from the type common in the US (Lodge pans and similar), but I have a wrought iron pan, not seasoned on the outside (it developed  black rust during seasoning the inside, as well as something which I suspect must be ferrous sulfide). It is smoother than cast iron, but rougher than a typical stainless steel pan. I regularly use it on my stove. Also, I regularly clean the stove with a mild abrasive (equivalent to Unilever's brand Cif) and once or twice, I had a baked-on spill which wouldn't go away with this cleaner, so I used a steel wool scouring pad instead. I worked gently, but still applied enough force to remove the residues. After cleaning and polishing with a glass-ceramic cleaner, my stove literally mirrors the ceiling. I bet it has less scratches than my phone screen. So, I think that all the stories about iron cookware damaging the stovetop are greatly exaggerated. But if you are really scared, you can sand and season the bottom.

The other claims are also dubious. Alu melts at 660°C, you probably won't reach it even if you forget an empty pan on high for hours. Nobody uses pure copper pans anyway, and if it is an inner layer of a sandwich bottom, there is no way it will leave marks. And so on.  Only the glass warning is good - not because it would damage the stove, but because you risk the glass vessel itself to shatter.

Bottomline: Buy based on what material is best for cooking whatever you plan to cook. The stove should be able to take it. And if you are rough and it does get a scratch or two, then I don't see why it should bother you - it is a tool, not a fashion statement.


Can I replace sugar with honey in tea? If I want to replace sugar with honey in black or green tea, can I add the honey at any point or should I wait until the tea cools down a bit?

There is apparently evidence that some of the flavour compounds in honey deteriorate during heating:
http://www.ibrabee.org.uk/component/k2/item/1837-effect-of-heat-on-honey

The text suggests that honey should not be heated to more than 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). So it might be wise to let the tea cool down a bit before adding the honey. Having said that, I usually put the honey in immediately after removing the tea leaves and it tastes fine to me. The flavour of the honey is clear and pronounced and I have never felt that anything was missing.


Why did the crust get too hard on my Blueberry Cheesecake? I recently made a no bake blueberry cheesecake with its crust made of cookie crumbs(Used Digestive Biscuits as cookies), Brown sugar and melted butter. After keeping the cake overnight in the refrigerator, the crust turned out to be too solid, so solid that not it was difficult to cut it using a knife. What did go wrong? Did i keep it in the refrigerator for too long? Or should i increase the cookie crumbs or the melted butter content to avoid it?

Your ratio of butter to cookie is probably the main problem here: using too much butter and refrigerating it overnight will give your crust the texture of... well... refrigerated butter.

So, change the recipe and use one of the following options:

Lightly soak the cookies in coffee/tea/lemonade/Cognac/whatever liquid is to your taste.
Use less volume of butter and add the same volume of cookies.
Powder the cookies in a blender
Use a mixture of oil and butter (take one with a neutral taste like grape-seed oil).  Test out a few spoonfuls in some shot glasses (50/50, 60/40, ... until you get the texture you want)

You can also combine the above, but that would be riskier: change one parameter at a time...

Can I have a piece of that perfect blueberry cheesecake now? :-)


How can I turn rolled oats into flour without a food processor? I don't have a proper food processor, just a little baby-food-sized one, so when I made Alton Brown's all-oats oatmeal cookie recipe before, I used half oat flour and half rolled oats. They were perfect, so I'd like to repeat them for my friend with celiac disease. I found gluten-free rolled oats, but the only oat flour I can find is labeled "may contain traces of wheat." Is there a way I can make rolled oats into flour with something other than a food processor?

You could use a mortar and pestle, if you have a good (and large) one - though it would take a lot of time and grinding to make it work, and probably small batches to fit your mortar and pestle size, it is doable, especially if this is a one-time use.  you would probably not want to do this often, though.

You might try a blender, it's very similar to a food processor if you happen to have one.  I would not recommend an immersion blender, as the oats (and flour) would fly everywhere (as opposed to liquid which holds together a bit more), but a regular blender should work well (also, keep it covered, though).

If you have a coffee grinder, that's also a possibility - it is intended to turn beans into powder, this is just a different grain.  You might want to make sure it's quite clean unless you want coffee flavored cookies, though.

And final option, if you have a spice grinder, that should also work.  Some people get a spare coffeee grinder for the job, or if you have a little hand crank grinder (like some people use for pepper or cinnamon or such), that would also work - though again, lots of work and small batch sizes, but possibly worth it for one time.

Additionally, if you toast the oats a bit, they should be dryer and easier to grind (and toasting gives a bit of flavor) - this will help especially if you're using one of the hand methods, like mortar and pestle or tiny spice grinder.


How long should I let my new sourdough starter ferment until I can use it? I am making my first sourdough starter (and bread of course). I started it 2 days ago, and it looked quite good while in the fermentation process. I only made a small quantity with approx. 1/4 cup of all purpose flour (as I didn't have any Rye Flour) and about less of 1/4 cup of water.

