Margarine in place of shortening According to the Wikipedia article on shortening, it seems as though margarine is considered shortening.

Has anyone substituted margarine for shortening in any recipes, and can you report your results?

Margarine is essentially 80% hydrogenated vegetable oil, the rest being mostly water and a touch of coloring and flavoring.

Shortening is essentially 100% hydrogenated vegetable oil.

That means that to truly substitute shortening versus margarine, you would need 5 units of margarine, versus 4 units of shortening plus one unit of water.

However,  in many, many applications substituting 1:1 is well within the tolerance of recipes.  This applies to almost all savory cooking, and most baking including breads, quick breads, cookies, and cakes.


What is a blended sauce? There are three types of sauce, which is 1. roux, 2. blended, and 3. all-in-one. I get what the all-in-one and roux sauce are and what steps to take to achieve it, but what exactly is a blended sauce? My teacher says that blended sauce does not mean blending the sauce using a blender. I searched on the internet and it basically says that is is the combination of a small portion of liquid and starch together, then heat the remaining liquid till it is almost at its boiling point. Afterwards, pour the heated liquid to the blended mixture and stir carefully. Heat the mixture and stir continuously until gelatinisation has reached. However, I came across another definition of the blended sauce: combining two or more sauces together. I'm quite confused, which one is the right one?

A blended sauce uses starch suspended in a small amount of cold liquid. This is typically the method used for starches such as cornstarch or arrowroot. The starches blended with the cold liquid, then poured into the hot base and stirred until it thickens.


How can I keep chopped fruit fresh for 2-3 hours? I need to cut up a large amount of fruit for use in a pavlova dessert tomorrow night - although the same question would no doubt apply to a fruit salad or other fresh fruit item.

Anyway, I won't have time to do this between dinner and dessert, so I'll need to prepare the fruit a few hours in advance, and I'd like to keep it looking and tasting super-fresh.

What can I do to preserve the appearance, texture, and flavour of the fruit for as long as possible after it's been cut up?

The fruits in question are apples, kiwis, and possibly a few bananas.  I'd also be interested in knowing how to preserve strawberries, raspberries, and similar items.

I'd especially appreciate a complete breakdown of the process, i.e. is the freshness after a few hours going to be affected by how it's cut, storage vessels, air flow, temperatures, etc.?

I've preserved cut fruit for at least 6 hours before using just lemon juice. Lemon juice inhibits the oxidation of the fruit which prevents browning as well of a loss of crispness.

One lemon should be enough juice for a 1.5 quart bowl of cut fruit. Simply squeeze it over the fruit and toss gently to prevent bruising.

Since you'll be working with apples, kiwis, and bananas I think your best bet will be to keep them separate. The lemon juice will benefit both the apples and bananas, but might only be marginally effective if unnecessary for kiwi -- since kiwi brings plenty of its own citric acid to the table.

The fruit should be stored in the refrigerator to additionally inhibit oxidation. In my experience covering it with plastic wrap with a few holes poked in it works great. Aluminum foil should be fine as well. I find that the covering is primarily to protect your fruit from picking up other odors from within your fridge, and the holes permit the fruit to "breathe" releasing the buildup of ethylene gas that will occur if it is completely sealed.

If lemon juice is undesired you can use other citrus juices including: lime juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice. Obviously they will all bring their own flavors. If this flavoring is altogether undesired, then you should consider getting a commercial product called Fruit-Fresh. It's basically a powdered citric-acid, and kosher to boot.


Techniques to get a nice golden-brown crust on bread How do I make sure the crust of a baguette, etc. turns out a nice golden-brown when baking?

The trick is steam and high heat.

Heat your oven up to 450 F (230 C).
Bring a pot of water to boil on your stove.
Once boiling, pour the water into a deep roasting pan on the bottom shelf of your oven. If you can place it directly on the bottom of your oven (it doesn't obstruct vents) then that is ok too. 1" (2.5 cm) of water is enough.
Let the steam build up for 5 minutes
Spray your baguettes with water, they should be rather nicely wet. Don't forget to slash them as well
Put your baguettes in the oven on the top shelf. BE CAREFUL opening your oven. Don't let the steam blast you in your face or other exposed body parts. Let it dissipate a bit.
5 minutes into baking, spray the baguettes again (be careful)
10 minutes into baking, spray the baguettes again
15 minutes into baking, carefully remove the tin of water from the oven
Let bake for a final 20 minutes

Depending on how even your oven is browning the crust you may need to turn the pan at the spray intervals.


Are fluted knives a gimmick? I haven't been able to find a post specifically on fluted knives, so hopefully this isn't a duplicate.

I was wondering if fluted knives actually work. I came across a comment (possibly an Amazon review) that fluted knives don't actually help in preventing vegetables from sticking to the knife -- causing the user to have to still have to stop and remove the cut product.

I've never used a fluted knife, so I literally have no idea. I was wondering what the general consensus on SA was: Have you noticed that a fluted knife makes enough of a difference to purchase the fluted version of a particular knife over the non-fluted version?

I am assuming by "fluted knife", you mean what is sometimes called a granton or hollow edge knife, where there are indentations in the blade intended to reduce sticking or adhesion to the food:

Except in very specific circumstances, this feature makes very little difference, those circumstances being:

Carving large roasts
Cutting large and tough vegetables such as certain squashes

For most use, it simply doesn't matter.   In fact, the thickness of the blade tends to have more of an effect than the voids in most cases.

Except in the specific case of a slicing knife (which is a specialty knife that most beginning cooks have no need for; you have also in other questions indicated you are a vegetarian where this knife is primarily for slicing hams and other large roasts), this is not a feature I would look for:


Can I use cast iron on a hot plate? I'm Jewish and need to keep foods heated during the Sabbath and holidays. I am thinking of getting 2, 5 quart cast iron dutch ovens for this purpose. Is cast iron a good choice for to keeping foods heated on a hot plate? Or should I get glass or teflon pots? The periods could be 1 day but could also be up to 3 days if the holiday is right after or before a Sabbath.

Im gonna put the pots on a long hot plate to keep warm for the length of time. I simply want to know if cast iron would be a good alternative to do this or do i need to get glass or teflon pots.

You can use any kind of pot on a hot plate. I can't see any reason cast iron would be a problem, unless the hot plate has a less durable surface and you're worried about scratching it.

The only thing that matters is whether the hot plate is powerful enough to keep your food above 140F for the entire time period. That depends much more on the size of the pots than the material they're made of.

If possible, I'd suggest checking with a thermometer to confirm. You can always do a dry run, and you don't have to wait 3 days. If it holds steady at a safe temperature for an hour or two, it should be fine.


Can I substitute gelatin for aspic? I saw a terrine recipe that looks interesting, but it calls for aspic. I'm not sure I can get hold of the bits and pieces I would need for that. Could I just dissolve a few envelopes of gelatin and use that instead?

Aspic is a type of stock which is high in gelatin, and which sets into a jelly when cooled. Unflavored gelatin will have basically the same mechanical properties as aspic, as long as the gelatin concentration is roughly the same (1/2 tbsp of dry gelatin will set about a cup of liquid). But the taste will be very different, of course: Aspic tastes like whatever it's made from, and unflavored gelatin will taste like nothing. So if you plan to use gelatin, it would be best to use stock instead of water when making it.


I would like to make my own Chicken Stock, any suggestions? I am tired of using canned broth/stock and would like to make my own - any suggestions as to the proper technique and parts to use?

Note that for maximum benefit I am answering the question regarding chicken stock first and at the end have included information on other stocks such as fish and brown chicken and veal stock.

Properly made stock is made from bones only.  If you cut up your own chickens then save the backs and wing tips in the freezer and use for stock.  You might ask at your grocery store or butcher and be able to purchase backs from them if you want to make stock but don't have enough.  Chicken feet are rich in gelatin and can be added to the pot to help add body to the stock.

Place chicken backs/wing tips in a large stockpot (about a 3-4 gal. stockpot).  Cover with cold water and place on stove.  Bring to a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.  This is known as "blanching" the bones and is done to help dissolve the blood and other loose proteins from the soft bones.  These proteins will form a gray scum on the surface.  Once the scum has formed, drain off the water disarding it in the sink.  The more clear a stock is the longer the shelflife as it's the additional proteins making a stock cloudy that also cause it to spoil much more quickly.
Return bones to the pot and cover again with cold water.  Add a sachet (cheesecloth pouch containing a couple of bay leaves, about a teaspoon of whole peppercorns, a handful of parsley stems, and 8-10 thyme branches or a teaspoon of dried thyme) that's been tied up with some string.  Bring the pot to a very gentle simmer once again and allow to simmer for about 3 hours.
After 3 hours add the mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery).  Plan on 1-2 lbs. of mirepoix (combined vegetables) per 8 lbs. of bones.  I also like to add leeks as they not only add flavor but are supposed to help in clarification of the stock.  Continue to simmer the stock for 1-2 hours.  (If you're not going to be around to add the vegetables at that time they can be added with the bones but need to be cut in large pieces to avoid cooking down and disintegrating.  I would typically start chicken and veal stock at night before leaving the restaurant and allow it to simmer overnight until the next morning.)
Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer or several layers of cheesecloth.
Cool the stock in a metal container (another pot) in an ice bath until cool to the touch and then place in storage containers and refrigerate or freeze.
Once the stock has chilled the fat will have formed a solid layer on top of the stock. Carefully remove and either discard or use for sauteeing (such as duck or chicken fat).

Additional Notes:
The same process would be followed for white veal stock (not frequently used)

If preparing a brown stock (roasted chicken, veal, beef, lamb, duck):**
These stocks are made by first rinsing the bones and then roasting in the oven at about 400 F degrees until medium brown (think iced tea color).

Once bones are browned, smear them with a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and roast for another 5 minutes or so.  Be careful as the concentrated sugars in the tomato paste can cause it to burn and create a bitter tasting stock.

After bones and tomato paste have roasted, place them in the stock pot and add the mirepoix to the roasting pan, tossing to coat with the fat that has rendered out and roast the mirepoix until lightly browned.  Add the mirepoix about 2 hours before finishing the stock.  Be sure carrots are cut rather large to avoid having them disintegrate and adding a strange excessively sweet taste to the stock.

