Are there thermo bottles to store tea, as soon as it is made (100ºC/212ºF)? I'm looking for a thermo bottle (~ 1 Litre/ 33 oz) to store tea, as soon as it is made (let's say its temperature will be around 100 Celsius/ 212 Fahrenheit.

Is there such a brilliant bottle? Would this SIGG Thermo Bottle be able to do this?

I don't even need to maintain the beverage warm. I just need a portable recipient that withstands such temperatures (and doesn't leak/allow me to drink directly from it).

You don't need anything special for that. I have often made tea in a regular thermo bottle, with no adverse effects on the bottle. It does help that it keeps the tea hot. So the fancy one you linked is probably OK too.

If you want a lighter bottle, you can see if a glass bottle doesn't weigh less, although a thermo bottle from thin stainless steel isn't that heavy compared to glass. Glass should withstand boiling water without breaking, if the bottle isn't too thick and hasn't been held in a very cold place (room temperature is OK). It still can shatter, so you should probably take precautions (pour over the sink), although the chance is very low.

A typical softdrink bottle shouldn't be reused for tea, even if it doesn't melt outright it is likely to get very soft, etc. But some plastic bottles will be OK with hot liquids, for example Nalgenes should do the job. They have the advantage of being wide-mouthed (it is very hard to clean a glass lemonade bottle because of its narrow mouth).

You can go to the local hiking store and see what they have, and whether you like it more or less than a thermo bottle (and they will have thermo bottles too). Their bottles are optimized for easy caring, and some come optionally with a neopren sleeve to keep the temperature longer.


Microwaving M&Ms produces sparks Last week I microwaved some peanut butter M&Ms for 40 seconds, which is something I've done hundreds of times before to melt the chocolate on the inside. However, when I did it this time, there was some popping and then a big spark inside. There was no metal in the microwave, the bowl is microwave safe, but it did have a chip in it. I also left the M&Ms uncovered, while I usually cover them with a paper towel. Any idea what caused this? Someone elsewhere suggested this paper might be an explanation but I would think it would have happened before if that was the case.

Off the top of my head I would say the sparking and popping is unexpected: usually a significant of water content would need to be present for this kind of behavior, as water conducts electricity and everything else not so much. There is water in peanut butter, but it is around 1-2% and is emulsified with fat, and that should reduce the conductivity substantially. But, the voltages inside a microwave oven are quite high and could force a conductive path through the emulsion to cause sparking.

My best guess is that whoever makes M&Ms (can't remember now) changed their peanut butter formulation and used slightly more water. It is batch specific?


How to caramelise onions? Often recipes ask for caramelised onions.  What are some good techniques for cooking them this way, as it seems to take a while, and often even if they are on a low heat they can brown a bit too much if they are not stirred continually.

Low and slow is the only way to go, I'm afraid. You can add some broth and simmer them down (as opposed to just cooking them in oil) but make sure you add little enough that it will all evaporate...Don't want to be pouring off flavor.


What's the difference between rectangular tea bags and pyramid tea bags? Does the difference in shape between pyramid and regular rectangular tea bags have any practical consequences? Perhaps a difference in preparation method, or in the resulting tea?

The pyramid teabag allows for more effective and faster extraction. This is because the tea bag retains its 3 dimensional shape, so there is plenty of space for the tea leaves, and more of their surface area is exposed for extraction.

A conventional teabag actually becomes smaller, and there is less space and the tea leaves are pressed onto each other, creating a compressed little ball of tea. I think whoever invented the pyramid teabag had that in mind. I am not suggesting that the world was desperate for it though ;)


Juice from meat extinguishing charcoals when grilling? I've never heard anyone else talk about this problem, but it seems to happen to me all the time:

I've been grilling regularly on a Webber charcoal grill for about a year. I have done my best to follow the instructions in the Webber manual about how to use the grill. I always use "the direct method" as I am usually cooking burgers or steaks, and frankly the results have not been too shabby so far.

But here's something I don't understand. When I cook a particularly juicy meat, especially a marinated meat, the juice always falls down on the charcoals, and it seems to extinguish many of them, at least partially. This wouldn't matter so much, except that it seems to lead to a big discrepancy in temperatures between the time I put the meat on until I flip, and then between the flip until the meat is ready. So if a recipe calls for 6 minutes on each side, after the first 6 minutes one side is super charred, and then I need to leave it on the second side for longer than 6 minutes to achieve the same. It's also painful because I often will grill a vegetable after the meat is done, and it always seems to take much longer than I expect.

Does anyone else have this problem? What should I do? I've seen drip pans at the store, but again the manual for my Webber suggests that these are only necessary when grilling by the indirect method.

As a fellow Webber'er and long time griller, I'm going to wager one of three things going on here:

Your coals aren't hot enough.  One of the biggest problems I see with folks and charcoal grills isn't waiting long enough for the coals.  There's should be no visible flame and slightly more than half of the coals should be white.  In a chimney starter - this is around 25 minutes for me.  If you're using another method, YMMV.
You don't have enough coals.  If you've just got enough coals to spread a thin layer across your grill, then they won't keep heat well and they'll cool down fast. If the liquid hits them too much here, they won't heat back up well. They should be grouped together somewhat and generally a couple layers thick for best heat.
There is waaaaay too much marinade still on your meat when it hits the grill.  If its been soaked properly in the marinade, you don't need to have it still be gushing fluid when it hits the grill.


White Stains on stainless steel So these are stains that I tried to get off with everything this board has adviced. Still no end in sight.  I tried baking soda, citric acid, white vinegar, bar keeper's friend etc.

Does anyone know what these are? First time I'm getting these in 5 years of cooking, hard as hell to get off. I even tried to scratch it off but it doesn't work.

These are probably mineral deposits.  Boiling water or washing with hard(er) water can leave them.

You can scrub with a plastic pad, use vinegar, etc.  I have found that denture cleaner works well for this.  Drop one or two tablets in a pan full of cold water, let it sit for 20 mintues, and then rinse it well.  A sponge or plastic abrasive pad should remove any remanents easily.

The film will probably reappear in a few months, so regular treatment is recommended.  As for the denture cleaner, a generic brand with a hundred or so tablets will cost you a couple bucks.  Also good for cleaning stains off porcelain.

That said, it shouldn't affect the flavor or healthfulness of your food.


Preparing Salsa with a Magic Bullet I'm trying to make some salsa with a magic bullet using the given recipe from the cookbook that comes with it. Here's the recipe with a picture of how it turns out at best.

The final product comes out looking pretty unappetizing - even worse than that picture. Is there a way to make it of normal consistency and colour?

Update: I realize that I should be a bit more specific as there are a lot of different salsas. I want it to look like this.

The Magic Bullet is essentially a blender, and is, as such, inherently unsuitable for making a salsa.

Also, the "seven-second" part of that recipe is a lie.  You're still going to have to peel the onions and garlic, remove the stems and seeds of the peppers, and trim up the tomatoes.

You're getting your knife and cutting board out anyway, so why not just do it by hand?  It really shouldn't take more that 5 minutes.


Will this recipe for vegetable fritters freeze well? I have a recipe for vegetable fritters that I've been given which consists of:

200g flour
200g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
200g carrot, peeled and grated
spring onions

The ingredients are combined with 'enough water to bind the mixture together', split into four fritters, shallow fried for 2-3 minutes until crisp on each side and then oven cooked for 10 minutes at 180°C.
I'll likely only want one, or two, of these and would like to keep the remaining fritters for a later date by freezing them. Will the ingredients lend themselves to freezing and if so would it be best done before or after cooking?

You can freeze fritters like this after frying, but I'd recommend freezing the vegetables by themselves or freezing the cooked fritters, or simply shrinking the recipe.
Whether you refrigerate or freeze the cooked fritters, you'll want to re-fry the floppy fritters to get the crispy texture back, unless you're okay with floppy fritters (they're kind of good honestly, like cold pizza). This is convenient like any other freezer meal.
But your recipe is very simple. If you only want 1 fritter, just measure out 25g of each ingredient instead of 200g. If you want 2 fritters, measure out 100g.
Realistically, you will almost certainly have extra veg that you won't need for this recipe, so regardless of how many fritters you make, if this is a recipe you like, I'd recommend freezing the excess carrots and beets for use in the next batch.
I will point out that doing do will cause a lot of moisture to be released when the veg is thawed. So for that reason I specifically DO NOT recommend freezing the batter before frying it. The consistency will be very different once thawed and all that water's released.
One way to circumvent this (and probably reduce your cooking time) would be to salt all your shredded veg. The salt would draw moisture out as well, even is you just use a pinch. Let it sit in the salt for a bit, then wring it out in a kitchen towel and continue with your recipe. You could even save the salted juice to use as your binding liquid instead of water.


When to heat oil in dutch oven? I have an enameled cast iron dutch oven.  I thought the pamphlet that came with it said not to heat the cast iron dry -- I could be imagining things, though.

Part One

So, am I supposed to put the oil in the dutch oven and then put it on the (cold) stove and then turn on the stove to low heat and then to medium?  If I do this, will the oil evaporate -- I thought I experienced that once?

Or am I supposed to preheat the dutch oven (starting on low and then going to medium) and then throw in the oil and heat it?

I'm asking this question because I don't want to ruin my le creuset french oven.

Part Two

And how do you know when the oil is hot enough?  This recipe says until it is almost smoking, but how do you know when it is about to smoke?  And don't all oils have different smoke points.  This recipe calls for vegetable oil, which I assume can be canola.

Part one:

Yes, put oil in first then put on a low/med heat.  Generally cast iron should be heated gently,  depending on your stove it should probably take about 5 minutes to get to a good temperature.  The oil shouldnt evaporate - I've never experienced this.  As to the type of oil - I use various depending on circumstance vegetable or olive usually.

Part two:

I generally shake the pan gently - when the oil becomes more less viscous (more runny) then it is at a good temperature to start cooking.  You can also put something like a small piece of onion or bread into the oil - if it starts bubbling and generally cooking then its good to go.  Some people use a couple of drops of water to see when it spits but I dont like doing this partly due to the safety factor and also due to the fact itll splatter over the stove top.

It depends a little on what you are cooking - if you are looking to brown some meat for example you'd probably want it a little hotter than if you were just going to make vegetable soup.