I then let it rest for 24 hours in my kitchen cabinet. I don't want to discard any of the starter, so I want to know what is the minimum time-frame I should wait and leave it to ferment until I can use it. The first day the fermentation seemed very good, with that frothy consistency, and with that ugly fermentation smell, I however, didn't test by floating it by the way.

EDIT: seems already dead my starter after the third day, so i gonna try to make a new one again :P, its my first time making this though...

To make a sourdough starter work you have to create an environment where tasty yeast and bacteria will succeed and harmful or gross microbes will be either crowded out or unable to tolerate the acidity.

This environment is created by continually feeding the starter. That is, adding a consistent ratio of fresh starch to consume.

I read an analogy, perhaps Peter Reinhart's, that feeding a starter is like mowing a lawn. The big weeds won't get the upper hand if the lawn is kept consistently mowed.

Your sourdough recipe will have a ratio of starter to feed for each feeding. If you choose to not discard any starter then Everytime you feed you will have to use more and more flour to maintain the ratio. Depending on the recipe this could double everyday. It's not sustainable.

It sounds like you aren't feeding the sourdough at all. Depending on the temperature it will take only a short time, perhaps a day or two, before nasty microbes get the upper hand and your starter will rot. Believe me, this is an unpleasant experience.

If you are determined to not throw away starter you can collect the discarded portion in the fridge where the fermentation will be slowed. This can be used as filler in other baked goods but will not provide much sourdough flavor or lift until the starter is ready.

At first I hated throwing away starter but I realized I was costing myself a great deal of hassle to save pennies worth of flour.

When feeding a new starter, the amount of time depends on many variables including the feeding ratio and schedule, floor, present microbes, temperature, and desired pungency. Most recipes seem to call for around ten days and that matches my personal experience.


What are the benefits of using natural casing when making sausages? I'm about to make some sausages and need a casing.  What are the benefits of using natural casing when making sausages?

If you're planning to smoke your sausages, natural casings will allow for greater smoke penetration than many non-natural casings, and they won't impart any odd flavors of their own to the meat. That said, when you first open a container of natural casings, they may have a strong smell because of gas build-up; let them air out (in the fridge!) and they'll be fine.


How to prepare chicken tartare? One of my favorite dishes is steak tartare with fried bread, garlic, capers, beets and raw egg yolk. I would like to try chicken tartare (food safety issues aside - I'm aware of the risks); however, I don't think that garlic, beet and caper match with chicken meat.

Another difference would be the difference in texture between chicken and beef - I can't imagine it is possible to scrape the chicken meat as I would do with beef.

My two questions are:

What preparation method for raw chicken would lead to the most pleasant texture? Sliced, minced, diced, mashed, etc.?
What accompaniments would pair best with this dish?

As with all raw-meat or sushi dishes, this will never be 100% safe to eat; at best we are talking about a calculated food safety risk, with steps taken to mitigate that risk when possible.  For this reason, it is CRUCIAL that the chicken be kept at fridge temperature as much as possible.  When cutting, use a pre-chilled cutting board if possible, and serve immediately.  For extra safety, blanch the chicken to kill surface pathogens, and slice off the cooked exterior.

Given the slimy, gelatinous texture of raw chicken, I believe the best results would come from finely dicing the chicken (small cubes) or very thinly slicing it.  These approaches seem to work well for sushi and tuna tartare, which have similar textures. As with sushi, you need a shaving-sharp knife to get clean cuts.

For flavorings, your goals are twofold: add flavor and kill pathogens.  An acidic sauce or marinade is obligatory, to reduce the pH below 4 and render it hostile to pathogens.  The acidity should also reduce the slight sulfurous notes in raw chicken, by reacting with the sulfur in the molecules and making them less volatile.  Taken to an extreme, this could produce a result much like ceviche, where the acid denatures the proteins and produces a texture akin to cooking.  Fresh cut, finely-minced garlic is delicious and also hostile to pathogens.  Many aromatic herbs also have antimicrobial properties, with fenugreek being a notable standout in this area.

There are a couple ways you could develop this into a full dish from there:

Do it up like a ceviche:  fresh lemon/lime juice, garlic, chili flakes, onions, salt, and maybe a little cilantro or coriander.
Go European: white wine vinegar, thyme, rosemary, parsley flakes, garlic, black pepper, salt, and maybe a little olive oil
Go sushi!  Marinate it in rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and spices, and serve it in sushi rolls, accompanied with a LOT of wasabi and pickled ginger.  Those condiments help mitigate the food safety risk with their antimicrobial/antiparasite properties.
Go sushi part 2: marinate it as above, but serve alone with a horseradish-based sauce containing lemon. EDIT: Apparently there is a real recipe along these lines.  Toriwasa, or chicken sashimi.  I found several recipes using wasabi (horseradish), soy sauce, parsley, and sake.  The chicken's exterior is cooked, but the interior remains raw.