Recommended cooking times for stocks:

-Fish: 30-45 minutes.  Use lean white fish bones and heads.  Lobster/shrimp stock is made from the shells and will usually yield more flavor if first roasted.  Remove gills and eyes from fish heads to prevent clouding the stock.  Do not use carrots in mirepoix or it will color the stock an orange hue.  Use onions, celery, leeks, mushrooms, and sliced lemon.

-Chicken/Duck:  4-6 hours

-Veal/Beef/Lamb:  8-12 hours (knuckle bones of veal will have the greatest amount of gelatin since the bones haven't hardened as much as those of beef)

Stocks should not be seasoned with salt as one of the primary purposes is for them to be a "stock" item that can be used for a variety of needs: soups, sauces, rice, etc.  The salt is added to the final preparation not the stock.  If stock is salted and then used for a reduction sauce the resulting sauce will be too salty.


How to find out if the coconut oil that I will buy from a supermarket is food and/or allergy safe I want to buy some coconut oil, but I have not tried any coconut oil before, so I don't know which coconut oil can cause food poisoning if used for cooking. I am not a doctor, so I am wondering how it's possible for me to find out if the coconut oil (that I am going to buy) from a supermarket is harmful to me (I have some concerns about allergies control)?

Since the question is off-topic, I'm not sure if I should be answering this. If not, I'll rely on those more experienced to edit or remove it.

If you have no known allergies to other nuts or seeds, coconut oil sold in the FOOD section of a supermarket is safe. If you have allergies to any nuts or seeds, then you'd need to check for labeling saying if it was processed and packed in a nut/seed-free facility to be safe.

On the other hand, if you're wondering if you might be allergic to coconut itself and you don't know, think back to other foods you're eaten. Coconut is in many foods and I'd be surprised if you haven't eaten it before. It's found in a host of different candies (even as small bits of crunchy toasted coconut), puddings, cookies, cakes and other baked goods. It's included in different curries; sometimes finely ground like flour or as coconut milk. I'm sure there are other foods but this gives you an idea.

If you simply don't know, you might try a very small amount of dried shredded coconut and wait 24 hours. Initially, allergic reactions are generally mild as a full allergic response normally takes 2, 3 or more exposures to cause a full allergic reaction. Perhaps keep something like Benadryl on hand. Mind you, this is what I'd do but please use caution. You may not feel like trying this.


What caused the spoilage of my homemade mayonnaise before 48 hours I followed all steps I saw online but the mayonnaise looked good at first but spoiled the next day. What would also cause the oil to separate from it??

I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled. I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper Then I mixed together. Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency.

I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors. But there was a slight oil seperation, and water separation at the bottom of the jar. Then followed by a characteristic foul smell hours later.

Mayonnaise - unless made by a recipe that is explicitly designed to yield a shelf stable version (as many commercially made mayonnaises are) - is not a shelf stable food. That means the common standard of unrefrigerated storage time of 2 hours max, or 4 hours if immediately consumed, is to be applied. So spoilage after room temperature storage of 8 or even 48 hours does not seem to be a surprising behaviour.


Making cake balls with a not-so-sweet frosting I baked a cake which is sweet and moist. I would like to make cake balls with it, but I wonder what should I use as frosting to not make it sweeter! Is it possible to ignore any kind of frosting and does coating the cake balls - which are made out of the cake only- work? I mean will it keep its shape that way? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Coating your cake balls is a good idea, it will help them retain their moisture and shape. There are plenty of not especially sweet options, I would try a cream cheese based frosting with less sugar or a medium-sweet chocolate ganache.


Do I need to separate all the eggs if a recipe needs more yolks than whole eggs? I am going to make lemon bars except I am going to use oranges instead, so I was reading the recipe for lemon bars.

The recipe calls for 2 large eggs and 1 large egg yolk separated, then in the instructions it says to beat eggs and egg yolks together in a bowl.

Wouldn't it be okay to just leave them as whole eggs if they are going to be mixed together anyway?

Your recipe calls for both whole eggs and egg yolks. (Presumably, it needs the extra fat from an additional egg yolk without the liquid/protein contribution of an additional egg white.)

Since the goal in this recipe is just to have 2 whites and 3 yolks in the mixture, there is no reason to separate the first two eggs. So you will only need to separate one egg to get that extra yolk.


Beans rated by cooking time I'm quite a bean aficionado and have noticed that different kinds of beans vary widely in the amount of cooking the require to achieve an equal level of tenderness. E.g. while I cook small lima beans only about 1.5 hrs total, it takes up to 3 hours to get a similar tenderness from favas. Red beans somewhere in between. All examples assume having soaked them overnight to prep them for cooking.

Is there a list of different bean varietals that ranks them by how hard they are and how long they usually require to be cooked?

Because older beans, and larger beans may take different amounts of time to reach the desired softness, it is impossible to tell exactly how long beans need to be cooked for. Nevertheless, the tables found here and here can offer great information on how long to cook different types of beans.
(I have merged both of them below)
Black Beans
Soaked: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Unsoaked: 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours
Black-Eyed Peas
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Cannellini Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
UnSoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Chickpeas
Soaked: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Unsoaked: 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours
Great Northern Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Lentils
Unsoaked: 20 - 30 min
Lima Beans, Large
Soaked: 3/4 - 1 hours
Lima Beans, Baby
Soaked: ~1 hour
Navy Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Pink Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Pinto Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Red Kidney Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Small White Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Soybeans
Soaked: ~3 hours
Split Peas, green
Unsoaked: 1/2 - 3/4 hours

Soaking can be done by either covering beans with water, and leaving them covered overnight, or, boiling the beans with water for ~2 minutes and then removing them from head and letting them sit covered for ~1 hour.


How can I achieve perfect consistency with honey-roasted almonds? I would like to roast my own almonds (or other nuts) with honey.  Ideally, at the end of the roasting, the nuts should be slightly caramelized and have absorbed most of the flavour from the honey; they should also be just a little bit sticky (but not wet).

What combination of factors will successfully produce this end result?  Specifically I am hoping to answer the following questions:

What ratio of honey to nuts is appropriate, such that the nuts will get evenly-coated and have the sticky-dry consistency noted above?
Is there a relationship between how much honey is used and how early it needs to be applied?  In other words, if I apply the honey very early, will I need to use more of it?
Is it always better to apply as early as possible or is there a point at which I'll get diminishing returns or even negative effects (such as risk of burning)?
Is it necessary or even beneficial to apply the honey in stages in an attempt to get multiple "coats"?
What is the ideal roasting time and temperature for almonds specifically?  ("Ideal" in this case would mean just long and hot enough to bake all or most of the honey into the nuts while caramelizing but not burning them.)

I find roasting any nut simpler with a bit of glue, some egg white in addition to any flavouring.  I use one egg white mixed with a bit of water per 2C of nuts.  Toss in the egg white, then in the flavour (salt, sugar, honey, spice, etc.), and bake off at 300-350, depending on the size of nut (lower for larger nuts).


What is the difference between green, white and black tea? What is the difference between green, white and black tea? Are all based on original tea leaves?

White, green, oolong, and black tea are all products of Camellia sinensis leaves and buds, the only difference is how they are processed.  You can turn the plant matter into any of the varieties.  Different sources will give different accounts of the processing steps, but in rough order of least-to-most processed:

White tea is minimally processed and not oxidized, meaning it retains the natural antioxidants, but does not develop as much flavor, color, or caffeine.  Sweet or flowery flavors are characteristic.
 (Chinese Silver needle white tea)

Green tea has a minimal amount of oxidation, halted by additional pan-frying (Chinese teas) or steaming (Japanese) steps.  The additional processing brings out more flavor, and allows for caffeine to develop, at the cost of a reduction in antioxidants.  Characteristic flavors are grassy, vegetal, and earthy, with sweet notes.

 (Japanese Sencha)

Oolong tea gets partial fermentation, and often an additional shaking/bruising step that release additional flavors.  Oolong can range in color from dark green to black. The combination of bruising and partial fermentation give many oolongs distinct flowery & earthy flavors.  Darker oolongs may have buttery or smoky tastes to them.  It has somewhat more caffeine and less antioxidants than green tea.

Tieguanyin or Iron Goddess: (light oolong)

Black Oolong: (Wu Yi)

Black tea is fully fermented, which blackens the leaves and causes the formation of caffeine and tannins. It generally possesses the most robust flavor and highest level of caffeine, but the least antioxidants.

 (Chinese keemun)

Pu-erh is tea that is pressed into cakes and post-fermented, meaning that after processing and drying it undergoes an additional ripening/fermentation. Microorganisms work on the tea, changing it chemically in a similar fashion to aging cheeses.  Traditionally this is accomplished over years in controlled climate conditions (10-15 years being ideal), but in recent decades a several-month fast ripening process is sometimes used.

Pu-erh develops a richer, more complex flavor, and has the widest range of flavors of any of the varieties. Before post-fermentation, it may resemble a white, green, or oolong tea, but the ripening process can impart darker black-tea flavors, giving a unique character.

Pu-er Cake

Rooibos, sometimes called red tea, is made from another plant entirely, Aspalathus linearis.  It is a traditional South African infusion, prepared like a black tea but without caffeine. There are two varieties, green and red.  Green is un-oxidized, where red is oxidized.  Rooibos is characterized by a sweet, woody/malty flavor.  Health-wise, it is a source of anti-oxidants, may aid in digestion, and some say it may aid with nervous tension and allergies.

Yerba mate is from the South American plant Ilex paraguariensis, whose leaves are steeped like tea.  It is generally toasted in processing, and produces a brew with caffeine similar to coffee.  Despite its caffeine, mate is actually relaxing to smooth muscles, so you don't get jitters, and it also helps control appetite. The flavor is vegetal and herbal, and can be bitter if brewed hot. Although it contains antioxidants, this is balanced by traces of carcinogens from the toasting, and the jury is still out on whether mate overall increases or decreases cancer rates.