What to look for when buying a rice cooker? I think I can best explain the question by using a computer analogy. When buying a laptop there are specific qualities that a person looks for like

Processor speed
Screen size
Amount of memory

What are the qualities to look for with a rice cooker?

Volume

Volume is usually the primarily advertised statistic for rice cookers. This indicates the volume of cooked rice that can be prepared in one cycle. Common sizes include 5.5 cups and 10 cups. 5.5 cups is completely adequate for a family of five people for a single meal.

Bowl quality

Bowls in entry-level models are typically aluminum. Higher end models will be stainless steel. The same heating properties present in pans are relevant here. Aluminum heats quickly, and unevenly. Steel provides a more even heat.

Also of concern is the interior of the bowl. Nearly all bowls have a non-stick coating of varying quality. I've seen the coating start to flake off within a handful of uses on the cheaper rice makers. Higher end bowls can have a durable coating that lasts years or longer.

Cooking logic

The simplest and cheapest rice makers will have basic static logic. You put rice in, push a button, and the logic simply applies X amount of heat for Y minutes.

Higher end models also have additional functions including:

Presets for multiple varieties of rice
Delayed/scheduled cooking (like a slow cooker)
Keep warm functionality
Digital displays
Elapsed/remaining time displayed
Dynamic monitoring and adjustment of temperature/humidity

Cooking/Heating method

Most rice makers use a simple coiled electric heating element located under the bowl. This is a major cause of overcooked/browned/burnt parts where the rice contacts the heated area. This is exacerbated by cheaper aluminum bowls.

Higher end rice makers use induction heating. Induction is a rapidly alternating magnetic field which uses the entire bowl as the heating element. This heats much more evenly and is far less likely (almost impossible) to burn the rice.

The highest end rice makers add pressure cooking capabilities. Pressure cooked rice purportedly is softer, and retains softness longer than regular cooked rice.

Brand & price

This is probably the most important. In my experience, you actually get what you pay for. Without fail every American brand rice maker (presumably made in China)  I've used has been atrocious. The most positive thing I can say about one is "it worked great for the first batch".

There is one Japanese manufacturer that stands out from the pack: Zojirushi. I cannot overstate how amazing their product is. It literally just works, every time. I received the Zojirushi NP-HBC10 5-1/2-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer with Induction Heating System as a gift over two years ago. I have used the hell out of this thing and have never had a less than perfect batch of rice.


Why isn't a Sourdough starter unsanitary? Letting a bowl of flour and water go bad in a warm corner seems problematic at best.

I'm willing to believe there is some process that goes on to limit pathogens, but reading around this doesn't seem to even be considered.

The hint is in the name, sourdough.  Per the University of Wisconsin Extension:

  Properly  prepared starters are safe because they become acidic due to
  the fermentation action of lactic  acid-forming bacteria present in
  the mixture. These bacteria and the acid environment formed  inhibit
  the growth of other bacteria, but do allow yeast, if added, to grow
  and help leaven  bread products.

Still, they point out care must be taken to get a good result.  There have been food safety incidents related to home made starters, and using starters that can be stored in the refrigerator is recommended.

Please see the linked article for more detail.


How to compensate for citric acid in hard candy? We're working on the most sour hard candy on earth. Here's the basic recipe: 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup corn syrup, 3.2ml flavor (one small Lorann drum). Once the composition gets to 300F we take it of the stove, transfer into a cold container, quickly mix in 1-3 teaspoon of citric acid and pour it over a plastic mold.

The problem we're having is that the more citric acid we add to it will make it softer. Is there a way to compensate for the additional citric acid by mixing in something else? (more sugar, corn syrup perhaps?).

It'd appreciate if somebody can explain the chemistry behind the binding of sugar and citric acid.

You are breaking the sugar into fructose and glucose, getting invert syrup

I'd suggest making the sugar base and then adding fine powder or dissolved acid with rapid cooling to stop the hydrolysis.

Or use a paste of fine citric acid with some oil to slow down dissolving of the acid.

You can also try to use mechanical mixing like extruder screw or rolls to keep the water contents lower and better control heating.

Also note that your candies can turn soft and sticky over time.


How do I store apples in an apartment? I am able to receive cheap, great orchard apples in the fall. However, I do not have a cellar to store them in. I find they go bad before I can use them all.

Does anyone know of a reliable storage method to store the fresh apples? I will eventually can or freeze them; however, I'm looking for a way to keep some fresh for eating for a month or so.

Apples are best stored at 0° C (32° F) at 90% humidity.  If you don't have a cellar, you'll have to try to recreate that environment as best you can.

The closest you can come in most small apartments is actually a plastic bag with some holes poked in for ventilation (to prevent excess moisture from building up).  Then put that in the refrigerator to get close to the correct temperature; the best location is the vegetable crisper where you have control over the humidity.  Don't overpack them, though - about 80-90% full is the densest you should go.

Also be sure to pick only the best apples you can find if you plan to store them long-term.  Over-ripe apples will obviously not last as long, and any bruising or piercing will speed up the decay significantly.

Edit: If it's a large number of apples then you can store them in a crate, which provides adequate ventilation, but good luck getting that into the refrigerator.  I would still separate them into plastic bags, put whatever I could in the crisper, the rest in the fridge "proper", and put out any that I intend to consume within a week or two in a regular fruit bowl out in the open.  If that's still not enough, then you probably need to accept that small apartments aren't very well-suited to storing very large amounts of fresh food; just because they're easy to get, doesn't mean it makes economic sense.


What is this distinctive smell in some dry cured sausage? A lot of good dry cured sausage, especially styles of salami with mold on the casing, has a very specific smell. I'm not sure how to describe it, but in my mind it's somehow strongly associated with umami. It's not present in all salami by any means, but very obvious in some, for example this kind or some of these.

What exactly causes that smell, and is there a name for it?

Salumi are generally cured with the addition of starter cultures (Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococus acidilactici, for example).  These cultures add to the sour, tangy flavor, but also to the aroma. In addition,  Here is a report on glutimate concentration in dry cured ham. (generally cured with salt alone). I am sure the mechanism in cured salumi is similar.  So, the aroma is closely related to fermentation and the concentration of glutimates, which increase umami.  Then there is the terrior.  Much like wine, cured meat products have flavor and aroma profiles that are distinctive to the location of their raw products and manufacture...what the animals ate, the environment of the curing room and its associated microflora. Finally, a favorable mold spore is either added (or naturally populates the curing room) for the purpose of keeping destructive molds off the drying product.  All of this contributes to both flavor and aroma.  Is there a name for the "cured meat aroma"? I have been unable to find one. I suppose, like wine, cured meats can be described by the flavor and aroma profiles that that are observed by the consumer.


I left pickled ginger left out of fridge I accidentally left some opened pickled ginger out of the fridge for 8 hours.  is it still good?

Food safety guidelines would say a definite no. The temperature "danger zone" is between 40 degrees F (slightly warmer than your fridge temp) and 140 degrees F. Assuming you keep your house around a normal temp your ginger was most definitely in that range for at least 2 hours (the max allowed time a food is considered "safe"). There's no way to guarantee that the pickling liquid was acidic enough to keep it safe, especially since you don't know if the original label said that refrigeration was required. Commercial products that are pickled and canned are not the same as an opened product, because the canning process creates a vacuum (the lid "pops" when you open it).

All that being said, you may keep it and eat it and never get sick. That's up to you to decide, but for peace of mind, I'd throw away what you have and spend the extra few dollars to buy a new jar.


Chinese pork jerky: what makes them so tender, how do you make it? If you've ever had Chinese beef or pork jerky, you'll know why I'm asking this question. If you have a Chinatown in your city, I'm sure you'll be able to find a market that sells them in vacuum sealed plastic packages. If you're lucky enough to have an actual beef/pork jerky store that's even better! We have one in the Chinatown in New York City.

I want to know how to make the pork jerky. What makes them so tender and soft? I've never had any other kind of jerky that has this texture. Most jerky is very chewy. Maybe it's due the high fat content of the meat. Maybe they don't dry it out as much.

Here are some images on Google. It's probably hard to tell from the photos but the jerky is a bit translucent.  I wonder if it they grind up pork and fat together.

I just found the recipe for it. The name of it is Bak Kwa (Sweet BBQ Pork Jerky). Here's the wikipedia entry (boy it's easy to find things when you know the name!). The recipe actually grind up the pork. They use about 70% meat and 30% fat.  But according to the wikipedia entry there is also an expensive version where they slice of a solid piece of meat.

Sugar and salt was originally used and then the meat was smoked (this sounds really close to BBQing, which generally cooks the meat with smoke...yummy tender ribs).

These days, people make them in the oven at low heat. In the recipe, they put the minced mixture between two sheets of parchment paper, which probably keeps it moist and tender!


Why is my espresso salty? We've got a fancy espresso machine in our office kitchen. (It's apparently the kind they used to use at Starbucks stores before they switched over to a more automated "point-and-click" type system.) I was trained on how to use the machine by an old pro, and have been successfully making delicious cups of espresso for a few months.

Lately, my espresso tastes distinctly salty.

I haven't changed the process at all. It has happened on a few separate days, with many other people using the machine, so I doubt it is an issue related to the substance used for cleaning the machine (since I believe that would have been flushed out between my attempts). I haven't heard any other complaints from the 50 (or so) other people who use the same beans, grinder, and espresso machine.

It's a mystery to me, but salty coffee is gross, so it's a mystery that needs solving. (My theory is that I've unwittingly altered my method in some tiny way that I haven't noticed, and that has changed the taste of my espresso. I just don't know what that alteration was!)

Edit: I had a thought: This morning, I made a cup that was salty enough that I didn't want to drink it at all. I poured it out and made another from the other basket on the same machine. It was salty, but drinkable. Potential clue?

'nother edit: Yesterday, my coffee was less salty. The only difference in my method was that I rinsed the basket for way longer than I usually do. It still tasted a little bit off (in the salty direction), but not nearly as bad as previous cups.

It could simply be that it's a gustatory illusion!  See my answer to this related question for more explanation.

Edit:

Here is a summary of the relevant information (if you don't want to follow the links):

Human taste receptors don't simply react to how much actual salt there is in a food or drink; our perceived tastes are a fusion of both our gustatory and olfactory senses.  In other words, the smell of a food or drink can affect how it tastes!