I should add a couple caveats to this: I have serious doubts about raw chicken as an ingredient, even with the best cooking possible.  At best I think it will be edible but not delicious.  The problem is that raw chicken is incredibly bland, and where it isn't bland, it has an unpleasant, slightly sulfurous flavor.  The texture is somewhat off-putting too.  I might be wrong, of course, but I think this is better handled as a theoretical exercise and not an actual dish.  If you try any of these ideas and get food poisoning, it's your own dang fault for eating raw chicken... you boob.


What can I use instead of a tea towel? I have a recipe for steaming seitan that involves wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf in a tea towel, tying off the ends, and placing in the steaming basket.

I am good to go but for the tea towel. Unfortunately, I don't have any tea towels, nor do I have any that aren't either microfiber or bath towels with a fuzzy nap. I have one of cotton quilted fabric. What can I use as a surrogate tea towel?

Cheesecloth, canvas, broadcloth, or duck would all work well.


How to make ground almonds creamy? I put roasted almonds through a food grinder — first on coarse grind then on fine[1] — thinking I would wind up with almond butter. I wound up with a fine ground instead. I haven't tried, but it appears somewhat spreadable; but I'm afraid that if I spread it and stand the bread on end it will fall off the bread. I'm seeking something creamier — I mean, more like commercially available peanut butter. What can I do to my ground almonds to achieve that?

[1] There are only two settings. It's a stand mixer's attachment.

I use a Cuisinart food processor to make almond butter. I once used a processor that was not very powerful and it burnt out (my brothers, so I had to replace it). You'll need a machine with significant wattage because it takes a bit of energy to grind up almonds unless you are making a very small quantity. Sorry, I don't think there is a way around that. The advantage of a food processor over a blender is a wider surface area so there is less of a need to add liquid to improve flow. I don't add anything to mine except a little salt, but if I did it would only be oil. Water may reduce its shelf life. BTW, even in the processor it takes about  15 minutes to make, probably less if the almonds are hot and freshly roasted.


How does "Infra-red" frying work? After many delightful meals at a friends home, made by "frying a turkey in an infrared fryer" I decided to get one for myself, specifically the "Big Easy" from CharBroil. Empirically I can see that this 'works' (and quite well) but I'm not sure I understand "How" it works. You have an outer heating space and an inner cooking chamber. Ok, so this heats the food, but what is not clear to me is:

How is this "Infrared" (a spectrum of light below 'red')?
For that matter, how does it qualify as "frying", to my eyes it looks more like baking .

Infrared refers to the region of the electromagnetic spectrum comprised by wavelengths of about 1 and 100 microns.  As you said it lies just aside the reddish part of the visible spectrum (called visible based on our vision) and usually revealed by sensors based on semiconductors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum

This invisibility is due to the fact that the energy carried by IR radiation comes in photons or quanta (think of them as small packets or specks of energy which gets involved in absorption / emissions / and other phenomena as indivisible entities) whose size does not fit with the electronic transitions responsible for what we call colours.

Their energy is less and correspond to molecular vibrations and rotations.

Temperature is - microscopically - the motion of particles. The energy carried by IR get absorbed by the food molecular vibrations and rotations and by concomitant collisions get transformed in linear motion too. I.e. the molecules move faster (this happens independently of the way heat is given).The final result is a higher T so that reactions and processes can happen).

The main difference with respect of other cooking is that it works, in principle, even in vacuum. No medium is needed to transfer heat (note that this applies to microwave cooking as well). No convection, conduction but just radiation.

As with microwave oven, the cooking is rather smooth and homogeneous all within the food.

As pointed out in the above comment, this cooking is more a sort of roasting or grilling from above. Note that these two types of cooking are basically IR based.

Every body (in physics sense) emits radiation by virtue of its temperature. All the time that cooking substantially involves a big luminous object, there is IR radiation at work (electrical grill from above, barbecue, roasting via a flame, ...).

Differences and peculiarities of each are due to the concomitance of more than one heating mechanism, like thermal conduction by metallic part, warm air, steam, etc. as well as the presence of a second component (water or oil are not merely media but can be absorbed and/or contribute to taste).

Indeed, from a mechanicistical point of view, the most apart from IR cooking are boiling and frying , which I would say are almost totally based on thermal conduction (convection carries heat to the whole body of fluid then the food is heated by contact).

Still, I do not doubt that your IR fried food resemble that fried in fats. Likely it is moderately crispy all over, more healthy, just a bit less tasty.

(Additional note. Visible and shorter wavelength radiations (x rays) do carry energy, too. Even more, each photon has a high energy than a IR one. It is just that they are primarily involved in higher energy processes at first. They heat up a body after some sort of decay processes that again result in an overall faster motion of particles).