Tisanes or herbal infusions these are various blends of dried herbs, fruits, spices, and flowers which are steeped like teas, but do not contain tea leaves.  Generally, the ingredients are dried, although fresh ingredients can be used too.  To confuse matters further, black and green teas may also have flavorings added to them, giving a similar result.


Troubleshooting a soufflé that collapses during baking I am trying to make a cheese soufflé to surprise my girlfriend on her birthday (24 Jan). After several cooking trials, I still face a key problem: my soufflé collapsed after baking for 25-30 minutes.

What did I do wrong? Here are the steps to the recipe;

boil equipment
grease butter to the renakin, place into the freezer
separate egg whites (no yolk mixed)
add a little salt to egg whites
add a little sugar to egg whites
using a hand mixer, whip the egg whites adding more sugar during whip
melt 40g butter (100C)
Whisk 40g all purpose flour into melted butter
pour 250g milk slowly and whisk util it mixed
wait until it cools down
re-grease butter to the renakin, place into the freezer
beat the egg yolks to a creamy consistency, then pour into the milk mixture
add 1/3 of the mixture to the base, continue to add the whites folding very gently.
Preheat oven to 200C (5-10 minutes)
pour the mixture into the renakin
add the cheese on the top
bake at 170'C (with heat select="lower")

After about 25-30 minutes and a 2cm rise, the soufflé collapses prior to removing from oven.

updated 19 Jan Evening :

I do

buy better hand mixer
use more flour (50g)
move egg whites whipping process to last steps
reduce whipping time to 5 minutes
bake with heat select="lower" about 15min after that change to "upper and lower"
sit in front of oven and see the soufflé every moment.

result:

at 20mins: the soufflé raise about 3.5 to 4cm (from 5cm height renakin)
around 25mins: it collapse about 0.5cm, so I immediately remove it from oven (T-T)
after than it collapse very fast. (I guess it is common)

Thank you very much @jefromi and @KatieK for your comments and links. I plan to buy oven thermometer this morning because I have no it yet.

updated 21 Jan Lunch :

Yesterday I found problem on the oven temperature. When I set temperature to 170 C, real temperature is 150C or below (because it keep going down). So today I try to keep in range of 160-200C and no collapses now.

Thanks you very much to everybody again for kindly help.

There are two likely causes of soufflé problems.

1) Egg foam. Be sure that you're whipping them to peaks (soft peaks, as I recall) when you first whip them.  Then, when adding the 2 mixtures together in 3rds, be sure that you're properly folding in the whites; this is a very specific technique, and easy to over-do.

2) Oven heat.  Use an oven thermometer to check your oven's temp - it's probably wrong.  Put some extra mass in that oven (like a baking stone or brick) to reduce wild temperature swings during baking.

But, as in the linked questions in the comments, all soufflés fall to some degree.


What to add if low-carb muffins don't rise and are crumbly I followed this recipe for low-carb lemon poppy seed muffins. I only substituted coconut for almond flour and granulated monk fruit for splenda. The mix was really loose and dry when I put it in the tins. I baked it for the max specified 20 minutes and they didn't rise (I didn't swap baking soda for powder, like some do). If I want to make these again, what do I modify to get these muffins to look like actual muffins?

Also, I saw these posts (1 and 2) but I'm doing low-carb and the answers don't fit as I'd expect.

Your recipe has no gluten in it. Baked goods without gluten tend to have a crumbly texture; muffin batter usually contains at least some wheat flour, which contributes gluten toward the muffin's structure. The Kitchn has a good blog post about using vital wheat gluten, which can be added to a recipe that is in need of a more bread-like structure (assuming no dietary restriction on gluten). If you add too much, you'll have to adjust the other ingredients in the recipe to compensate (mainly liquids, but possibly fats as well) but a little goes a long way; for your recipe, one tablespoon might be a good starting point.

Vital wheat gluten does contain similar carbohydrates to those found in regular wheat flour, but much less; where regular flour is almost entirely carbohydrates, vital wheat gluten is mostly protein. Consult the nutrition info before you buy it if you're worried about adding carbs to your recipe.

Adding gluten can also affect how the muffin rises, so you might find that's enough on its own; but it's not directly a leavening agent. More good info here: What does gluten "do" in baking?


Is it cost effective to make your own roast beef sandwich? Seeing how expensive deli meat is it sure seems like roast beef sandwiches would be cheaper to make if you did your own roast and sliced it thin.

Are there any cons to this method?  I imagine it would not last as long as the deli meat.

You've got a few things to consider --

cost of the ingredients
shrinkage
energy costs
time costs
wastage

So, in our decision making tree, we have to consider the real costs of each option.

Say for instance that whole roasts are on sale, so the cost of a roast is 1/2 the cost of buying the deli meat.  The roast is going to lose weight as it cooks ... it's just part of the cooking process.  It could be anywhere from 10 to 25%, depending on the cut of meat and how hot you cook it.

Obviously, there will be other spices and such, but we'll assume they're mostly negligible.  There will be the cost to power your oven ... and that'd be a function of where you live, if it's gas or electric (or solar), etc ... and if you make too much, and can't eat it before it spoils, then there's waste.

... but then we get to the most important part in my opinion -- time, and slicing.  Even if we assume our time costs nothing (and when you're throwing something in the oven and leave it for a few hours, that part's negligible).  Our real time comes in slicing it -- and I don't have a professional slicing machine, just a bunch of knives, so it's going to take me quite a long time, and I'm not going to get it as thin as the deli can.

And in my opinion, it's the shaving of the meat that matters; there's a big difference between large chunks of meat vs. thick slices vs. thinly shaved.

...

So, in my opinion -- is it cost effective?  maybe a little bit, if you assume your time is free.  Is it worth it?  Maybe if you want to spice it special, or make it lower salt, stay away from sulfides / sulfates, or do something else special ... but as you likely can't slice it the same, it's more likely to come out as an inferior product.

That's not to say that I won't ever do it, but I doubt I'd do it anytime soon, and it won't be because I think it's a cost savings.


How can I tell when chicken thighs are sufficiently cooked to eat? Last night I was grilling chicken thighs on a barbecue and I was told that if there was any pink inside them, they are not safe to eat. My question is twofold:

(a) Is this true?

(b) Is there a way to tell that doesn't involve cutting the thighs open to have a look at the colour?

Pink has to do with blood, which typically runs clear once it reaches a certain temperature.  This is not a great rule of thumb for making delicious food.

It's particularly problematic with thighs, because they contain a vein that can remain red or pink well through the cooking process.  This is less so if the chicken is washed or the veins cleaned.

The key is temperature, not color.  If you have a meat thermometer, aim for 165-170°F (74-77°C), keeping in mind that meat will continue cooking for 5-10°F (3-6°C) once it's pulled and allowed to rest for 5 minutes.  If you don't have a thermometer, aim for meat that is responsively tender but not too firm, opaque rather than transparent, and not slimy or gelatinous in texture.  Thighs are a little more tolerant than breasts when it comes to drying out because they have more fat, but nothing is sadder than overcooked meat (except maybe salmonella poisoning).


Is a broccoli that already turned yellow anyhow harmful? After I bought a broccoli I placed it into my fridge. Today I rediscovered it and wanted to eat it. Now the crown of the broccoli already turned yellowish (it's actually a yellowish-greenish-brownish color).

Is it still safe to eat the broccoli (after cooking) or are there any health harming issues I should consider before eating?

It is safe to eat, but it would be fibrous and a bit tough - not to mention that the flavor might be a bit subdued. I would personally cut my loses and toss it in the bin.


Why Do We 'Simmer' Fudge Instead of 'Boiling' it? I've noticed that many candy recipes (specifically fudge recipes) instruct you to boil the mixture, then reduce to simmer, until you reach a specific temperature.  My limited understanding of physics is that as the mixture simmers, water evaporates, and the more concentrated mixture has a higher boiling point.

So it makes sense that we stop at a certain temperature and that will be the desired consistency.  But it takes a long time!

Is there any reason why I can't continue to boil for longer?  Is it just to make it easier to stop at the correct point, or is there a lot more going on that wouldn't happen correctly at a higher temperature?

(P.S. - I found this similar question: Why should a stock be simmered and not boiled? but I'm not sure the answer is applicable with fudge, but please correct me if I am wrong)

Candymaking is extremely sensitive to temperature.  If the mixture heats higher than the point that produces the desired texture, you're basically out of luck.  That makes it very critical that you reach and not exceed your target temperature.

This is particularly difficult when making candy because much of it starts as a sugar-and-water syrup.  Water has an especially high heat capacity, meaning that it takes a relatively high amount of applied heat to raise its temperature.  This is why a big pot of water takes a long time to boil.  It also implies (because diffusivity is calculated from heat capacity and density) that it takes a while for applied heat to diffuse through the entire pot; that is, the bottom of the pot where heat is being applied will be significantly warmer than the top, absent more active circulation like stirring or the pumping action of an immersion circulator.

Anyway, "boiling" implies greater heat application than "simmering".  The more heat you're applying to the bottom of your pot, the greater the difference between the top and bottom.  If you're then measuring the temperature at or near the top, you may be getting a wildly inaccurate measurement of the "total" heat of your syrup.  Once the heat diffuses completely, the mixture will be several degrees warmer than you measured, and that can completely ruin an entire batch of otherwise-delicious fudge.

Simmering is recommended because it gives the heat being applied to your syrup more time to diffuse, which means more even and consistent heating, which means you can reliably hit your target temperature without going over.  If you became some kind of ninth-dan fudge guru, maybe you could boil and know exactly how much heat is enough to hit your target, but don't count on getting there.

The sensitivity of this process is part of the reason that candymaking is considered one of those semi-advanced cooking topics.  If it was easy, we'd probably all overdose on fudge by the time we learned to safely operate a stove.


Fixing too much corn starch I put way too much corn starch into a "random sauce": I was just mixing random things together to dip my carrots in.  It includes whey, honey, and other random things.  It was too thin and I used at least 1/2 a box of corn starch.  It is still too thin, but that is far more easily edible then the corn starch problem.  I was not aware that corn starch could add any taste to anything since it never has before.  Now it tastes like chalk was added.  How do you fix it to remove the "corn starch taste", and no "add tons and tons of the other ingredients" is not the answer - that would require having tons of money and I wouldn't need to ask on the Internet if that were possible.  Just how to remove the corn starch taste.