There are numerous studies that suggest foods with certain odors can be perceived as much saltier than they actually are.  Coffee has a good amount of oil, there's even more fat if you add cream, and other studies suggest that high fat foods can also increase perceived saltiness.


How can I keep ingredients cold while camping? I am going camping tomorrow and I was looking for campfire recipes. People use hot dogs, bacon, cheese and other stuff regularly for campfire cooking. But these ingredients must be kept cold.

How do you carry these kinds of items with you? I thought about one of those coolers where you put a block of ice and it keeps cool, but those things are only for a few hours. How do you keep stuff cool on a multi day trip?

EDIT: Just got back from the trip. I used a cooler. It was wonderful. Tilapia, chicken breasts and eggs stayed nicely in the cooler for 2 days.

Here is my camping strategy. If I'm going for more than a few days, here's what I do.

Start with a good air tight cooler. (Big enough to hold everything perishable). Forget those "gel packs". Definitely don't get a bag of ice from the convenience store. They melt and mess stuff up. Get a 2 litre bottle, rinse it out, fill it with water and freeze it. (Do this a couple days in advance, if possible). The less air in the better. This won't leak and will stay cold a good time as long as you don't open it.
Take any raw meat that you're NOT planning on eating on the first day and freeze that too. Put the meat and all the frozen stuff at the bottom and to one side. My bottle of ice goes either directly on top of the meat or right beside it. This way, my meat has at least an extra day or two of grace and I don't need to waste extra space with an ice pack.
Then layer stuff that isn't frozen, but can handle a little freezing on the next layer. Then work your way up, to any produce being on the top layer. Plan for the coldest stuff to be at the bottom and/or near the ice packs. Depending on what's in there, sometimes I put a towel between the frozen stuff and the non frozen stuff to insulate it a bit better. And prevent produce that shouldn't be frozen from freezing.
Then on each day, I move the frozen meat for the next day meat away from the ice packs and upward to allow it to defrost (making sure, it's sealed, so I don't get any raw meat juice leaking out).
On the last day, the water in the bottle can be drank, but once you start emptying it, it'll start melting.

Obviously, minimize the time you keep it open if possible. I realize you said you're going camping tomorrow, so freezing a 2 litre bottle might not happen in time. In this case, I'd switch to multiple smaller bottles and failing that those gel packs. I hate bags of ice, as they melt and make a mess. Finding cheese in a pool of water is never fun. The rest of the stuff would still apply. This usually lasts me quite a few days.


Freezing traditional Greek dishes I cook many authetic Greek dishes for Greek Easter. This year I have very little time to prepare. Can I make dishes like Moussaka, Dolmades, Spanakopita in advance and freeze them?

Moussaka freezes fine, some would say it improves the flavor, and shouldn't damage the texture.

Spanakopita I would not freeze whole, you will likely lose all the crispness and texture from the pastry. You could make the filling in advance though, and then put the pastry on the thawed filling on the day and bake it. Just be sure the filling is completely thawed, and getting close to room temperature. Also, freezing may force water out of the filling, drain it out before you bake or it could get soggy.

Dolmades I'm not sure, I would expect they'd freeze fine, although you may get some sogginess. I'll defer this to another answer.


How can I make sweet potato fries soggy? I ordered from a local restaurant recently, and their sweet potato fries tasted so similar to what I remember regular fries tasted like.
I decided that I'm going to try and make them myself, however, I can only find posts on the internet showing how to make them crunchy; it seems like more people prefer them this way.
Anyway, how do I go about doing this?
Is my only choice to make them and leave them somewhere and wait for them to get soggy over time?

the reason you haven't found any recipes for soggy sweet potato fries is because of one simple fact: soggy is the default state for oven fries, unless you do something to specifically make the crispy.
So, in search of non-crispy fries, here is a list of things you could try:

Cook at a low temperature; over 400°f makes crispy fries, so closer to 350°f will prevent crisping
Don't overcook them; oven fries must first dry out before they get crispy, so to avoid that simply take out your fries as soon as they are cooked through
Don't use too much oil; oil helps fries to ... "fry" ... use only a little to prevent sticking
Steam your fries afterwards; after you take them out of the oven they will be very hot and will release steam, simply cover with tin foil ... a lid ... a pan ... anything
Try cooking them in the microwave instead of the oven

hope this helps
p.s.
sriracha mayonnaise is a great dip for sweet potato fries


Determining Bundt pan size when recipe gives a loaf tin size What size Bundt pan do I need for a pound cake that is supposed to be baked in a 9 by 5 loaf tin ? I have a Bundt pan (never used one before) that holds 8 cups of water.

According to here, your 8 cup Bundt pan should work.

https://cooksinfo.com/baking-pans-by-volume


How does preserved lemons salt soultion form a gel? About 4-5 years ago I attempted to preserve some lemons in salt as per lots of recipes for Morrocan preserved lemons for tagine etc.
I didn't ever get around to using any of them and also used an inappropriate clip top jar which allowed gas to escape and the salt badly corroded the metal parts. The lemons turned an unappealing brown colour and also went gross & mushy so I finally tipped them out into the compost today.
The weird thing was the salty juice which seeped out of the lemons had turned into a really well set gel. Everywhere I have looked claims that pectin only sets with sugar and jam also needs cooking to 105 degrees c otherwise no gel will form.
How did these raw salted lemons make a gel?
It would be very cool if I could do the same thing with sugar and make a raw citrus marmalade!

It is possible that you have precipitated the proteins to some extent by the salt concentration (known in biological fields as "salting out"), which might produce a gel-like blob, just like cooking egg-white does.
You can indeed also precipitate proteins with sugars (e.g. here), though it is more commonly used for extraction of organic acids (e.g. decenoic acid) from fruits etc, it will take quite a bit of experimentation to do this as it usually requires a very high concentration of sugar and quite a high concentration of protein too. You are more likely to get the pectin (which is a polysaccharide) to work, before you get the proteins to precipitate in a sugar solution.


best way to infuse flavour into boiled potatoes My question is very similar to this one here How to best cook potatoes to be used in a curry? I am trying to enhance the potatoes flavour by masking it's own natural flavour with as much spiciness as possible, however, no matter which method of cooking I choose, the flavour of the potatoes always come through better than the flavours of the masala blended around the pan. Is there any known preparation tricks that I may be missing?

Soups and other dishes with a lot of liquid tend to infuse the potato with plenty of flavor to 'mask' the natural flavor of the potato. You could also try blanching the potatoes beforehand to get rid of some of the surface extractions that would leech into the food you're putting the potatoes in.

Edit:
The smaller pieces you cut the potato into, the less you will notice them on your palate. Also, strong spices like paprika, cumin, etc will often overwhelm the potatoes. Mix them with other veggies like Chayote and green/red bell peppers in a stir fry for a quick side dish.


"Moose mints" origin This question is not about the preparation of a food item, so if it does not fit well on this site, please let me know where I might post them instead.

I have seen many places selling "moose mints" with picture of a moose on the box. Is this just a word play on "loose mints", or does "moose mint" actually refer to a specific kind of mint candy?

Word plays on the excrement of indigenous moose are common everywhere moose are common. In Alaska, we often refer to "Moose Nuggets" both as novelty food items and as (I kid you not) novelty jewelry items. Moose excrement is much like rabbit excrement in that it comes in big piles of perfectly shaped, tiny turds.

There is a company out of Spokane, Washington that sells Moose Mints:

It's the same kind of silly word play/scatological humor. There is no particular type of candy or kind of mint involved, it's just meant to be cute play on the rather bizarre (and therefor "funny") nature of moose poop.


Which varieties of milk cheese are raw food? Which varieties of milk cheese are raw food? I mean the well-known varieties of cheese, not the many varieties small vendors can have that are only known in small areas.

I think that a good definition of raw food cheese is that it's made of unpasteurized milk and it's not heated above or 40°C

I've always assumed that feta, queso latino/queso fresco, kashkaval (link2) and Telemea are raw, but maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe these fresh cheese varieties are in general raw?

I would venture that the opposite is usually true. Most fresh cheeses require heating to separate the curd. In the US, commercial fresh cheeses are never raw since they must use pasteurized milk.

Emmental (Swiss) seems to fit the criteria. It's held at a heat in the 30s but no higher.


What is the difference between Chapati and a Paratha? I have heard of folding a chapati dough while kneading to form a triangle. How is it different from not folding it? How does folding to a triangle and rolling a chapati makes the difference?

Chapati or roti -> Made by folding dough and making a triangle shape results in 3 layered indian bread. If you tear the chapati made this way it will show you 3 layers.

Fulka -> Fulka is made by rolling the dough ball without folding it. This results into a 2 layer indian bread. Its easier to make a circle shape using this method.

Paratha -> Paratha is generally stuffed with some filling. There is plain paratha also (without filling). If it is stuffed , it is not folded into triangle during preparation. If it is plain paratha, it can be made either folding or just rolling (like fulka).

Oil added while kneading dough/ making chapati (folding) / while roasting on tawa ,  helps to keep the product soft.


From elastic to fragile chocolate I tried to make a homemade chocolate by mixing

coco powder (5 teaspoon)
milk powder (3/4 cup)
butter (1/4 cup)
sugar syrap (1/4 cup sugar) [to completely dissolve the sugar particles]

the resulting chocolate was quite good but too elastic. I am curious what in the ingredients (or the procedure) controls the chocolate structure to become elastic or fragile?

How to play with the ingredients and process to prepare different types of (simple and basic) chocolate?

It is not really practical to make homemade chocolate, although you can make chocolate flavored confections like syrups or fudge.

The reason is that true chocolate has two main ingredients:  cocoa butter (the fat native to the cocoa bean), and the cocoa powder (which is is made by taking cocoa mass and pressing out the cocoa butter).  Sweetened chocolate then has sugar, perhaps vanilla and salt, and usually lecithin added.

In order to have the right consistency (hardness) and melting characteristics, your fat would absolutely have to be cocoa butter.  No other fat has the unique crystallization characteristics or melting point that cocoa butter does.  It is possible to buy cocoa butter, although it is expensive.