Corn starch is a thickener, but not right out of the box. It needs to be heated to gelatinize, which also gets rid of the chalky taste.

If you tried to cook your random sauce now, you'd get a very thick mass that could easily be a prop in a bad sci-fi or horror movie, but not a dipping sauce. And the sheer amount of starch would "absorb and eliminate" most of the flavours you added.

Long boiling and vigourous stirring can break up the bindings again and so can freezing the cooked sauce, but with half a box of starch in what I assume to be a relatively small quantity of other ingredients, you are more likely to burn the "sauce" during cooking before you get to that stage.

As a little starch goes a long way in binding liquids (rule of thumb: 20g for two cups of sauce), you'd have to add a lot of liquid tomget that ratio, which you stated is neither practical nor economical - who's going to eat all that stuff?

But there is one property of starch that could save your sauce:
In cold liquids, uncooked starch sinks towards the bottom. So pour your mix into a container (preferably something rather narrow or conical), and wait an hour or so. The thinner your mix, the faster the starch will settle.
Then pour off the liquid, leaving the concentrated starch in the container. Do not discard it yet.
Gently heat your sauce in a pot, stirring carefully and watch it thicken as it nears boiling temperature. You will most likely have enough starch left in the mix to reach the desired thickness. If not, add a bit of the reserved starch slurry, a teaspoon or so. Remember that a hot sauce with starch will still be liquid, but thicken a lot when it cools down.

You didn't elaborate on you other ingredients, so be aware that not all ingredients or ingredient combinations take well to being heated - they might curdle or break down, for example. In this case, sorry, you will have to discard your experiment, write off the cost and start over. Perhaps with a tested recipe and work from there. We'll be here if you need help in tweaking it.

You might want to have a look at this Q/A, what went wrong there could help you.


How do I stop fresh fish from falling apart while cooking? We sometimes buy trout from a local breeder who'll get them fresh out of the water for us, and then cook them a few hours later. They taste great, but the flesh tends to fall apart in a way that doesn't happen with fish from the super market. It's often barely even possible to get them out of the pot without them completely coming apart. We tried leaving them in the fridge for a day so they wouldn't be quite as just-killed-an-hour-ago-fresh, but that didn't help.

We usually prepare them by cooking them in simmering (not boiling) water.

Is there some way to prevent this?

Something like this is useful:

Photo source

There are a lot of variations on the same theme (including oval strainers)


Stacking cakes without bases I am going to be making a two tier birthday cake for my daughters 2nd birthday.

The bottom will be a Vanilla sponge covered in Fondant icing. The top tier will be a Chocolate sponge covered in Fondant icing.

  --------
  |      | <-- Chocolate sponge ( 8 Inch )
 ---------- <-- No cake board (cake on cake)
 |        | <-- Vanilla Sponge ( 10 Inch )
------------

My question is:

Is it possible to stack the top tier cake on top of the bottom without using a cake board? So it would be cake directly sitting on cake?

It really depends on the density of the bottom sponge. If it's too light, you might have a problem. To be doubly sure, take some wide straws (the ones about 1cm across) stick them in the bottom layer, then snip them flush. These will act like columns to support the top cake.


How does the process of tempering in indian dishes generally work? I am trying  to understand the tadka (tempering) technique or procedure Indian meals. Is the a specific order in which spices go in in order to avoid overcooking some which are more delicate? I understand that for example the cumin seeds will usually go in first. Some tadka also include cilantro - that would obviously go in towards the end. Is there a general procedure to follow? I would also be happy for some book tips that focus on the techniques used in Indian cuisine, not just concrete recipes.

The general rule of thumb is to put spices that burn easily in the end. Black mustard seeds are often added, in which case add the mustard seeds to hot oil first. Once the mustard seeds stop popping, turn the heat down, add urad dal (white lentil), dried red chillies, cumin, and turmeric. Of course, your tadka may not have all ingredients that I've listed (or may have others that I haven't). I generally add turmeric last because it burns the most easily. South Indian tadkas often add fresh curry leaves. Those can be added right after the mustard seeds (they splatter, so one has to be careful).


What is the difference between St Louis ribs, Memphis ribs, and Kansas City ribs? I know that St Louis ribs are a subset of side ribs.
What cut of ribs are Memphis ribs and Kansas City ribs from? Side or back?

There may be some local namings, but normally a St. Louis trim rib is a spare rib with the flap removed (tougher meat) and trimmed to a more uniform size to get a more even cook, especially over a long slow cook.

KC and Memphis ribs, along with Carolina and other regions, normally would not refer to a trim, rather they would tend to refer to cooking and spicing styles.  KC, Memphis, Carolina, Texas, etc. tend to all be known for regional preferences in preparing the ribs.  This tends to include things like:

Do the ribs tend to be smoked, and if yes, how strong?
Do the ribs tend to be wet (with a sauce) or dry (just a spice rub)?
Does any sauce tend to use brown sugar, molasses, or vinegar?
Does spicing tend more to the hot or sweet side?

You will find variations of all of these in every region, but the tendency towards favoring one style or another tends to be associated with a region.  Those style differences tend to also apply to more than just ribs and will include what meats tend to be more common and how they are served.

For instance, for me at least, Memphis BBQ will tend to mean pork.  Ribs yes, but especially pulled pork.  Typically it would be cooked dry with sauce served on the side or added after cooking.  The sauce would tend to be on the thin side, often with at least some vinegar, though less than Carolina, and with some heat.  KC BBQ would include a lot more chicken and beef, especially brisket, but lots of ribs.  It would use a sweeter, thicker sauce with either brown sugar or molasses, and usually the meat would be at least finished wet.


Why should (or shouldn't) we wash rice before cooking? There are pretty confusing articles on this topic on the internet.
Some suggest that we should wash them to remove starch, talc, etc. Some suggest that we should not wash them because they are fortified with minerals.

This also varies according to the type of rice - short grain, Jasmine, Basmati, etc. It would be great to have logical reasons instead of just instructions.

Reasons to wash your rice:

Reduce/Control Starch levels

Often when you're cooking rice you want distinct grains of rice and for your rice to have texture. In the case of Chinese fried rice for example, you specifically want your rice grains to not stick to one another. If you're talking white rice especially, there will be a lot more loose starch that will form a thickish paste if if you don't rinse it away.

To clean out impurities

I imagine there was a time when there were a lot more impurities (dirt, dust, bugs, etc...). I don't know if that's necessarily the case these days with modern manufacturing. If you're concerned about your source, then this may be a factor for you. There's also the occasional random article that suggest rinsing to reduce levels of something like arsenic (see FDA warning on arsenic in rice)... I think 1. is your bigger factor here though.

Reasons to not wash your rice:

It removes nutrients.

This is true for fortified rice. See here for more information on the fortification process. Note, whole grain/brown rices are less often fortified (I want to say they're not fortified, but I actually don't know for sure). So it would depend on what kind of product you're buying and where it came from.

You actually want to keep the extra starch.

This is the case for things like risotto where the starch is what gives the dish it's creaminess. Serious Eats has a great article that talks about the process.


What nondairy milk does not curdle when heated? I like to heat my milk for coffee (and use the microwave to do so) but I find with Soya Milk it curdles. Does anyone know of any other non-dairy milk that one can heat in a microwave please?

Assuming the curdling happens when added to the coffee:

Hot soymilk is even more sensitive to curdling from acids than dairy milk. UHT (soymilk, not dairy) varieties are generally considered less prone to that effect, trying these might be worth it.

Oatmilk is often considered the best nondairy alternative for this scenario.

If palatable, this trick could also help:

Why does salt prevent soy milk from curdling in hot coffee?


Can polenta be baked? I've heard that good polenta can be made in the oven, without the stirring. Has anyone else heard of this? Does anyone know how to?

The technique is very basic:  stir together the all of the ingredients in a buttered baking dish, and bake in a moderate oven for about an hour, with one or two stirs near the end.  The water ratio is slightly reduced from the stove top method, as there is less evaporation.

See, for example, this version from Shockingly Delicious adapting the recipe from the back of the Golden Pheasant polenta bag.


How can I effectively time a short thawing and brining of a a turkey? I have a 14 lb. frozen turkey.  It has been in the refrigerator for 12 hours now but there is not enough time to thaw it completely in the fridge before cooking it in the turkey fryer.  Could I safely thaw it in cold water today, which would take about 7 hours and then brine it for 30 hours before deep frying it?

I can't remember how many times I've remembered to take out the turkey much to late for a full proper defrost. Yes, you can probably thaw it in cold water. But I would go a step further if you're brining it anyway. Alton Brown posted a blog post yesterday with exactly the same problem as you. Apparently Professional food people forget to defrost their birds too.

  The solution (see what I did there) is to thaw the bird by unwrapping it and submerging in a brine contained in a large bucket or cooler or other food safe vessel, covered and tucked away in a closet or garage or … wherever. I slap a probe thermometer in the brine with an alarm set to go off if the temperature of the solution rises above 40 degrees F. That said, I typically go with a 2 day soak and have never had an instance where that temperature has been reached. By the time the bird is thawed, the brine has done it’s job (two jobs actually) and I’m ready to roast.

In short, if it's still frozen, I'd probably just toss it straight into the brine and let it sit for 2 days. (Assuming you have some place that can keep it under 40F/4C until cooking day). The brine will defrost the bird much quicker and brine the meat simultaneously. One less handling of the bird. It's what I've done every time I'm in this predicament of trying to defrost a bird in time to cook.

Edit: To emphasize Jefromi's comment. He's absolutely correct. Especially if you place the turkey in a brine in a cooler and put it in your garage/basement, etc... you definitely need to make sure your brine stays between 0C (32F) and 4C (40F). The easiest way to do that is to put the turkey in the brine and periodically monitor the water temp, adding ice to drop it back to the safe range. A thermometer that can warn you would be ideal. If you manage to find enough space in a fridge that would certainly be safest, but I assume most people don't keep enough space for a turkey in a pot.


which mixer should I use to grind idli batter in USA? I have been struggling with making soft idlis. I live in the US. I have tried many recipes but none of them gave soft idlis. I suspect it might be because of the grainy batter. I am using Ninja blender to grind daal and rice (separately). Any recommendations for good mixie so that my batter is smooth? Also, do I need to special rice (sona masuri) for idli/poha? I use basmati rice.

If you really want smooth idly batter, you need to use a Wet Grinder, like an Elgi.  The rotary grinding stone action of these produces a much smoother, stickier batter than any blender can.  They're also good for making chocolate.


Is there no use for high temperatures in ovens? I'm about to buy a new oven. I can buy one which is able to steam the food, or one without.

The one with steam (a nice, but not necessary feature) only goes to 230 °C / 446 °F, while a regular one to 275 °C / 527 °F.

The salesman claimed that no one needs anything higher than the 446 °F, but I've used higher temperatures many times; pizza, roasting meat, etc.

Have I used too high temperatures before? Or was he just uninformed?

There is lots of use for high temperatures. Especially pizza is the first thing that comes to mind; there is no home oven which can get to the proper temperatures for a Neapoletana (which are above 500 Celsius), but more is always better.

Of course, the salesman will tell you what you need to hear to buy his product, don't listen to him. This still doesn't mean that you should only buy the oven with the highest max temperature; there are badly built ovens which claim to reach 300 Celsius but can't actually do it, in this case you are probably better off with a better quality oven with a lower nominal maximum temperature. It is probably best to compare reviews made by independent test organizations.


Non-melting fruity filling for cookies I'm trying to bake a kind of cookies in an oven at 400°F and I need a fruity tasting filling that wouldn't melt at this temp. Any advice?

P.S. Just for reference, the original Russian recipe uses a thing called "povidlo" which is a kind of hard marmalade that you can cut with a knife.

This question dates from the end of 2015 but perhaps my answer might prove useful to other readers.

I imagine any homogenized jam would be suitable after drying out sufficiently. Reducing a jam on the stove top could be tedious with constant stirring to prevent burning. But it should be an easy matter to do in the oven.

If the jam was evenly spread in a rectangular baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sides (for easy removal), the desired consistency shouldn't be hard to get. Drying would need to be done fairly slowly so it would dry out evenly and not leave a wetter middle layer.

I can't say what temperature but I'd guess no more than 200°F (95°C). I'd try a small test batch first to see what the difference in thickness is after drying and how long it takes.  If anyone tries this, I'd love to hear results with pertinent data, please.


Where can I find nut-free chocolate in the EU? I'm looking to make homemade chocolate bars but I'm having a hard time finding any sort of chocolate (chips or otherwise) that are nut-free.

Where can I look for these types of chocolate? Are there any companies known for selling nut-free chocolate?

This company will send nut free chocolate worldwide.  They appear to be a small family firm that make some pretty robust claims about their nut-free credentials.  I'm not connected with them in any way and I can't vouch for how their product tastes either.  They're actually called the Nut Free Chocolate People so I'd hope they're true to their word.


What good substitutes for saffron exist? I am a big fan of paella, amongst other uses for saffron. However, it can be a very difficult and/or expensive spice to obtain.

What good substitutes exist?

As for flavor, there really isn't a substitute.

Infusing saffron strands in a warm acidic liquid such as white wine will help extract the maximum flavor.

Whole saffron while more expensive than ground is a better use of your money as you know you're getting only saffron.  Ground saffron, while not usually found in stores in the U.S. may be sold by mail order or overseas and is usually less expensive because it's being cut and blended with other spices such as turmeric but won't have the same flavor.


What is the difference between a spring roll and an egg roll? The final challenge for a recent "Master Chef" was to make spring rolls. It seemed to me that they were really making egg rolls, like I've seen at any restaurant I've ever been to -- Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc.

What is the difference between a spring roll and an egg roll?

春卷 (Chūnjuǎn, Spring rolls) are julienned vegetables, sometimes with a bit of noodles, sometimes with a bit of minced meat, wrapped with a flour dough skin and pan- or deep-fried. They are a filled roll.

You can see the different varieties by country here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_roll

Spring roll:

鸡蛋卷 (Jīdàn juǎn, Egg rolls) are many different things around the world. In Chinese communities, these typically refer to a sweet biscuit type roll, of hollow flaky egg pastry (not filled.) However, there is also another variety (common in American Chinese cuisine) where a flour dough wrap is filled with "pork, shrimp, or chicken, adding cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts and other vegetables, and then deep fried." In the American Chinese respect, I believe it is very similar to a Spring roll really, although the flour dough looks thicker and of a different composition than a typical Spring roll (the dough bubbles when deep-fried, with Spring roll skin it does not.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_roll

Sweet egg roll:

American Chinese egg roll:


Should I fill up a double boiler or leave an air gap? I have a double boiler that looks like this:

I have been trying to use it to warm soup, but the soup heats up very slowly.

Currently, I have just an inch or two of water in the bottom, so the porcelain part is not actually touching very much of the water. Most of the heating seems to be by steam. Should I fill up the bottom part more so that the porcelain has water all around it?

What you do depends on what you are doing.

There are sauces where the directions specifically call for "over boiling water" (as opposed to "in boiling water") which imply a gap. Heating soup is probably somewhat less demanding in requiring gentle heating, though a ceramic inner pot will slow that down anyway.

However, the first thing to try would be just to turn up the heat a bit - steam is a very effective heat transfer mechanism, so if you have a good boil in the lower pot you should get effective heating of the upper one, even with a gap. If the lower pot is only simmering you will get poor/slow heating of the upper one.

If the lower pot is too full you may get boiling water spurting out between the pots, which might be hazardous.


Do professional chefs ever suffer food poisoning? Quite often you see celebrity and professional chefs taste the meat or sauce from a dish that is clearly not fully cooked. Is there a different length of time you should wait before sampling an uncooked dish (e.g. beef versus chicken) and do chefs ever suffer food poisoning for the sake of their art?

More opinion than a back up factual answer, but I knew a Cordon Bleu and CCI trained chef who stated one of his first days in professional training he was required to eat a raw chicken breast.  The reasoning:  He was expected at all times to have a kitchen that was clean enough and product that was fresh and high enough quality that he could do so.  That if he was not confident enough that he would not get sick from eating something raw, that her was never to serve it to someone else.  No matter how diligent he was, there would be times that he would serve something under-cooked or cross contaminated to a customer, so he had to have that confidence that the odds of them getting sick even with a mistake were low.

Using this level of product and practices costs more, and is part of the reason we have to pay more for items from a high quality place.  To protect themselves they must do all they can to protect you.  In normal practice though, they are taking very small tastes. They have trained tastes and can recognize spicing issues and such with a small enough sample to not be high risk.  Sure, it can happen and they may end up sick, but the odds on any given sample are low and it is their profession.  One of the challenges at home is for us to also learn to make those judgements in taste from a small sample while limiting the risks of cross contamination.  I would not eat a piece of raw chicken because I don't have access to the quality and assured freshness that say a Gordon Ramsey has.  Notice though, he tests under cooked, but does not serve that way and will not eat that way when served.  In my kitchen I will taste test repeatedly for fear of killing flavor with too much salt for instance and can usually tell with a pretty small taste.  I do not tend to hesitate even though I have a low tolerance to tainted food due to having gotten food poisoning more than once as a kid.

Where many of us especially struggle compared to a quality professional though is knowing how flavor will develop as the dish continues to cook, such as tasting early in a sauce.  In this case it takes a lot of practice to mentally extrapolate how the flavors will finish when tasting early, and yet that is when you prefer to have many flavors added so the meld together better.  That you can only gain through practice, which means even more tasting and even more need for care in selection high quality items and in avoiding contamination.


Amount of baking powder in a muffin recipe I have a couple of recipes from a reputable publication called "Recipes Only" (a magazine published in the eighties) which calls for merely 1 tsp. of baking powder and 1/2 tsp. of baking soda for 2 cups of dry ingredients and 1 cup of yogurt/buttermilk, 1 egg, etc. This didn't seem enough to me, but I tried the first recipe (Apple Cranberry Muffins), and sure enough they rose very little.  They're delicious, though, and I'm using them as little puddings served with custard, but I'm leery of trying the recipe again or trying the other one, Apple Cheese Muffins. I'm wondering if I should just up the baking powder to 3 tsp.  |What do you think?

1 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of baking soda to 2 cups dry ingredients is actually more baking powder and soda than I found in the first 10 random recipes I checked from Food Network and America's Test Kitchen. That suggests to me that the recipes are fine. Could it be that your leaveners are losing potency?
You can check them.
From Chemistry.About.com:

How to Test Baking Powder
Baking powder is activated by a combination of heat and moisture. Test baking powder by mixing 1 teaspoon of baking powder with 1/3 cup hot water. If the baking powder is fresh, the mixture should produce lots of bubbles. Be sure to use warm or hot water; cold water will not work for this test.
How to Test Baking Soda
Baking soda is meant to produce bubbles when mixed with an acidic ingredient. Check baking soda by dripping a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice onto a small amount (1/4 teaspoon) of baking soda. The baking soda should bubble vigorously. If you don't see a lot of bubbles, it's time to replace your baking soda.


What is the difference between noodles and pasta? Is pasta just a fancy name for noodle? Or is pasta always an Italian style noodle?
Is all pasta noodles? Or the other way around?

This may be more of a language question than an actual food question...

I think the problem here is that the definitions overlap quite a bit, which is always a good cause for confusion.

Pasta is defined as shaped dough made of Durum wheat and boiled in water. That is the traditional pasta in my opinion.

Noodles are uaully long and thin, and can be made of any starchy material, like rice or even beans.

Basically, things like risoni or even fusilli are pasta, but not noodles.
Spaghetti and fettuccine are both noodles and pasta.
Rice noodles like ramen are noodles but not pasta.


Is there a general strategy to cooking a stew? I've looked at a couple of stew recipes with the aim of learning a general approach that can be applied to whatever I have on hand, but I can't see one. I was expecting something like:

brown meat
add hard vegetables after X minutes
add soft vegetable after Y minutes

Is there a general approach like this?