The problem is that cocoa powder is not ground very fine, so the product will be gritty on the tongue and not have the same accessibility of flavor.   In true chocolate manufacturing, specialized devices called conches are used to grind the cocoa particles down to very small size, to the point where they cannot be felt on the tongue; this is what gives chocolate its characteristic smooth texture together with the cocoa butter.

Conching is not practical in the home.

Your best, and most likely most cost effective bet is to simply purchase chocolate.


What situations are pressure cookers not appropriate I have now pretty much replaced all my long slow cooking dishes (chilli, stews etc) from either cast iron in an oven or stove top to pressure cooking due to the time saving.

Are there any these sorts of recipe where you should not use a pressure cooker?

By raising pressure, you get water to boil at a much higher temperature and thus speed up most of the physical and chemical reactions involved in cooking. Elevated pressure can play a smaller role too.

With higher temperatures, you can get faster caramelisation for instance which may not be desirable in some foods, dull and/or dark colours and bitterness are two properties that come to mind (bright green pea soup gets dull for example) With lower pressure rating cookers (below 15psi or 1 bar), there is less risk of runaway browning.

Another issue is with foods that either need fairly precise cooking or are prone to get overcooked. There is no easy way to open the lid to monitor or halt cooking abruptly. Related to this is the inability to stir and a very real risk of food getting stuck and then burnt even when there is still plenty of liquid (as it just happened to me moments ago). Heat control cannot always be casual.

Whatever you put into it, should either have a high water content (70% or so) or you need to maintain a certain amount of free water for it to work. I find that often I needed to use extra water and drain it off after cooking; that may not always be desirable. Making pet food for example can be awkward as you do not really want to get rid of the free liquid which has plenty of nutrition in it. You can work around it by putting your food in an elevated container and pressure steam it although you still tend to get free liquid from condensates in the container.


Substituting vegetable oil for canola oil Can you use vegetable oil instead of canola in a party mix recipe using saltine crackers?

Short answer is yes, you can almost always substitute vegetable oil and canola oil for each other.

Vegetable oil is made predominantly from soybean oil but it usually is a blend of oils from vegetables such as corn, olive, pumpkin seed, grape seed or even canola oil itself.

Canola oil is made from pressing a plant that is a hybrid of the rapeseed plant. It has the lowest levels of saturated fats out of all the vegetable oils.


Is skyr supposed to be fat free? I’ve noticed a couple of brands of skyr popping up on store shelves but they’re all fat-free. I’ve had some and it’s not bad, but as someone who eats 6% yogurt I definitely found it lacking a certain something!

Is this the way it’s traditionally made or is this a concession to North American fat paranoia?

Yes, Skyr has only 0.2-0.5% fat, as it’s traditionally made from low-fat or skimmed milk.

We tend to perceive Skyr as a yogurt variety, but technically it’s a cheese: Like yogurt it’s made by adding either Skyr from a previous batch or a mix of bacteria to raw (traditional) or pasteurized (modern concession to food safety) milk and then cultured, but unlike yogurt traditional recipes also use a bit of rennet. This detail may be relevant for vegetarians, depending on the kind of rennet used.

If you are missing the creaminess of 6%-fat yogurt, note that Skyr is typically served with fruit, milk and often sweetened. You could add a splash of cream instead and see if that’s more to your liking.


Can any bones (but specifically Beef Shortribs) be used to make bone broth AFTER they've done a stint in the crockpot? Today, I have beef shortribs in the crockpot for Caribbean Beef Ribs for hubby's birthday.  After we're done feasting, are the bones still usable for making bone broth?

Yes and no... You can certainly toss them in a pot and let it simmer for a few hours, you'll extract some flavor and there's no danger. But broth usually uses bones that have only been roasted, not cooked low and slow in liquid as I'm guessing you did in the crock pot. Depending on how long you cooked the previous dish, some or most of the flavor and even the gelatin could already have been extracted. Speaking of that previous dish, any spices used will most likely have imparted some flavor to the bones while cooking, which will then end up in the broth.
Personally, a lightly flavored Caribbean broth doesn't sound particularly appealing to me; I would just toss the bones. But there shouldn't be any danger to trying it if it does appeal to you.


Can you use baking powder in a breading? I'm trying to make chicken wings. As I want it to be extra crispy, I'm looking to use baking powder in my flour/starch breading. However, every recipe I see that uses baking powder has it in a batter. Does baking powder need to be in a liquid in order to form the air bubbles? Or will that occur in the fryer anyway if I just use a breading (flour, starch, baking powder)?

When I add a bit of baking powder to the flour breading I use for eggplant, the fried result is a little puffier than without. Frying forces water out of the eggplant into the breading. That along w heat sets off the production of CO2. The same should happen with your chicken breading.


Is Ciao Bella's "Rosemary and Olive Oil Gelato" savory? I am about to make ice cream (for dessert) from The Ciao Bella book for Gelato and Sorbetto and was thinking about trying the Rosemary and Olive Oil Gelato. It says something about being savory, but it has the same amount of sugar as most of the other gelatos there. I have tried (sweet) olive oil gelato elsewhere, and it was very good (though unusual).

Is this Gelato fit (as an ice cream) for a normal dessert? Is it eaten as if it is sweet?

Edit: Does "savory", in this case, mean it's not sweet?

I can be both savory and sweet; that is the point of that gelato.

It is one of those dessert component that needs to be served with something else to balance it out.

I'd serve it with a lemon biscotti or a lemon pound cake.


data about the rate of nutrient decay in fruit/vegetable juice This is a related question to Do centrifugal juicers destroy vitamins through friction?

Is there any quantitative data about the rate of vitamin & nutrient decay in fruit/vegetable juice?

We just bought a centrifugal juicer, and I want to make an educated decision about whether to use the juicer as needed (maximizing nutrient content but increasing cleanup effort) or to produce fruit/vegetable juice 6/12/18 hrs ahead of time (reducing cleanup effort but perhaps reducing nutrient content).

I decided to look into this question out of personal curiosity and here is what I found:

Some nutrients will naturally decay over time - mainly due to oxidation, but also on their own. The lifespan of most vitamins I looked up was at least a few days, so if you are making your juice ~18 hours ahead of time I doubt you'll lose much (if any) nutritional value.

According to this article: http://www.ultimatecitrus.com/vitaminc.html

  When fresh citrus is stored at 38°F for 12 weeks, there was no loss of vitamin C, but when stored at high temperatures, the loss was great.

Vitamin A, B6, K also last for a very long time before decaying. Only a few have a low half-life, eg. B3 with a half-life of 20-45 mins, but your body can produce that on its own.

Based on that, it doesn't seem like you have anything to lose by making the juice in advance and storing it. If you were leaving the juice to sit in the fridge for weeks at a time then I'd say you might lose a tiny bit of nutrients (also the juice would go bad :-P).

A good tip is to minimize the exposure to oxygen by using either a sealable container or a jug with a lid that closes, and keep your juice in the fridge and the loss of nutrients is sure to be minimal even after the length of time that you plan to store it for.


How do I reduce the heat in my white bean chicken chile How do I tone down the heat in a white bean chicken chile with corn that is made from the Omaha Steak side meal kit?

Dairy products have the impeccable ability to dampen heat from peppers, hot sauce and other spicy items. This includes milk (often drunk along with very spicy foods and peppers), sour cream, and cheese, among others.

I find Sour Cream not only adds to the complexity of flavors in most chili's (a great thing!), but also quells the heat quite a bit.

I'd leave your chili how it is, and then as you serve it, allow the individual to add sour cream to taste.

You can also top your chili with a healthy dose of your favorite cheese. This will help tame the heat a bit too. For white chili, jack or pepper jack cheese would be a good fit.


Stew in the oven or on the stove, does it make a difference? What is the advantage (if any) of finalizing a stew or other slow-cooked meals in the oven instead of on a hob?

A lot of recipes tells you to set the pot in the oven to cook for x hours after the initial frying has been done on the stove. Why is that, couldn't you just as easily cook it at a low temperature on a hob for the same period of time?

The only advantage I can see is that the dish maybe doesn't burn as easily when cooked in the oven.

In the oven, that heat is coming from all directions more or less equally. On the stovetop, the heat is coming only from the bottom. This can potentially cause convection, and almost certainly requires occasional stirring (especially for larger batches), meaning that the ingredients are being moved around. The combination of the ingredients being heated more when they're at the bottom and the movement can cause them to start breaking apart, and generally cook unevenly.

Personally, I only find this to be an issue with beans and meat (and it's not something that's going to cause failure; it's really just a refinement) but if you are making an especially large batch of stew, you may want to try the oven.


Vacuum sealer exclusively for canning jars? I'm looking for a vacuum sealer just to vacuum seal canning jars.  Presently I use a traditional vacuum sealer for bags that has an accessory port.  It's bulky and because it's designed for bags as well requires you to press some latches to seal the vacuum chamber every time you seal a new jar.  It's cumbersome and inconvenient.

Ideally there would be a compact device designed just for creating a vacuum that I could use for the canning jars.  Ideally it would be something I could keep on the counter for quickly resealing a jar and flip a switch to power it on/off.

I've seen that you can use manual brake bleeder hand pump, but I'm looking for something electric as I open and vacuum seal mason jars daily, and from what I hear the manual pumping is a significant amount of labor.

If there isn't a dedicated device for this, I'm wondering if there is a product that at least doesn't require you to re-seal the vacuum chamber after vacuuming each jar.

I don't know that it's any less bulky, but this one is dedicated to canning Vacucanner. It does several cans at a time. Here's a review

If you like DIY projects, you might be interested in this video. DIY Vacuum Canner


Domestic, fresh taste-alike for an Italian coffee My wife is from Italy, and she got me hooked on this absolutely gorgeous coffee called Lavazza Qualita Oro. I love it, but unfortunately getting a fresh bag here in the United States is really hit or miss.

I'm told that in order to be a REAL coffee fan, I need to get beans roasted in the last week. Fair enough - so, if I like Lavazza Oro, which is a medium roast with a bold, caramely aroma and a creamy, rich body, what should I look at?

I'd suggest buying it from someone who knows a thing or two about coffee, like http://www.wholelattelove.com/Lavazza/lava_oro.cfm.