You can't give a general approach the way you outlined it, as different cuts of meat (and different ages of the animal) demand different cooking times.
So the timing of the vegetables would have to be "X minutes before the meat is done"... (and that leaves out the characteristics of your particular batch of vegetables)

Then there's the option of adding a vegetable in two batches, once to add flavour to the stew (added very early in the process) and once just in time to get the vegetable cooked to taste.

So there not really a standard approach, but more a few basic principles to be understood and then applied at will.

(As an aside, flouring the meat is done here in France sometimes. I don't quite agree with the reason given not to flour the meat, as the maillard reaction needs both protein, from the meat juices, and sugars, from the flour. Browning only the flour would be closer to a caramelisation process)


Mango chutney freezable? I have a recipe for mango chutney. Besides the mango, the ingredients are apple cider vinegar, onion, red bell pepper, and various spices. The recipe makes quite a bit, and I don't know if it would would be freezable? Thoughts?

There's generally no "safety" issues with freezing anything (provided your freezer is sufficiently cold and stays that way). Freezing is very good for preserving all sorts of food for indefinite amounts of time. The main problem with freezing is loss of quality - loss of moisture (freezer burn) and cell expansion are your main issues. Neither of these make the food unsafe to eat.

Uncooked, fresh, high-water produce (strawberries, spinach, peppers, etc) come out of the freezer with a different texture because the cells of the produce expand as the water in them freezes and are destroyed, so when removed from the freezer, their texture has changed significantly. The same thing happens when they're cooked so, as long as your plan is to cook them afterwards or they are already cooked when they go into the freezer, the end result shouldn't suffer. Many recipes for fruit cobblers/pies actually call for frozen fruit (particularly blueberries) because there's generally little noticeable difference between the final products when using fresh or frozen produce.

I don't see anything in your recipe that should be problematic. As the whole thing is already cooked, it should be similar to freezing pasta sauce - it will defrost in pretty much the same condition as it was frozen.

As I noted in a comment, I find mango freezes quite well, regardless. I buy it frozen in chunks and eat them as a treat/snack all of the time. The flavor is still great and I don't have to struggle with peeling and pitting the fruit or worry about it going bad before I get to it.


Condensed cream of mushroom over chicken and rice I was thinking about doing a baked dish with chicen and rice covered with a can of cream of mushroom soup.  I'd like some advice.

I was just planning on kinda winging it by cooking some rice, putting it in a casserole dish, placing some chicken breast on top, then covering it with the soup and baking until chicken is done.  maybe put some bread crumbs on top so they get nice and brown.

Any tips before I try it out?

Sound fine, but in my experience "cream if mushroom" soup in a can is not much mushroom, and a lot of thickener

If you want something real nice, and not too much work make a Duxelles (fine chopped mushroom stuffing) and stuff it under the chicken's skin (works best with legs). Cover the rice with either mushroom soup or crushed tomato and tomato juice mix, then chicken on top and bake

Example recipe for chicken part ignore sauce part for a rice bake


No oil on non-stick pans? My boyfriend is convinced that a non-stick coating on a pan (Teflon, seasoned cast iron, eco-ceramic, what have you) is equivalent to eliminating the need for using any cooking oil whatsoever.

Is this in fact the case? I'm fairly sure that it only reduces the amount of oil necessary to keep things from sticking, but I'm having a hard time proving this (other than the empirical tests that keep failing). Essentially, he is a huge fan of fried eggs, but is trying to avoid the eventual heart attacks.

There are two parts to this question, the stated part, and the unstated "are you really frying an egg if there is no oil?"

For the first part, most manufacturers of non-stick pans claim that their product makes oil unnecessary, and generally I've found that to be true. A little oil helps, but "necessary" might be a stretch.

To maximize your non-stickyness of a non-stick pan, you should always preheat the pan before adding the food, at least to 250F or so. Preheating causes the teflon to expand a bit, closing up pores and micro-scratches in the surface.

It is also common for oils from the past to form a polymerized layer on top of the teflon, making the pan more sticky. This is actually worse when you use aerosol spray oils, because the tiny droplets hit the pan and very quickly polymerize to form a slightly sticky layer. This layer is similar to the one you intentionally create when seasoning a cast iron pan, but in this case it is not helpful. All-Clad recommends periodically cleaning teflon pans with a light scrub of baking soda and water to remove that coating of oil. It should bring back the maximum slippery of your teflon.

When cooking protein-rich foods, you can also minimize sticking by letting the food cook a bit before attempting to move it. The loose, floppy denatured proteins in an egg are extremely sticky, but when they coagulate (set) from cooking, they become less sticky. It may seem impossibly sticky at first, but may release on it's own after a minute of cooking.

As to the second, unstated part, oil provides flavor, and is also a heat-transfer vehicle. When the food is on the pan, if you looked at it with a microscope only a small portion of the food is actually in contact with the pan. Those areas will get heated more, and other areas will get heated less. A little oil fills those gaps, causing more even thermal contact, which allows fried food to fry, rather than just get burned in some areas.

It is really a matter of taste whether the flavor of the oil and the way that it changes the texture of the food is appealing to your boyfriend. I wouldn't like it without any oil, but if he does, well, so be it. If he doesn't really like the taste, but is concerned about health, I'd suggest using a little olive oil - it has no cholesterol, is low in saturated fats, and has a good flavor. Different than butter, but still very enjoyable.


How to make your own Granary® flour from existing ingredients? This flour which is widely available in the UK is harder to obtain elsewhere and also appears to be surrounded in some secrecy.
Does anyone have an approximation of the ingredients/substitutes and proportions?
https://www.hovis.co.uk/granary-wholemeal
"Granary® is not just a type of bread. The ® is there for a reason. It’s a brand and registered trademark of Hovis®. So if it’s not Hovis® it’s not Granary®. The Benedictine Monks of Burton Abbey discovered that slowly toasting wheat flakes used in their brewing process offered a distinctive malty taste, which is what gives our loaf its unique flavour today"

According to Waitrose:
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/hovis-granary-bread-flour/476719-729900-729901
Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Wholemeal Wheat Flour, Malted Wheat Flakes (17%), Wheat Protein, Malted Barley Flour
So that's:

white flour, with vitamins for no culinary reason
wholemeal flour
17% malted wheat flakes
wheat protein because bread needs strong flour (high in gluten)
malted barley flour

The protein is 14.9%, which definitely qualifies as strong.
Note also:

62.9% carbs (of which 1.7% sugar), 1.8% fat, 7.5% fibre, 14.9% protein, hence 12.9% moisture/ash

The own brand product is not the same:
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-duchy-strong-malted-grain-bread-wheat-flour/430555-60573-60574 - brown flour, malted wheat flakes, barley malt flour, wheat bran

68.4% carbs (of which 3.2% sugar), 1.6% fat, 4.3% fibre, 13.5% protein, hence 12.2% moisture/ash

We might like to compare other bread flours:

white - 67.4% carbs, 14.9% protein, 2.8% fibre https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-white-bread-flour/006224-2744-2745
Canadian very strong wholemeal - 57.0% carbs, 15.8% protein, 11.7% fibre https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-stoneground-bread-wholemeal-flour/051804-25784-25785
brown - 72.3% carbs, 12.7% protein, 6.1% fibre https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/essential-strong-brown-bread-flour/666913-94660-94661

I think there is nothing at all special in any kind of way about 'Granary', it's just a brand name that Hovis license.
What you are looking at here is either brown flour (which has more bran than white flour, less than wholemeal) or a mix of white + wholemeal, malted wheat flakes, and malted barley flour
Hovis are helpfully specific about the % of malted wheat flakes - 17%. You can buy these in many countries, e.g. https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/malted-wheat-flakes-2-lb
I believe that Hovis makes cheap mass-produced food as a first priority, and I believe that the malted barley flour is in fact a cheap-out. These should be malted barley flakes in fact. There are various forms of barley malt depending on whether they are sprouted or what not, but some form of barley malt will be available pretty much everywhere in the world.
Hovis protect their trademark, but 'brown bread with malt flakes' is nothing special at all, and anyone can make it....


What way to incorporate sugar into dough for millefeuille is better? Choosing from two alternatives: separating layers of dough with layers of icing sugar and making dough with a solution of sugar. If the latter option is preferable or no less good than the former one, an additional question I have is what the concentration of such a solution has to be.

P. S. Descriptions of the process of production of this French dessert available on the web advice to cover with icing sugar only the outer layers of pastry, but it will not impact its taste at all.

Typically, puff pastry dough is not sweetened. Instead puff pastry desserts generally rely on added ingredients or fillings to provide sweetness, and the pastry is just a flaky base or case.

The simplest example I can think of is a palmier, which is basically just puff pastry and sugar -- the sugar is sprinkled on finished dough, and it is then rolled and baked right away. If left to sit, or if the sugar is incorporated earlier (such as during the pastry folding process), it will end up dissolving into the pastry. The overall sweetness level will be about the same, but there is a loss of texture from the sugar crystals and less caramelizing during baking; the finished product wouldn't really be the same.

In a millefeuille, which has other sweet elements (frosting, custard filling), changing the sweetness of the pastry by adding sugar during folding or to the dough will change the overall taste of the assembled pastry.


Can I rescue honey that is crystallised in the container? (with water or otherwise) I've got a container of honey at home that has gone 'crystalised' and has caked up. When I turn the container upside down, the entire mass has fractured in half, and half sticks to the bottom and the other half slides in the direction of gravity.

Can this be rescued? (ie is it simply dehydated?) Can I add water to it to fix it?

Just put the whole closed container in hot water. Warm it up and it will liquify, use it like normal. Once it cools again it will slowly re-harden, but it's fine. Rinse and repeat.


Is it different to add seasoning at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of cooking? I think the question doesn't need more explanation,  just if you have to add any seasoning, from pepper to any other kind, specially if you have a variety of them, do you decide an order for them?