Also, have you tried contacting Lavazza Qualita Oro with questions? If they don't know the best distributors, no one will.

A recommendation: http://www.tonyscoffee.com/shop/blend/cafe-carmelita/

I think you'll like this one as much or more than than the Lavazza Qualita Oro. It's quite wonderful, if not cheap.

It has an Agtron rating of 65. The Lavazza Qualita Oro is about 55, so this roast is lighter.

  The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has developed a
  points system to classify the degree - the colour - of different roast
  types. The system consists of eight numbered colour disks against
  which one matches a sample of finely ground, roasted coffee, usually
  pressed into a laboratory petri dish. In this way one assigns the
  roast an approximate number on what is commonly called the Agtron
  Gourmet Scale, ranging from #95 (lightest roast) at intervals of 10
  down to #25 (the darkest common roast).


Chicken smells like eggs I purchased some fresh chicken a few weeks ago and immediately froze it. Today I took it out and put it into boiling water to start making soup. Before I added anything else, the whole room started to smell like eggs (not rotten per se, but strong).

Is something wrong with the chicken? Should I throw it out?

Raw meat should not have a smell to it. When it has an odour to it it is a sure sign that it is starting to spoil. Blood will spoil quicker and some rare conditions causes the smell on the meat. Washing it off helps to reduce the odour but it is best to just toss it out to avoid being made sick by eating it.

Salmonella enterica infected chickens will release hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like eggs. It is found largely in chicken products and eggs. It is killed by cooking at high temperature, but it is best to avoid using it if the chicken starts to smell like that. Salmonella is the second most common bacterial cause of enterocolitis.


What is a black, preserved egg called? I remember some eggs which the egg yolk is solid and black, but forgot the source(seems like preserved), what is it?(if any)

The current most common term in English appears to be "century egg", but it's also been known as a thousand-year egg or hundred-year egg.

It's typically produced by aging in a solution of table salt, calcium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate, but traditional methods involved less refined versions of those chemicals wrapped in clay (and some quantity of rice bran).

More details in this Wikipedia entry.

Image: Wikipedia/Wiki commons


Homemade double/heavy cream separates after setting in the fridge Good day. I recently made a homemade double cream using 1.5 cups of whole milk and 150 grams of unsalted butter. I followed most recipes I saw online which started with melting the butter so that it becomes liquid and not letting it boil and mixing it with the milk. However, I had several problems as I placed the melted butter in cold milk which lead to the butter forming again which in turn made it difficult for me to mix with a hand mixer. What I did next was I placed the mixture in a saucepan and let it warm over low heat. When the butter turned liquid again and the milk starting to become warm, I took it off the pan and back to my mixing bowl then used a hand mixer for about two and a half minutes.

When the mixture looked mixed to me, I placed it in a container and placed it in the fridge to set. However, upon returning to it a couple of hours later, the double cream separated, the butter formed at the top part and the milk was at the bottom.

My question is, can I still turn this disaster of a double cream and make it usable for cooking/baking purposes? Or should I toss it to the bin and start on a new one? (and this time make sure that the milk is in room temp before mixing the two components)

You cannot make double cream by mixing milk and butter, this is wishful thinking. Some recipes which call for heavy cream, e.g. a cream soup, can indeed be made by adding milk and butter in such quantities that the fat ratio becomes similar to double cream, and will be successful. But for all such cases, there is no reason to mix the milk and butter before adding them to the other ingredients, you can step the step which supposedly makes cream.

A mixture of butter and milk will always be unstable, no matter the temperature at which you added them. You could in theory avoid it by using an emulsifier and a very thorough mixing method (high powered blenders are good here), but the result will have a different taste and somewhat different texture from cream and still won't whip. I've never seen a use case where doing it makes any sense.


Am I unwittingly damaging my knives with amateur sharpening? I had a bread knife that took a trip through the dishwasher and was frustratingly dull.  I bought a cheap sharpening rod to attempt to salvage it (this one specifically:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001910FOA).   It was a bit tedious to get into all the serrations but it was like having a new knife.  I was so pleased with the results I took to using it on my chef's knives whenever they were dull and the honing rod didn't help, finding the results better and faster than the electric sharpener I have.  It seemed pretty straightforward and I didn't put a lot of thought into the technique, but the knives were definitely getting sharper.  I'd guess I did this every few months (frankly I tend to get lazy about honing which probably makes the edge dull faster).

I decided I wanted to get something nice to get them even sharper so I invested in a whetstone, but as I have read about using it I've become alarmed by the number of people talking about how you need to use a beater knife on your first pass because you're liable to do some serious damage to your knife.  Others even say you shouldn't even try to sharpen a serrated knife yourself!  Frankly I find it hard to understand how it's even possible, since it's a piece of metal and you should (I would think) be able to remove more to fix it no matter how bad your sharpening job is.  But I don't even own any knives I'd want to use for practice and not care if I rendered them unusable.  All this talk has made me paranoid:  could I be destroying my knives somehow?  How, exactly?

Destroy is too strong a word. For most knives the worst you can do by honing wrong is to take the edge off the knife. This isn't destroying it, it just means you need to get it sharpened again. Angle is the important thing with honing, you need to match the sharpened angle and be consistent.

If you have a knife with a design or a pattern on the blade, like Damascus steel, some Japanese knives, etc. honing badly could damage that design or pattern and ruin the look of the knife. That doesn't destroy it, just makes it less attractive.


What's causing the metallic aftertaste in my Nutraloaf? Thanks to all of the wonderful help thus far, I've finally been able to make my Überfood. It's called "Nutraloaf", and is kind of like a meatloaf with a bunch of other stuff in it.

It has no real taste (not a problem) and the texture is a little mushy (I will try baking it longer in the oven), but the idea is I can simply eat this 3 times a day, every day, and not have to worry about making any other food.

However, one problem is that I'm getting a metallic aftertaste. I don't know if it's the ingredients, or the fact that I used a normal oven instead of a convection/steam oven.

This is the recipe I used.

2 oz Ground Beef
Brown off in kettle and drain thoroughly

4 oz Canned, Chopped Spinach
4 oz Canned Carrots, Diced
4 oz Vegetarian Beans
Open and drain all vegetables well

4 oz Applesauce
1 oz Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Potato Flakes
1 cup Bread Crumbs
2 oz Dry Milk Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder or Flakes

Combine beef and vegetables. Gradually blend in remaining
ingredients until well combined. Mixture should be stiff
but moist enough to spread. Each loaf should weigh 1 1/2
pounds precooked weight and be scaled to insure proper
weight. Place mixture into a loaf pan that has been
sprayed with pan release and lined with filter paper.

Each loaf should bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit in
convection/steam oven for approximately 40 minutes or
until the loaf reaches 155 degrees internal temperature.

It is a subtle aftertaste and it went away after I had a stick of Wrigley's gum. I would prefer to not have to chew Wrigley's after every meal, since I don't really like chewing gum. I'm sure a peppermint or buttermint would also help with the aftertaste, but would prefer to fix my nutraloaf recipe or cooking technique.

So how can I remove this metallic aftertaste? Or, where can I even begin looking for what's causing it?

It sounds like most of those ingredients came out of metal cans, yes? Certainly the spinach and carrots, and I imagine the beans, tomato paste, and possibly the apple sauce? Canned foods do sometimes have a slight metallic taste, especially if you don't use them all at once and continue to store them in the can after opening it: (about.com)

However, I definitely wouldn't rely on this (or any other single recipe) as your sole source of nutrition. Even if it does include every one of the hundreds (thousands?) of nutrients your body needs in reasonable ratios (which is questionable), that still doesn't mean it's good for you.

For example: if every meal you eat has lots of vitamin C and zinc, your body won't be able to absorb the trace amounts of copper it needs, since they interfere with each other. To be healthy, you need to mix up the nutrient profile of your meals.


Fix my waffle recipe The other day, I made waffles for the first time in a long, long time. I had no recipe to use, so I found one online, and used it almost verbatim. When fresh, the waffles were very nice, however, the day after they were cardboard-like and lacking in flavour.

I made a double batch. The original recipe calls for:

2  eggs
1 dl sugar
2 dl skim soured milk
1½ dl low fat milk
1 dl water
350 g plain flour
1 ts baking powder
½ ts baking soda
1 ts vanilla sugar
½ ts cardamom
125 g butter

The original recipe told me to mix all the wet ingredients except the butter, then mix the dry ingredients separately before mixing them together to form a smooth batter. It then called for leavening for 15 minutes, before melting and mixing in the butter and cooking.

As I said, I made two changes. One was that I left it to leaven for three hours, in the fridge. The other is that I kept a little of the melted butter - approximately 20 grams - outside of the batter to grease the waffle iron.

In scaling the recipe, I simply doubled all proportions.

Any ideas?

May I also suggest replacing the water with club soda? The carbon dioxide imparts no flavor but forces additional fluffy-ness to the recipe.  I've done this successfully with both waffles and pancakes.


Is there a comprehensive overview of food colors? I found a small list of food additives compiled by the FDA, but it looks rather incomplete and somewhat unspecific.

For example, some colors like gold (probably the real thing) or silver (E171 - titan dioxide) are not listed, and it looks like not all possible variants for a color are shown.

Are there exhaustive lists of color additives, preferably with their chemical name or something, for North America, for Europe and Australia?

The EU has a list of food additives in which everything is given a number (so you don't have to deal with companies trying to hide things using alternate names):

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sanco_foods/main/?sector=FAD

Many of the colorings are under Group II and Group III, but many other items (eg, fruit and vegetable juices) can be used as coloring, so you can't just look in those categories.


What is the purpose of making a preferment for yeast doughs? I have found a number of bread recipes that call to prepare first a preferment - a very simple dough with half the flour, water, sometimes sugar, and the yeast to be used. This is left to rise for an hour or two and afterwards it is mixed with a dough made with the rest of the ingredients including fats, additional sugars, and eggs. This second dough is then left to rise again and later split into the loafs and baked.

What is the purpose of the preferment and why is sponge made with such basic ingredients?

In addition to allowing fermentation to begin before the addition of fermentation inhibiting other ingredients, as @J.A.I.L. said in his answer, according to Bread Secrets, after explaining the benefits to flavor of a long, slow fermentation:

  A quick, warm fermentation will allow time for the yeast to produce
  enough carbon dioxide to raise the dough, but not enough time for the
  enzymes to work or for the development of the other flavour compounds.
  If we ferment our dough for too long, however, the gluten becomes too
  weak to hold the shape of the loaf. So artisan bakers generally use a
  preferment (pre-ferment, not prefer-ment!) as part of their dough.
  This allows the bread to gain flavour from the longer fermentation,
  but still maintain a strong gluten network for a good rise.


The center is still cold when I deep fry my precooked frozen chicken Two days ago, after I seasoned my chicken breasts I stuffed them with smoked turkey slices (not a fan of ham) and some mozzarella cheese (don't have swiss). I battered them with flour, seasoned egg, and bread crumbs. I also made another batch with panko. I baked them in the oven for 35 minutes. Then, I put them in the freezer after I left them to cool.

Today I wanted to fry them. The batter was almost gonna burn, I even tried to start frying with less heat but the chicken and filling was still very cold in the center. This recipe was successful when I fried the chicken right away without freezing before. What can I do to defrost fast without having to leave it in the fridge over night? Is there a way to cook the chicken thoroughly in the fryer?

And I have the same question for home made burger patties. How can I thaw big batches fast? Putting them in water seems inconvenient for me as I like to season my meat when forming it rather than on the fryer. I sometimes also fill with cheese in the middle (the kids like the surprise!).

Cooking meat while it's a little frozen generally works fine with methods that have some wiggle room in how much extra time you can add. Unfortunately this isn't the case with frying, and even if you cut the meat into small pieces I don't think you'd have much success.

My favorite method to quickly thaw meat is using a microwave. Most microwaves have a thaw setting, and it's often based on the weight you select. Typically microwave thawing is just done on a very low power, but you need to be very careful and frequently check/turn the meat or it may start to cook. This page has a really useful guide on thawing methods.


Why orange carrots turn black while peeled? Freshly bought carrots turn black (like coal) on peeled surfaces in minutes if not seconds. I wonder why and why are these special.
Obviously it is not black rot. The carrots taste normal, albeit not too sweet. Too much fertilizer nitrates? Or just contain lots of starch like in potatoes?
The carrots were clean to begin with and I washed my hands too :-)

Update: I live in Denmark and these carrots are from Spain, perhaps Canary Islands, fresh veges seem like a bit of a struggle here, hence I am surprised.

I must admit that my answer contains a bit of speculation.
Let me start with beta carotene which is the pigment responsible for the orange colour of common carrots. It is easily and quickly oxidised by exposure to air and enzymes already present that get activated upon cutting and exposure to light. As such it looses its orange colour very quickly.
Now, browning of fruits and vegetables happens for oxidative processes when they are exposed to air. It is a common an unpleasant occurrence.
Where I do speculate a bit is on why the browning is so pronounced in the case of carrots to be even described as "blacking".
I have few possible reasons that make sense to me (consider I have to deal with "colours" at work, if this gives a bit of credibility).

Carrots are deep orange. The dark layer of oxidised surface on the underlying orange gives us a almost black colour.

Carrots contains other deeply coloured pigments. Some are darker than beta carotene (indeed carrots originally came in purple, and some are indeed black!) and more resistant to oxidation. As such oxidation of beta carotene can reveal darker pigments (anthocyanines) otherwise unnoticed.
This is somehow similar to what happens with leaves. At first they are green due to their content of chlorophyll. Once they fall, chlorophyll has been degraded and other red and yellow pigments become visible.

A mix of the above, depending on the type and amount of pigment present in that particular carrot.

Extra: if cooking with carrots they get a green tint, this is due to a too high (alkaline) pH. For instance too much baking soda in the batter. Pigments can be sensitive to pH, too.
Based on the comment of Lorel C.
Indeed the level of tissue damaged as well as porosity are know to exacerbate the browing process.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/10971842/
This is evident when instead of sharply peeling the carrots we clean them by scratching with a blade hold perpendicular to the surface. This is likely to be the case depicted in the photograph by OP.
Many recipes indeed recommend the use of soft brushes to clean carrots.


Which mild pepper is a good substitute for Serrano pepper? I plan to make a guacamole dip and one of the ingredients is Serrano pepper, which is 10,000 to 23,000 heat units by the Scoville scale.

That is way too spicy for me.

Which one of the milder peppers (100-2,000) would be a good replacement?

Anaheim peppers make a nice substitute, first in reducing the heat (500-5000 scoville), but also in terms of its availability and similar flavor. It does frequently run on the hotter end of that spectrum though.


Is it possible/advisable to slice deboned Jamon Iberico on a mandoline? I am intending to purchase some Jamon Iberico, but I am not confident in my ability to use the knife correctly on the jamonera to produce sufficiently thin slices.

I do have a mandoline slicer, which I presume would work for cutting thin slices of jamon. Is it advisable then, to purchase deboned jamon, cut it into chunks (possibly stored in a vacuum pack in a fridge), and slice them on the mandoline before eating? If not, why not?

I wouldn't recommend a mandoline for meat because clean slices of meat require a lateral motion with the knife. It wouldn't hurt to try it once just to see (especially after the next recommendation), but I'm pretty sure that your best bet is a sharp knife.

Put the pork in the freezer, still in its packaging, for 20 minutes. That's not long enough to actually freeze the meat, so it won't cause negative effects on the texture, but will temporarily firm it up, making it easier to slice. That works any time you want clean, thin slices of meat.


Should I fry mushooms before adding to a red meat sauce? I'm planning on making a pressure cooker sauce using tomatoes, ground beef, sausages and wine — a classic Italian American spaghetti sauce. The method is to sweat onions, carrots, celery and garlic whilst frying off meat in a separate pan and adding in along with liquids before an hour in the pressure cooker.

I am thinking of adding mushrooms for flavour and texture — my plan was to dice them and cook them with the meat. Will I get better flavour and texture by frying the mushrooms beforehand, or should I just put them in when I sweat the vegetables?

You are right on track with pre-cooking/frying the mushrooms instead of dumping them just into the dish. I think they benefit greatly from it, especially flavor-wise, which gets a lot more concentrated. Whatever you choose to do, remember that mushrooms will exude a lot of liquid during frying.

So if you add a significant amount to your meat, it will likely interfere with the browning. The same is true if added to your vegetables from the beginning, but it won’t matter as much.

I recommend you either

brown your meat, then add the mushrooms and use the liquid for a first „deglaze“ or
sweat your vegetables and add the mushrooms when they are like half-done.

Of course you can fry the mushrooms separately, but why bother with an extra step?


Why would a commercial kitchen buy enormous carrots? I was recently on a Caribbean cruise ship, and took the behind-the-scenes tour (it was fun seeing an immersion blender the size of an outboard motor!). While we were in the pantry, I saw enormous bags of enormous carrots; that is, the bags were enormous, and each carrot was in itself enormous (perhaps 2" in diameter and over a foot long).

I've never seen carrots anywhere near that size in retail supermarkets (in the Northeast USA), and I'm wondering why they were so large. Are they cheaper? Easier to handle? Better tasting? Or were the large ones what was most recently available, and another time I might have seen what I think of as "normal"-sized carrots?

This is just a guess, I have no factual proof, but is it possible it is purely for aesthetic or decorative purposes?

I am guessing in cruises, hotels and other festive, leisure, touristic or vacation occasions meals often have a certain flair, and presentation is a big part of it. Plates, tables, rooms, etc. are often adorned with purely aesthetic artifacts like small sculptures or ornaments made of fruits, vegetables, other edible and non-edible decorations.

I imagine larger pieces (of any material) provide more creative freedom. By yielding larger chunks, bigger vegetables can be cut into different shapes and allow sculpting more inventive forms with attractive appearances that wouldn't "fit" in smaller vegetables.

Carrots for their consistency and bright color make a good edible medium for these decorations, and larger ones probably provide the artist/cook more freedom, less waste and flashier results.

Alternatively, maybe some particular dish served on board also requires larger carrots, like some sort of stuffed carrots, or something served over a carrot as a vessel.

There may also be economic or logistic reasons, like saving space and money. Ships generally have inherently limited space; larger products pack better and store more efficiently by wasting less space and packaging per net amount of usable product, both saving space and money aboard a cruise liner.


Does soaking candied fruit in bourbon change the taste? Recipe for fruitcake cookies calls for soaking candied fruit in bourbon overnight. Does this change the taste?  Texture?  Why do it?

Soaking dried fruit (in alcohol) is usually to soften it and deliver some flavour.
The same should be true here: It would have that effect with some candied fruit (citrus), but others probably wouldn't take up much liquid (cherries).  The flavour may still change.
If avoiding alcohol (or the expense) orange juice is often used as a substitute in rich fruit cakes.
Note that cookie recipes, being rolled out rather thin, are prone to further drying fruit.  Soaking will counteract that. It may be a bad idea to add the fruit to the rest of the dough too wet, so if the soaking liquid hasn't all been taken up, I'd expect to spoon the fruit in with a slotted spoon rather than tipping it in.


Xmas Pudding put in microwave by mistake for 5 minutes I put the wrong bowl in the microwave and cooked my raw xmas pudding mix for 4 mins. It was meant to be steamed for 8 hours tomorrow. It’s  now pale and semi cooked. What shall I do?

Christmas puddings can be cooked in the microwave, so the best thing is to fully cook it immediately (either in the microwave or by steaming) and then reheat tomorrow.


Why do bread and butter pickle recipes call for onions, mustard seed, and celery seed? I recently made a jar of bread and butter pickles. I understood most of the rationale behind the ingredients and directions in the recipe - the cucumbers are salted to draw out water and break cell walls, then put into a highly saturated acid/sugar solution so that microbes present on the cucumbers would be destroyed by acid and osmotic pressure. Turmeric is not essential to preserving the pickles, but adds yellow color.

That leaves three ingredients I found in most recipes: onions, mustard seed, and celery seed. Why are these ingredients included in bread and butter pickle recipes? What would happen if they were left out?

Those are the flavorings.

Just like dill pickles have dill in them, those are what give the flavor profile that people expect from bread & butter pickles.


My sourdough splits at final proofing (pic included), advice? The last couple of times I've made bread the dough starts "splitting" during final proofing.