Yes it does make a difference when you add the seasoning. The taste varies depending on when the seasoning ingredients are added. As for as stir fries or any dry fries are concerned, it doesn't make much difference. But in water based dishes like sauces, curries, gravies, and soups it could impact a great deal. The water absorbs the spices added , making its flavor incorporate completely. Also the raw smell of the spices vanish to a great extent if they are added at the beginning.  Also in case of pepper in gravies and other dishes, the sooner it is added, the hotter the dish becomes after a considerable amount of time. It is due to the time taken for the spice to infuse the flavor/taste completely through the dish.
Dishes based with vegetables, the sooner you add salt, better the vegetables absorb . They could be bland if salt and spices are added last.
In India, in most of the curries masala (ground mix of spices, like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel ) is sprinkled at last to give the dish an extra flavor, though it is also added in the beginning during preparation.

Hence taste could vary depending upon the time you season the dish. There may be exceptions. But that is the general theory for most of the dishes.


How to thicken a white wine sauce to drizzle over prawns? I'm thinking of making a white wine sauce which will consist of

White wine
chopped garlic
squeeze of lemon
(maybe) mixed herbs.

What I have in mind is something that will pour with the consistency of a thick oil, but if I just add these components together it'll pour like water. What is the best way to thicken this so that it remains relatively clear and the taste of each component above isn't masked with the thickener?

I'd just simmer and thus reduce it. No added thickener required.


How can I make my own mayonnaise properly? I've tried a few variations in the past but none of turned out properly. The problem occurs when adding the olive oil. It never really mixes with the eggs leaving disjointed mess. What is the proper technique for mixing the oil so I can reach the correct consistency?

The oil needs to be slowly added to the egg, vinegar, and lemon juice base while being vigorously whisked. Only add more when the previous amount has been fully incorporated. I generally add the oil 1/4 cup at a time, dripping it very slowly into the base. Once the initial 1/4 cup has been added and emulsified it becomes a lot easier to incorporate the rest, and you can add it slightly faster, but still 1/4 cup at a time.

This is vastly simpler in a food processor. I have a Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor which has a little white pusher piece with a drip-hole in it. You can simply add the oil into this 1/4 cup at a time, it will slowly drip into the mix. Use the metal blade attachment.


Is it possible to make kataifi dough (by yourself or starting from filo dough)? I really like the thready structure in this dish. But when I look for recipes, they all ask for a box of kataifi dough. I haven't found this in regular supermarkets (I haven't been to greek stores), so I was thinking if I could make it myself.

Would it be best to buy filo dough (which is thinner than if you would make it yourself) and shred/cut it; or to make filo dough yourself (so you would have longer pieces than store-bought dough) and cut/shred it?

How do you shred it exactly? And how would can you replicate the correct form of kataifi (like a roll)?

I am afraid that it is quite hard to prepare it yourself. And you don't start from phylo dough.

Kataifi is not shredded, it is spun. You need a hot metal wheel for that. It is made from a batter which is thrown on the wheel, and because the wheel is spun, it bakes on the wheel in threads. You need not only the instruments (this wheel), but also quite a bit of experience to throw it in even threads. Kataifi makers are a popular attraction on middle-eastern markets. If you can't visit one, you have to visit an ethnic grocery store to buy the prepared kataifi noodles.


Harissa powder to paste How much harissa powder would be equivalent to one teaspoonful of harissa paste?

I have tried to look it up online, but all I can find is "add water and oil to reach the desired result", e.g. here. I don't use the paste very often, so I doubt I will eyeball it right, any quantitative guidance would be much appreciated.

I was just in Morocco and asked some of the owners selling the spice how to do it, the answer I got was:

Add 100 grams of Harissa powder
Add 1/2 cup water
Add 1/2 cup of EVOO

I would add that I have not tested this yet, and 100 grams is a lot to be making at once.


what to mix with milk other than sugar to give good taste I want to drink milk without adding any sugar [ for Diet ]

is there any alternative for sugar to mix with milk which give good taste ?

I dont want honey [ more calorie ] , stevia , cocoa butter [cocoa butter is only fat].....

has anyone tried with cocoa powder, is there any other option ?

I spoke with a hospital dietitian about a study that concluded with the fact that as long as you are getting your vitamin D and calcium from other sources milk is unnecessary in the adult human diet.
She agreed and noted that lactose is hard for many people to digest and added the fats and calories can be best "spent" elsewhere.
...but if you insist...
Try making a smoothie with whatever fruits and veg you can have on this diet of yours.
If you can have cooked cereals you can either use the milk in cooking or pour over it when ready to eat.
There are recipes for puddings that are thickened with cornstarch (instead of eggs) and use cocoa as well....I have never tried this but it may be right up your alley.


Milk pan for induction hob Traditionally, copper pans are used for heating milk because of copper's conductive properties. Does this still apply for induction hobs (obviously would need some steel in with the copper pan). What sort of pan is best to use to heat milk on an induction hob?

It doesn't matter. Any pan that works on an induction hob will work for heating milk on it. And especially with the speed of induction, you will not notice much difference with different pans.

By the way, there is no reason to want an especially conductive pan for heating milk. Milk burns easily on the bottom when heated too quickly, so being more heat conductive is more likely to be a liability. I have personally not seen copper pans being suggested especially for milk, the traditional milk-specific pans I've seen are either thin enamelled steel or special stainless water-bath gizmos with a whistle.


Is it possible to remove the smell from rice mistakenly stored in a detergent box? By mistake I stored rice in a detergent box. I took it out for cooking, but it smells like detergent. What should I do? Is there any trick that can remove the detergent smell from rice, or is it not safe to use?

The simplest trick is to place all the contaminated rice in the detergent box in the nearest trash bin, then obtain new rice. When it comes to cheap food staples like rice it's not worth the risk of eating tainted product, specially with substances that can wreak havoc on your digestive system like detergents.


Can a cream cheese cake be left out and for how long? I have an awesome cream cheese and blueberry pound cake recipe that I love to bake. Can it be left on the counter and for how long?

If you have a true pound cake, it should be good at room temperature for 2-3 days, well wrapped.

The title of your question made it sound like you have a cheese cake, perhaps with a pound cake base.  If that is the case:

Cheesecake is essentially a custard of cream cheese, eggs, and dairy.

None of these foods should normally be left at room temperature for an extended period of time, as they are all quite perishable.

I would recommend leaving a cheesecake out for no more than 2 hours or so, the same as any other perishable food.

See also:  How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?


How to make pizza that has a fat outer rim? Possible Duplicate:
  Shaping thick crust pizza dough

When I make pizza, I stretch my dough to the wanted size and shape, with even thickness all around...
I'm finding it difficult to understand at which point I leave room for the outer rim...
As I see it, to make a outer rim that is fatter than the rest or the pizza I either:

Leave a thicker outer rim in the dough before putting it in the oven,
Roll the edges inwards to form the outer rim after I stretched the dough evenly, Or
Do nothing and simply leave the edges without sauce, and the crust will form by itself?

Which is it?

And in case it's the first one, how do I accomplish this while stretching the dough?

If by crust you mean a raised lip, simply pinch/push the edge up all the way around. Leaving the edge free of sauce won't make it rise a great deal more than the rest of the pizza.

Another way to get a lip is to first make a round, hemispherical mound of dough, like a D on its side. Form your hands into a circle and push them into the dough so you have a ring of dough surrounding a central mound, with a little dip in between the two. This ring is your crust.

Finally, push the pizza into shape, spreading the central mound of dough out to form the base, leaving the outer ring/crust in place.


Should i fridge my expiring meal bars by best used by date? I got some unopened meal bars, which are best used by today. It's package doesn't say keep in fridge. Is it ok to put it in bedroom with heating? Or keep it in fridge?

The expiration date on dry goods is an indication of quality, rather than safety.  Closet or fridge...in this case probably doesn't matter.


What are the main styles of pizza that are popular in America? Background: I found a pizza in Italy that was sold as "American pizza", and that used bell peppers, corn, and hot salami as toppings. In the USA, is there a pizza that is called "American pizza"?

Are there well-defined regional styles of pizza in America? If so, what are they called and what are their distinguishing characteristics?

No.

Those are not common pizza toppings in America at all.

In America there are these (rather well known) pizza styles:

Chicago style

Chicago style pizza is a deep-dish pizza that is baked in a thick heavy cornmeal based crust. The toppings are also added in reverse order of a traditional pizza. First the cheese is added, then a pound or more of sausage is added in a dense patty layer, finally it is topped with sauce. You eat it with a fork and knife.

New York style

New York style pizza is wide thin-crust pizza. The crust is made with a very high gluten bread flour and hand-tossed. Some say that it gets a lot of it's flavor from the NYC water. It is typically cut into only 8 slices for a large pie. You fold the piece in half to eat.

New Haven style

New Haven style pizza is a bit lesser known, and originates from New Haven, Connecticut. There it is commonly called "apizza". It is similar to a New York style pizza in that it has a thin crust, but it is always brick oven fired until crispy. You should not be able to fold a New Haven slice of pizza in half without cracking it. It should also be crispy enough to stand up to it's own weight when held by the crust.

In a New Haven pizza a "plain" does not have mozzarella. A plain pizza consists solely of sauce, oregano, and a bit of parmesan and romano grated on top. Mozzarella is considered a separate topping.

They are most known for their white pizzas. These have no tomatoes at all, the "sauce" consists of olive oil, oregano, chopped garlic, and grated parmesan. The most well known is the clam pie which has fresh clams as a topping. It is generally frowned upon to order this with mozarella.

Verace pizza napoletana style

Although this is the original Neapolitan pizza, it has become very popular in the Pacific Northwest (and maybe elsewhere?). There is a certifying organization, which has stringent requirements for the crust ingredients, oven and so forth. The pies are very thin in the interior, with a slightly puffy edge, and are typically lightly charred in spots, which contributes a lot of flavor. Toppings tend to be minimalist.


Use the same cast iron skillet or buy a new one for desserts? Quick backstory

I currently have 2 skillets -- one a 12" flat skillet and the other ribbed. They have both been used for meat and I learned my lesson awhile ago and try to keep them as far away from water as possible. I do not have an open flame as I have a glass cooktop.

Question

I saw a few recipes for desserts and cornbread using a cast iron skillet that I would love to try. The problem is that my cast irons have all been used for meat and I am afraid to attempt any of these recipes if it might come out tasting like last night's ground-beef.