Does anybody have any idea why? The bread is still great but it doesn't get as much oven spring as I'd like.

There are three likely causes: over-proofing, insufficient gluten development, and too loose shaping. Some combination is probably most likely. To detect over-proofing try the `poke-test': if the dough springs back immediately, the dough is under-proofed; if the indent stays as it is, the dough is over-proofed.

I've found Dan Lepard's advice in The Handmade Loaf for shaping high-hydration sourdough loafs very useful. After final stretches-and-folds, spread the dough into a circle, and make eight folds into the centre, pressing down on the join. Use the scraper to invert the dough and rotate it gently on the work-top for a minute or so. This tightens it up. Then invert it again as it goes into the banneton.


Can I give my friend the sour dough "throw away" as a starter to their sourdough starter? Many sourdough techniques suggest throwing away half your starter further on in the fermenting process. The reason given (in many YouTube videos I've watched) is that it'd eventually take over your kitchen if you didn't.

I guess rather than throw this away I can give it to a friend (or friends) to bootstrap their own starters?

Sure, you can begin a new sour dough starter with the discard from a feeding. However, the reason for discarding isn't simply to reduce the amount.  As your starter matures it also becomes much more acidic.  Acidity is problematic for yeast and bacterial activity and, ultimately, the rise and flavor of your final product.  So, you discard during feeding time to keep the acidity in check, and ensure that your starter is as hospitable to yeast and bacteria as possible.  Your friend can get his or her starter going with your discard, but will then want to get into the habit of discarding when they feed.


Why add vodka to batter for frying fish? At 4:46 in this video, Heston Blumenthal adds vodka to the batter for fried fish. This article in Robb Report also describes the process:

The star chef begins his experiment in an elevated way. He’s not using cod or halibut. No, no, no. This is a three-Michelin-star chef, so he’s going right for the whole turbot that he butchers himself to ensure maximum freshness and the correct portion size.
For the batter he mixes flour, rice flour, honey, vodka, and a beer. That’s all pretty standard, until he puts them in a CO2 cannister to make the batter even airier. Once the fish is dredged in flour and coated in batter from the soda cannister, he fries it. For one last step to make the batter crispy and thick, he drizzles more of it onto the fish while it’s in the frying oil.

What’s the purpose of the vodka?

According to this article about Blumenthal's method, which also explains the other ingredient/method choices: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/dining/07curious.html

The key to the Fat Duck batter is the alcohol, which does a couple of
very useful things. It dissolves some of the gluten proteins in the
wheat flour, so no elastic network forms and the crust doesn’t get
tough. (You’ll notice when you combine the ingredients that the mix
becomes mushy rather than sticky.) Alcohol also reduces the amount of
water that the starch granules can absorb, and boils off faster than
water, so the batter dries out, crisps and browns quickly, before the
delicate fish inside overcooks. The crispness lasts through the meal,
and revives well the next day in a hot oven.


Why does my German nut strudel fall apart? I have a recipe for nut strudel, which calls for the following:

2 cups flour
1 stick butter
8 oz cream cheese.

I have made it twice, and both times the crust is all crumbly and does not roll well. Tastes great but looks like a mess.

Why wouldn't it hold together, and what can I do to fix it?

This is not a Strudel recipe. Аs BaffledCook showed with his recipe, a Strudel is made with a phyllo dough (flour and water, usually no egg at all). The dough is then rolled out until it is paper-thin, and the filling is rolled into it. The dough gets a bit hard and flaky after baking, especially if the filling is somewhat dry, but it doesn't fall apart.

The recipe you have is not for a phyllo dough, but for a cheese-oil-dough (German: Quark-Öl-Teig). As you mention nuts, I suspect that the whole dessert is in fact a Nusszopf, one of the more common use cases for a Quark-Öl-Teig. I can see how the butter led the other people here talk about flaking pastry, but in fact this type of dough isn't supposed to be a flaky pastry, and it is normally made with a neutral vegetable oil, not with butter. If it falls apart, this means that you used too much fat and not enough water, which is probably due to both the ratio and the substitutions.

First, there is the problem of cream cheese. It is not exactly the same thing as quark, and it has a very high fat percentage, I think about 75% of the dry matter. Quark is available in three fat types, with 10%, 20% or 40% fat of the dry matter. So the first thing I'd do is to use another substitution. If you have a Russian market around you, ask for tvorog. Else try ricotta (if there is some whey in the package, don't throw it away, use it in the dough). Both are drier than quark, so maybe you can add some milk to them (my gut feeling says 20:80 milk:cheese). If you want to stay with cream cheese, you probably can do it, but you'll have to calculate how much additional fat you have and then reduce the amount of oil you use.

The second point is the fat. Your recipe says butter, but you'll improve the plasticity of your dough with a liquid oil. Use a neutral-tasting vegetable oil.

Third, I have no idea how much a stick of butter is, but as you have all the symptoms of too much fat, your recipe probably has too much. The ratio of good quark-öl-teig is 4 parts flour, 2 parts quark, 1 part oil (measured by weight!). It also incorporates some liquid (milk or egg or water, just 1-2 tbsp) and backpulver. If you don't want to go fancy, you just roll it out at maybe 1.5 cm thickness, cover with the nuts mass, roll, and bake. There are advanced braiding techniques too, but they don't affect the taste much.

The texture of the baked Nusszopf is similar to some cakes, but somewhat harder and crispier. Here a picture of what it looks like (the dark parts are the nut mass):


Should I get masticating or a citrus juicer? I am looking to start juicing, but I can't decide which juicer to get.

Since I am a beginner, I am thinking of taking a citrus juicer, but yet again maybe it is better to take masticating juicer because I heard it is better and it can juice more than just citrus fruit.

I particularly love this masticating juicer:

NC800HDR Nutrition System

And I really like what I read and saw about this citrus juicer:

Breville 800CPXL

On another hand maybe citrus fruit is good enough for a beginner.

What I want to know is can I juice citrus fruit in the masticating juicer? And what are the main benefits of owning a masticating juicer?

Also if anyone owns any of the juicers I mentioned, please let me know are they good? Will they suffice for a beginner?

I have owned both a citrus juicer, a masticating juicer, and a traditional centrifugal juicer, for a few years now.

My feedback:

Citrus juicer

I have an industrial strength one (this one: http://www.israel-catalog.com/houseware/hadarit-zaksenberg-citrus-juice-squeezer).  It's large and heavy, but it is sturdy, and withstands the weight of a "proper" pull to press oranges.  I owned a number of cheaper smaller models like what you linked before, but never used them much because they would tip over, or didn't provide enough leverage to really juice an orange.

Pros: I love my citrus juicer - I use it to make fresh orange juice a few times a week, or anytime anyone in my family is sick.  From setup/juice/breakdown time is probably 3-4 minutes without trying - and all I have to do is halve my oranges (or grapefruits, pomegranates, etc), which I can do to 6 oranges in a minute.

Cons: It's only good for juicing citrus!  Also, if you are going to store it high up, it requires some strength to move.  I would prefer to leave it on my counter all the time, but my wife requires I cabinet it when not using it :)

Masticating Juicer

I use an Omega model (http://www.omegajuicers.com/juicer-8006.html).  I use this juicer to make Apple, Carrot, Beet, Celery and many other vegetable variety juices.  I also use(d) it to make Almond Milk, before I got a Vitamix, and have used it to make Almond, Peanut and Hazelnut Butter, and Banana/Blueberry "ice cream" by freezing the fruit then running it through the mastication a few times.

Pros: I love that this juicer is quiet.  Unlike my centrifugal juicer, which is extremely loud and I was having trouble with using after my kids went to sleep, I can use this juicer while people are watching TV!  It also allegedly makes better juice because it doesn't heat the juice as much because it's moving slow?  I haven't really seen a quality difference.    Also, the pulp comes out quietly and slowly, so it doesn't make a mess on the counter/cabinets of juice pulp spray.

You certainly CAN make orange juice here, but you will need to slice off the outside skin around the whole orange, and then segment into chunks (see Cons), so for each orange you're making 6-8 cuts, instead of 1 for the Citrus juicer

Cons: You have to cut all your veggies into small enough pieces to fit down the chute - which is especially a pain for carrots.   It also has a significant number of parts and takes 3-4 minutes to break down, clean and store, IMO.

Centrifugal Juicer

I have used a variety of Breville models from the juice fountain series (here: http://www.brevilleusa.com/beverages/juicers.html)  I've burned through 3 of them over about 5 years.

Pros: It makes juice REALLY fast (relatively speaking), and you don't really have to prep veggies and fruit, and just drop whole apples and carrots in there.  Also, these can be found on amazon for as little as $59, so a great entry juicer for someone who doesn't want to make a larger financial commitment.

You certainly CAN make orange juice here, but you will need to slice off the outside skin around the whole orange, and then segment into chunks (see Cons), so for each orange you're making 6-8 cuts, instead of 1 for the Citrus juicer

Cons: Oh wow, there's a few:  The pulp goes into a canister, but at the high speeds of the juicer, it sneaks out and ends up with a fine pulp-mist everywhere.  Also, the juice comes out a bit foamy because of the way the blades are setup, which can be a turn off.  Also, these things are very loud, and cleanup is a pain too (multiple parts, and over time the blade/basket assembly will build up sediment).

Summary:

If you just want to own ONE juicer to do it all, and don't have a big budget, get a centrifugal juicer.  If you want to own one juicer to do it all and have a bigger budget, get a masticating juicer.  If you have budget, a masticating/or/centrifugal + a good citrus juicer provides best of all worlds to juice the right stuff the easiest way.

Don't waste money on a cheap citrus juicer unless you don't plan to use it much, IMO.


Can I substitute green cardamon for black cardamon in curry? There is a curry recipe I am following right now and it says i need black cardamon. I live in an area that is a little difficult to buy all the indian spices.

My local market only sell ground cardamon (I don't know what colour) and green cardamon.

If you are curious, I live in Hamilton, Ontario.

Also, just another cultural question. When an indian recipe lists "curd" as a ingredient in curry, is that just regular greek yogurt?

I should also mention that the recipe is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrMoYBNnLmY&list=WL&index=11

She doesn't actually state if it is green or black, but I assumed it was black.