I did have a look at this question: How do you clean a cast iron skillet?

Does the skillet even trap any flavors or will any excess just burn off as I heat it up? If it will have the meat flavor, will using a towel, oil, and kosher salt help get rid of any left-over flavors or is this insane and everyone has a cast iron specifically for desserts/breads?

Tl;dr You can use your cast iron for anything if it is seasoned and cleaned well.

I don't have a ribbed pan and it seems that would be harder to clean so I will speak only to the smooth.

My cast iron pan is reasonably well seasoned. It could be better but I only get a little sticking.

Scraping it well and scrubbing with kosher salt and a paper towel cleans it spotless from almost anything. Occasionally I have to rinse it out which doesn't damage the seasoning at all.

When it is cleaned there are no lingering flavors from previous dishes. I often cook meat, onions, desserts, and cornbread with no problems.

Cornbread has a delightfully different and deliciously rustic texture when cooked in hot cast iron.


Smoke point and toxicity I was taught to make omlettes with a hot pan and cold (room temp) oil.  My wife thinks that I'm giving our family cancer.  I heat the pan quite hot, hot enough to smoke the olive oil that I add.  The eggs follow the oil after one to two seconds, just enough time for the oil to spread across the pan. The oil stops smoking as soon as the eggs are in, and the omlette is finished within a minute. I have tried cooking at lower temperatures, but the oil is never quite hot enough and I usually get scrambled eggs rather than an omlette.  Does anyone else cook an omlette this way?  Is it dangerous?

All we can tell you that is provably true is that heating any oil or fat past its smoke point causes rapid oxidation and more-or-less mimics the effect of rancidity.

You should do your own research on sites like Google Scholar or just ask your family doctor or dietitian if you want opinions on whether or not this leads to longer-term health complications. There's certainly plausible evidence in favour of the claim, but the jury is very much still out on most of it, and we are all the time discovering new health risks and/or refuting previously-hypothesized ones.

Meantime, think about whether you really want to be cooking with burnt, rancid oil, and consider preparing your omelettes at lower temperatures and/or not wasting your expensive EVOO on high-heat cooking.

Personally, I can't remember the last time I used anything other than butter or bacon fat for an omelette, and I've never gotten either of them to smoke in my pan, despite unclarified butter having a lower smoke point than EVOO. Not sure why you think you need the pan so hot.


How do I use up my canned tomato paste? Possible Duplicate:
  What do you do with left over tomato paste?

I have many cans of tomato paste, and I just want to get some ideas about how to use them up.

If you only use tomato paste infrequently, then you could do as I do: when opening a can (typically only to use a tablespoon full for a recipe), I divide the remainder of the can into tablespoon-sized portions, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and freeze them until required.


How can I keep a cheesecake from cracking? I've been making cheesecakes for a while and they always end up cracking on the top.  I was told to try putting a pan of water in the oven with it to keep the humidity up, which might help a little, but then it tends to crack when it's cooling.  Am I overcooking?  Or baking at the wrong temperature?  Whipped cream can only cover up so much.

To make a good baked cheesecake, I was taught the following, and it has ALWAYS worked:

Start with room temperature ingredients.
DO NOT over-mix. This is a significant cause of cracking, as the incorporated air tends to souffle.
When baking, always bake in a bain-marie (put your cake into a water bath for insulation).
Bake half an hour at 300° F / 150° C.  Then, turn off the oven, open the oven door, and rest for 30 minutes.  Then, close the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes more at 300° F / 150° C.

My first pastry chef taught me this, and it always works.

Also, over-baking will definitely lead to cracking (due to the loss of moisture), and, as stated, over-mixing will as well.


Blowtorch - hardware store vs kitchen store. Is there a difference? When looking for a blowtorch for the kitchen, you can buy some reasonably expensive tools. When looking for a blowtorch for plumbing, you can buy some reasonably cheap tools.

The price is different. The look is different. The principle is the same. I guess the gas is the same.

Why pay more? Is there a health issue? Is the kitchen blowtorch more precise?

Yes, there is no real difference.

Be aware that if you one from the hardware store, it should be one where the flame does not fluctuate when you tilt the torch. This usually happens with the very cheap ones. This becomes a big problem when you try to uniformly brown something.

Aside from that and maybe "esthetically" I see no reason not to use one from the hardware store.


Can cooking or processing generate more natural sugars? This question excludes all added or synthetic sugars (which I abbreviate to AS), and refers only to only natural sugars intrinsic and inherent in food (which I abbreviate to NS).

I wish to clarify the following helpful comment in response to my (now closed) question on suggestion for toppings on pancakes and waffles without any added or synthetic sugars, because my grandmother's dentist and physician oppose her consumption of any AS:

  Besides whole fruit, you can also use something like apple sauce. Apple butter and appelstroop are technically apple, but cooked down so that the sugars are concentrated and would likely violate the 'added sugar' exemption. And there are jams that are made with only fruit (eg. Polaner All Fruit), but again, it's concentrated.

Does 'concentrated' here mean that:

cooking and processing generate new sugars, so that the comestible's initial quantity of NS < the comestible's final quantity of NS.
or cooking and processing only condense (ie: increase the density of) the existing NS, so that the total quantity of NS remains the same before and after (but not the total density)?

If the answer is 1, then my grandmother cannot use such products;
but if the answer is 2, then please allow me to pose another question on the healthiness of such products for my grandmother.

The comment you cite obviously means the second explanation. The total quantity of sugars within the apple is not considered to increase in apple sauce making. Its density, however, does increase. And the increase can be substantial, as fruit is mostly water. In fact, "table sugar" is nothing but processed (concentrated) beets or cane.

It is possible that some production processes will create new sugars, usually by enzymatic splitting of longer carbohydrates. This is where the fructose in high fructose corn syrup comes from. So you can't assume that the second meaning will be true for all cases where you start with a fruit or vegetable. It is just true for traditional applesauce recipes.

Whether it is possible to make jam "without added sugar" is a very murky question, as "added sugar" is not really definable in this case.

As for the healthiness of such products, this is both off topic and unanswerable. You should ask your grandmother's doctor. He's the only one who knows what he meant and intended when he prescribed the diet.


How can I get more umami in a veggie burger? I'm not a vegan, so let me get that out there as the first sentence. I can find recipes all over the place for veggie burgers, but all I've tried have been bland. I may indeed have an umami flavor addiction.

What are your pro tips for great taste in a veggie burger? To keep within the scope of the question, let's say that at least 75% of the weight must be made of things that would be considered vegan. Items must be available to a foodie in non-boxcar size quantiles through regular sources (though not necessarily "common" or "everyday" sources.)

I'm looking for items, not recipes.

I think I'm going to tag this question as "vegan" so 100% vegan answers are welcome too and will be up-voted.

Umami comes from natural glutamates. Two excellent vegan sources of umami are tomato paste and dried shiitake mushrooms (rehydrate then mince). Fresh shiitake aren't nearly so high in glutamates. They are available very inexpensively at Asian groceries.

If you want vegetarian, but not vegan and can find a rennet-free parmesan-style cheese, they are also very high in glutamates.


What happens to cheese as it ages? An answer* on another one of my questions sparked this: What is actually happening to the cheese on a molecular and chemical level as it ages?  What processes are going on and why is there an upper limit to it?

("It has already aged for over year and has changed pretty much all it's going to.")

I will answer what I know and leave it to others to add more.

Two major changes that take place as cheese ages are fermentation and drying. In some cheeses time is also needed for mold growth such as Brie or Blue cheeses.

The fermentation is usually the more desirable. Bacteria is introduced when the curd is formed. The bacteria consumes lactose and turns it into lactic acid and other flavorful byproducts. This acidifies the milk and is an important factor in curdling it and creating the cheese curd.

When the curd is pressed, excess water is removed. In the case of Parmesan most of the water is removed. This retards the progress of the bacteria. As the cheese ages the bacteria stays active and makes a lot of flavor. Think of a bread- a little yeast with a lot of rise time tastes much better than a lot of yeast and a short rise.

The acidity and flavor increases. Drying also plays a part in concentrating flavor.

Both the acidity and drying will change the protein structure of the cheese and is what gives Parmesan its characteristic crumbly texture. I can't speak to what these changes are on a molecular level.

Is there a food and/or dairy chemist in the house?


Baking Double Pans of Muffins Do you need to adjust baking time or temperature when baking more than one pan of muffins at the same time in a single oven?

Quick answer: No adjustments mandatory.

To explain:
You will need to adjust baking times when you change the "lump" of batter to be baked. Examples: Mini or Jumbo muffins instead of regular ones.  Coffe cake in a loaf or round pan, bread or rolls. Rule of thumb: thicker cake, more time. That's why you use a wooden skewer to test for doneness. As far as the temperature is concerned, usually you should be fine with the given value of your original recipe. If in doubt, rather go down for larger cakes (to prevent burning), but go up for bread (but lower again after 15 minutes or so.)

So for your question:
- Make sure you preheat your oven properly, maybe even 10 degrees higher (but turn back once the muffins are in the oven), because two tins will lower oven temperature more than one tin.
- Perhaps rotate / switch places of your tins halfways, if your reipe is ok with opening the oven door, most muffins are.


What should the texture of meringue be in a lemon meringue pie? After the pie has cooked and chilled, what texture should the meringue be? I couldn't find an answer online, and it was hard to tell from photographs. I'm assuming it isn't supposed to be crispy, the way meringue cookies are. But should it be completely soft, almost whipped-cream like? Or should it be somewhat chewy?

This is one of those questions to which there are as many answers as there are chefs ;)
Personally, I would say - you want all three, at different depths in your meringue.
The peaks should be browned & just crisp.
A millimetre or two below that ought to have an 'al dente' feel to it, a hint of 'chewy' but only a hint.
Below that it ought to be barely set, but it must be set.
If you get it like this it will survive only briefly.
If kept for more than a few hours, maybe a day tops, the top goes from crisp to chewy, below will go from light to rubbery to sloppy… until you end up with the stuff you buy in supermarkets :\