There is quite a difference in the tastes of black vs. green cardamom. In fact, they come from different but related species of plants.

Try asking your Indian grocery store for badi elaichi or badi welchi. It is the Hindi name for black cardamom.

Green cardamom has a minty flavor and is highly aromatic. It is also slightly sweet. It pairs well with spicy-sweet dishes as it enhances the taste. The ground cardamom in the store is probably green cardamom, because the powder is often used in recipes for masala chai (tea).

Black cardamon has a stronger flavor. It is more smoky (kind of like cinnamon - only kind of). It is best used in meat and savory dishes. So that's probably what the recipe uses.

As for Indian curd, also called dahi, it is closest to Greek yogurt in consistency and taste. However, dahi usually has a more tangy, sometimes sour taste. You may want to consider that while pairing up your dishes.


gas range hack for greater power output: does it work? In the documentary, 'I Like Killing Flies,' Kenny Shopsin describes how he drilled bigger holes in his gas range to increase the power output. Ignoring the possible safety issues, would this work on a standard home gas range? It would seem that the gas output is somehow limited by the knobs. Also, increasing the gas output could potentially change the gas/air ratio, which, I think, might change the flame temperature. Has anybody tried this?

This seems nonsensical to try with your home stove. You are correct, the rate of gas output is directly controlled by the knobs. In a typical home stove, drilling holes will not increase the gas output. It would affect the gas to air ratio, but I doubt it would result in an increase of temperature, and more likely a decrease.


How to make specific taste more obvious in slow cooker Let's say I'm making some fairly generic dish in a slow cooker. Throwing in beef, zucchini, onions, leek, and other stuff. I brown the beef and onions, but otherwise don't really do other preparations. It tastes good, but it's a generic slow cooker beef with veg.

How do I go from there to making a "beef and zucchini" (for example) dish specifically? Apart from adding more of those ingredients and less of others, how can I make those tastes more prominent at the end? In this case it's mostly "how do I make zucchini more obvious" since beef takes care of itself...

I think the most general answer here is often: if ingredients might be "overpowered" (or "absorbed"), add them toward the end of cooking.

Slow cookers are great for making flavors homogeneous -- over long periods, all the flavors flow together, with some less flavorful ingredients absorbing flavor from others.  In many cases, this is perceived to be beneficial: onions absorb flavor from beef liquid, and the beef gets some onion flavor in return.  Or, for example in the case of things like beans, they end up absorbing a lot of the flavors around them and can turn from relatively mild-flavored (or even bland) to highly flavorful.

If you do NOT want that to happen in a slow cooker, the only real remedy is to allow less time for the flavors to mingle.  In practice, this may mean adding some ingredients for only the last hour or the final 30 minutes or even 5 minutes of cooking.

With that said: Lifting the lid at that point does have the potential to alter temperature significantly in the slow cooker and to alter cooking times (not to mention the temperature fluctuation introduced by putting a bunch of room temperature or cold food in).  So unless you have a recipe that is specifically designed to add in food at a later stage like that, you may also consider pre-heating or even pre-cooking the other food separately, and merely mixing them together at serving time or slightly before.  Yes, it's extra work (and for some people defeats the purpose of "throwing it all together" in your slow cooker), but it will help keep flavors more distinct.

It's the equivalent of adding a garnish of fresh-grated cheese or a spritz of citrus juice or a fresh-chopped herb or vegetable on top of a dish before serving -- you do it then, because you'd lose the distinctive "fresh" flavors if you cooked them into the dish for a longer period.


Why was my carrot cake very heavy? I made carrot cake but it turned out very heavy. Is this normal?

I followed this recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp each: cinnamon, salt, vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup each: grated carrots, sweetened coconut, raisins, various nuts
2/3 cup oil
1/2 stick butter
1/4 applesauce

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl,  all other in separate bowl.  Add wet to dry and stir until combined.

Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees F.  Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then get it out and cool it on a rack.

If I had to guess, I'd attribute it to the huge amount of stuff that's in the batter, which makes it more like a fruitcake than like a traditional cake.

You only have two cups of flour but you have four cups of carrot, coconut, raisins and nuts. This is definitely going to make a very dense cake and it sounds like it's supposed to.

This is pretty common in carrot cake recipes but it's not required. I recommend that you find a recipe designed to be more cake-y (higher flour to stuff ratio) rather than trying to fix this one. I've been really happy with the carrot cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen but it's behind a paywall.


What are frying pan ridges for? I expect frying pans with raised ridges are for a few purposes such as adding "grill lines" to meats and keeping food out of grease somewhat as it collects.

Why or when should I use a frying pan with raised ridges?

Whenever you want grill marks. Or, perhaps, if you want to ensure fat rendered out of meat drips away. Why you would want to do this I do not know.


Are there any differences between preparing/cooking a turkey that was labeled "basted with real butter" vs a regular turkey? I've roasted numerous turkeys numerous ways, but never bought a turkey that was basted with butter. I've always just bought a regular turkey, usually I brine it, and then roast it. I've always had great results. As I've never thought to buy one, I've never given it any thought.

I got this turkey for free and am wondering any considerations I need to account for with this pre-basted turkey? What would happen if I brined it?

Edit:
Here's the actual product:
http://www.presidentschoice.ca/en_CA/products/productlisting/pc_young_turkey_basted_with_real_butter19732.html

Chances are most likely that it will be just fine. I suspect the brine process will "wash away" a lot of the butter stuff. I've worked in a meat shop before and the only concern I've ever heard expressed about them is dairy allergy, so do keep that in mind. Otherwise, I would (and have) just cook them as you are used to.


What will the coriander, cumin and paradise add to the lentil soup and can I do without the paradise? I plan to make lentil soup for the first time as I've heard it is a lean meal great for fat-burning diets. Anyway, the recipe ingredients I will be using goes as follows:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise

What will the coriander, toasted cumin and ground grains of paradise add to the soup?

What will I lose if I neglect to use ground grains of paradise?

Coriander, toasted cumin and grains of paradise all are spices.

Grains of paradise being the more uncommon spice is similar to black peppercorn and was historically used as a substitute.

They play the role of what spices commonly do which is flavor your lentil soup. Without it, it will just taste different than the recipe intended.

If you cannot easily get a hold of grains of paradise then just use ground black pepper as a substitute.


What hot cereals can I cook by just adding hot water? I eat instant oatmeal at my office desk every morning. I think I can also get instant grits and maybe cream of wheat or something, but what other hot cereals can I make by just adding boiling water? I don't like flavored stuff and I'm not looking for recipes, just a little variety in my admittedly very bland breakfasts.

If you try regular oats and like them, then you might try flaked/rolled barley, if you can find it.

If you have refrigeration at work (or just bring in one-day's worth each morning), you could also add wheat germ (I can't imagine having a bowl-ful of it, but adding some to your oats would change them up.)

Wheetabix or shredded wheat can also be prepared with boiling water for a hot cereal.

Late recall - "Grape Nuts®" is another one that can be done hot, even if it normally isn't.


Pizza crust mix for pizza with cast iron pan? I bought this "Mantita's italiano Crispy Pizza Crust Mix", but I own no pizza pan. All I have is a 8 inch wide, ~2inch deep, round "Lodge" cast iron pan I have never used before.

I want to make a deep dish pizza with it. How much of the crust mix should I use in the pan?
The crust mix says its for a 12inch pizza and requires 1/2 a cup of hot water.

So this takes a little bit of math.

You've got enough dough for a 12-inch diameter pizza.

The area is π6^2 = 36π.  You don't actually have to do the rest of the math.

You have a pan that is 8-inches in diameter.

The area is π4^2 = 16π

To find the difference, divide 16π/36π and you get .44 (the π cancels out), which is a little less than half. For simplicity, I recommend making half of the box.

Be sure to use half of everything, particularly the water, so if it calls for 1/2 cup of water, use only 1/4 cup.


How do I fix overly yeasty kefir? My milk kefir grains now produce kefir with a very unpleasant yeasty/bready flavor.  I've tried feeding it for a while, on the assumption that the yeast/bacteria will get back into balance, but this has failed.   I'm worried there may be cross-contamination from sourdough starter.

Is there a way to fix this, or do I need to obtain fresh kefir grains?

I can not give you an answer to your question, but whenever I had problems with kefir, I was told to thoroughly rinse the tuber and restart the kefir.
On this German Website they recommend to restart with 200ml of milk and 1 tablespoon of lactose for a recovery of the kefir. I do not know if this could change the yeast to bacteria ratio.

On a sideline, this Russian website recommend a ratio of 107 CFU/g of lactic acid bacteria to 104 CFU/g of yeast for health reasons. If you don't get the yeast to bacteria ratio down, maybe a fresh start with a kefir with 104:107 could help?


Safe uses for sourdough starter discards during building phase I was wondering if there are any safe uses for the sourdough starter that is discarded during the build phase, i.e. in the first 1-2 weeks before the starter has stabilized. Assuming that there is no obvious mold or acetone smell, is it safe to use, and what would be good ways to use it?

As long as there is no mold or any "off" smells, any use in which the discard gets cooked (i.e., no raw flour ends up in your final product) should be safe. After all, your starter is little more than a mixture of flour and water, the main ingredients in any number of baking recipes.

The internet is littered with recipes using sourdough discard. A personal favourite of mine are these cookies. If your starter has not yet matured, it is likely that it will not have the leavening power some recipes require. Look out for recipes that include alternative leaveners (such as baking powder or regular yeast), or that won't suffer from not rising (like these crackers). Once your starter is happily bubbling away, any recipe is an option.


Which thickeners work well with dairy? I know from experience that arrowroot doesn't work very well, so I'm curious to know which ones actually do.

Thanks a lot for any help!

Your answer of "everything except arrowroot" is spot on. You should use a corn starch slurry in all likelihood. It is less expensive and more commonly available and will not create a "slimy" consistency; corn starch is also purported to have a creamier texture.

Arrow root also may have been overcooked by your preparation as described in your comment as it has a lower temperature that it needs to reach relative to other thickeners. Keep it handy for your acidic sauces, but keep to corn starch for the dairy. A benefit of arrowroot in clear sauces is that it won't make the sauce cloudy as will corn starch; however with dairy this is not a concern.